The purpose of the visit to Odiyur lake was to watch pelagic birds. Amid the repeating patterns of life are plans re-scripting themselves, throwing up highlights diametrically opposite to what was foreseen. And one needs to be thankful for that. Amoggh and Aaditya are. There were sightings of pelagics, but what dominated the boys’ excited chatter on the way back to Chennai was a land-lubber of a bird — a Plaintive cuckoo, which had no business poking around Odaiyur lake, in fact, in any part of South India. In India, this bird is meant to be seen in its north-eastern parts, until a “Jonathan Livingstone Seagull” among them shows up in an unexpected patch.