Coppersmith barbets have almost vanished, but their larger cousins, the brown headed barbets have exploded in numbers (and calls). 

we took the broken down house surrounded by forest and birds still in this corner of Delhi over the perfect interiors, dishwasher fitted, hauz khas place from whose bedrooms you could see a semi clad uncle brushing his teeth late in the day. he called this our 'romantic crumble' then, and now our 'jungle home' although he can't be bothered to get out amongst the trees; for him the windows and terrace are more than enough. bird species are mostly the same as in vk, but we have also spotted an owl and an Indian grey hornbill so far. there are leaks in our bathrooms and kitchen that persist after numerous plumber visits. the first time we ran our washing machine in what we have renovated to be our laundry room up on our terrace, our bath flooded with its water (the drain is common we learned). our repair contractors have been so awesome (sarcasm) that they've gifted us a kitchen sink that slopes the wrong way, with a joint in it's slab through which the water seeps below,.... I could go on. but we can see the sunrise from our bed, and for the first time in his life he has been watching the pole star rising. people are a lil more weird here: seems like car washers are banned and drivers are monopolizing that market too; them and cleaners keep lying to sabotage each other's chances; the guard seems like a broker for odd jobs; and neighbors yell at me without specifying what about his parking caused them inconvenience. I can still drive to my running park, in less time than before in fact. and there's another larger park here, but ppl seem older on average, richer, and less outdoorsy. I can walk to the local market which has nice restaurants too (and behind which the park lies) after my day of teaching and get a sweet crisp morning bun for an evening snack. My hotel swimming pool is walking distance for when the weather warms up. and we can stare at trees and listen to birdsong while crapping on the hotseats. we chose to remove the exhaust fan from the kitchen too and use the windows instead which look out onto a large tree that seems to be a home for rose ringed parrots. we do have a lot more space than we need but hopefully we will learn how to use it better as we spread our stuff. and we finally got a proper (large hand me down) dining table that serves that purpose. we also got another more modern roomba and updated our older one with new wheels etc. and I no longer have to leave the house when he has therapy sessions upstairs.

this has however also helped me decide that we are not doing this (choosing forest over interiors) again. and maybe that's just as well. he turns 39 this month, and later this year I turn 40! the next home has got to be more compact, with better plumbing, and easier to manage. this one probably was fated to be ours for exactly now, before we become decrepit.