September 16, 2025, Tuesday.
The young poet Debarshi Mitra’s debut collection, Eternal Migrant, has a poem titled ‘Stray Cat.’ He writes:
He only stays sometimes
unmoved
outside my window
gazing into my walls
with meditative, feline eyes
kept out by glass that tells him
how things are, beyond the barrier
that helps him measure
what he’s missing out on.
I only stay there sometimes
unmoved
gazing out my window
wishing I was in another enclosure
governed by a different set of walls
in a claw-scratched world,
lives bound by unrecognized longing,
of being elsewhere.
One of the stupidest things humans ever did was to believe they could tame the wilderness within us. Look at us now. Aren’t we all wild animals, caged inside a ticketed zoo, gazing through the glass walls, longing to be elsewhere?
All the world is an ecosystem of which we are a part, and we carry infinite reservoirs of love, kindness, and desires inside us. Yet, how little our minds must be to go to war against nature, against ourselves? How naive we must be to think that nature can be tamed and bend to our ill-sighted ways? How foolishly optimistic we must be to believe nature will forgive us every time?
This is a sample rumination that runs through my mind every time I walk into the Trivandrum Zoo. Yes, the fresh, moist air, the calming scent of the tender leaves and tree bark, and the animal sounds hit me like opium. Being near such magnificent creatures is an honor and a high.
Cages
Even though a crude part of me is grateful to see these animals up close, I hate that they are caged. I don’t think we should ever look at them through the eyes of dominance or arrogance. After all, we are fellow animals, caught up in the cages of capitalism, pining for wilderness and freedom, too.
I’ve been to this zoo many times in my life: first as a twelve-year-old with my cousin and her family, later with my IT friends, alone in 2019 as part of my trips, and again now. It’s one of those places that both fascinates and saddens me. I know a forest reserve or an in situ conservation centre would have been more ethical. No animal ever wants to be caged. As a woman, I can vouch for that.
Wrong Timing
By 2:45 pm, I entered the zoo’s premises. Bisons munching grass just like cows and buffaloes, lion-tailed macaques jumping from the branches of mahogany, to American mahogany, and mangium trees, making me wonder why they don’t plan an escape by jumping to the Indian blackberry and Kaaral trees on the other side, and the bulging woody trunk of the white dammar tree were the first sights that fell on my radar.
The timing of my visit was wrong because the zoo was undergoing renovations. Most of the cages were empty as they were getting upgraded into glass cages with built-in terrain and vegetation suiting the animal or bird to inhabit inside. Especially, my favorite nocturnal animal and owl cages were empty. Squirrels had gotten inside many such cages, and some of the glass panels were covered in bird shit. Except for the reptiles in the park, the only nocturnal animal I remember seeing on this visit was the common palm civet.
Sloth Walk
Since I had just gobbled down a biriyani and falooda, I was walking like a sloth. I took my time, staring at vultures, macaws, Indian star tortoises, and gharials inside glass cages. Hippopotamus, Indian crested porcupines, and deer – sambars, spotted chitals, nilgiri tahrs, and even swamp and hog deers, slowly made it to my camera roll. But after some time, I lost interest in photography also.
Trees
The different varieties of trees in the premises were heartwarming to see. My favorite among the lot was definitely the Nagalinga maram (Cannonball tree in English) due to the unique shape of its flowers. I also spotted Anjili/Wild Jack trees, Black bean tree, Perumaram – also known as Indian tree of heaven, and the majestic giant bamboos or dragon bamboos, thanks to the detailed signboards.
If I could have any superhero skill, I would love the ability to identify every bird, animal, reptile, and plant in this world. My 12-year-old nephew can identify most birds by hearing their sounds. He doesn’t even have to see them. Oh, I would’ve been on cloud nine if I had those abilities. I’m so happy for him.
A Flamingo Pond
There was one big pond in the middle of the zoo, with a hanging tree nearby, surrounded by glass walls. Remember that romantic scene in the movie, The Notebook, where Noah takes Ally on a boat to see the migratory birds. That’s what the pond reminded me of – like a scene straight out of a fairytale – a slice of heaven because that pond was home to hundreds of swans, cranes, and flamingoes, all put together.
The swans gliding on the water looked magical, but their hoots sounded like a funny car horn or trumpet. Meanwhile, the pink flamingoes looked like cotton candy flying in the air. There were white and fully black ones, too. There was a boat, half sunk in the water. It looked both poetic and ironic.
Since these flamingoes feed on fish, the cage smelled of it. Remember the Smelly Cat song Phoebe sings in the FRIENDS series. I couldn’t help but make a parody of it. Smelly flamingoes, smelly flamingoes, what’re they feeding you? It’s not your fault. It’s ‘coz you love smelly, smelly fish.
A Young Couple
In between, a young couple requested me to click a few photographs for them. They were obviously not married. They gave me those innocent, shy friends in a college classroom, who go on years hiding their feelings from each other, until the yearning builds up so bad, and they confess just before the farewell vibe. The kind of lovers who innocently include each other in their prayers.
The way they posed for the pics, with a slight blush on their cheeks, and a slight wet tear, but a lot of happiness in their eyes, made me wonder if it was their first date after liking each other for years. I wished they would have a happy love story and a lifelong marriage.
When I visited Southampton in the UK, a year back, I met a high-profile wedding photographer, a lady. She was my sister-in-law’s friend. I loved her photos then, but now I totally understand the biggest highlight of her job. Just being able to witness such little happy, loving moments of others is such a cute job to have.
To be loved and to love is one of the greatest joys of life. This India trip was supposed to turn me into a highly empowered, smart, independent, boss lady, but it’s slowly turning me into this mushy romantic I don’t even recognize. 😂
Bears
Well, from this wonderful couple, I turned to one of those unexplainable love interests of my life. Bears. I love bears of all kinds: the most dangerous carnivores of the earth – polar bears, sloth bears, the pandas, the koalas (a marsupial, not a bear, I know), and even the soft, teddy bears. There’s something so cuddly and adorable about them.
Have you seen the Insta reels where strangers give high-fives to bears and wave at them? I would easily risk my life to recreate one of those moments. My friends warn me that bear attacks are one of the most brutal ways to die, but like the delusional animal lovers famously ask – “if not friend, why friend faced?”
I stayed quite some time near the bear’s place, watching them play under the water drizzler. It’s a newly added mechanism to help these animals cope with the ever-increasing heat. And then we have world leaders still trying to prove that global warming and the climate crisis are scams.
Birds
There were many exotic birds in the cages: a white pheasant, a blue-crowned pigeon, an orange-winged amazon, sun conure parrots, and a kalij pheasant. Not to forget the usual macaws, ostriches, peacocks, and peahens of different varieties.
Brown rheas and white rheas, standing like ballerinas, reminded me of my college friend Ria. When we visited the Mysore zoo on our college trip, we used to tease her by pointing at the rheas.
Emmanuel, No!!!
Then came the emus. A crow hitchhiking on an emu pulled at one of its feathers. The emu looked at me with a pissed expression, as if asking, “Did you see that? The audacity. Unbelievable!” In Malayalam, we ask, “thaan ithu kandodey?”
This emu reminded me of the viral TikTok/Insta-famous emu named Emmanuel, who always photobombs his farm mama, Taylor Blake’s tutorial videos, trying to peck the camera, making her shout: “Emmanuel, don’t do it.”
People
I walked past the zoo hospital and saw a few people resting on benches and under the shade of trees. I sat next to them, ruminating on life. They drank water, took selfies, fanned themselves, and complained about the heat or their leg aches. Though the zoo looked a bit disorganized due to the renovations, I was glad that most of the animals had their own personal fountains, ponds, or drizzlers to overcome the scorching heat. I gulped a mouthful of water from my bottle, too.
Carnivores
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry? “
~ William Blake
A reverberating roar soon reminded me that I was in carnivore territory. Leopards napping on tree tops, Bengal tigers prowling inside their cage, and sleepy lions reminded me of one thing. These caged animals are the real heroes of the jungle. Humans are just petty, cowardly villains who need to cage them to feel powerful and at ease.
Many visitors around me got irritated, seeing the sleeping lions. They tapped on the iron bars, impatient to wake the lions for their cameras. When the lion finally woke with a low guttural groan, sending shivers down our spine, everyone took a step back. He looked and sounded like a king asking, ‘Who dared to disturb my sleep?’ (In Malayalam, we say, ‘aarada shabdam undakkunne?’). Nobody spoke for a minute. Nobody dared to click photographs for a second there, before the camera shutter sounds flooded the space. The lion gave the entire crowd, including me, a death stare and went back to sleep.
Butterfly Park
Towards the end of the zoo, I explored the butterfly park, a netted area with a walkover bridge, with flowering plants on both sides. There were many big, beautiful butterflies among those plants, but I have no idea about their names. I remember seeing a big black and red butterfly. I wondered how the staff was so sure that the butterflies wouldn’t escape that space.
Reptiles Park
A comparatively darker, wetter, cave-like structure, with glass cages inside, the reptiles park hosted Pythons, Cobras, including the King Cobra, Common Trinket Snake, Red Sand Boa, Common Sand Boa, Red-eared slider tortoises, Bronzeback tree snake, Indian Rat Snake or Chera, Green Anaconda, Water Snake, and Flying Snake, too.
Rushing
I walked out of the zoo by 4:15 pm, just half an hour before the museum’s closing time. Though there wasn’t really enough time to explore any building in detail, I rushed to the newly added Ravi Varma Art Gallery since I had never visited it before. I bought a Rs 50 ticket from the souvenir shop’s counter, but it turned out to be a bad decision.
The museum was so well curated, with excellent ambience, perfect lighting, and informative staff, that it basically met international standards. I knew right away I would have to revisit it to spend quality time with those original, spellbinding Ravi Varma paintings, and to soak in its grandeur and beauty. Not to forget the images and PowerPoint presentations depicting Ravi Varma’s life and rare art book collection.
KCS Panicker Art Gallery
Just to feel I didn’t waste my Rs 50, I rushed to the KCS Panicker art gallery. Though the young staff at the museum was friendly, I was unable to understand the head or tail of the paintings. They were too abstract for me, with many symbols, letters, and numbers.
Later, I read online that KCS Panicker was a pioneering figure in the Indian art scene and that he was known for his metaphysical and abstract paintings. This museum hosted 75 paintings and 4 sculptures that he created over a span of 40 years. The very paintings that boggled my mind the most were his internationally acclaimed work, “Words and Symbols” series. I was humbled by this discovery. It made me realise that every art has its niche audience. I will definitely need a helpful artist/art enthusiast’s help to decode his work. And that’s totally okay.
~
Like a madperson, I rushed past the people arriving at the museum grounds for their daily evening walks, to catch my city special at the museum bus stop by 4:53 pm. Slowly, I was becoming their regular passenger.
The bus rushed me back to the adult world. The trees that ran past me, the numerous unnamed buildings on the way, and the busy roads filled with people returning from offices made me feel impassive. I was part of this world, yet felt too far from it. Will I ever belong? I wondered and exhaled with a sigh.
Author’s Notes
~ All content on this blog is the intellectual property of the author. © 2026 Lirio Marchito. All rights reserved.
~ This blog is part of a series exploring my travels through Trivandrum, the capital city of my home state, Kerala, in India. You can read more posts from this series here. Trivandrum | Kerala| India
Lirio's Wanderings 