194 BOMBAY DUCKS 
Review”: “Whenever Garuda, the vehicle of Vishnu, 
is seen, Hindus pay their veneration to it by touching 
their cheeks with their fingers as they repeat a Sanskrit 
verse which, when rendered into English, is as follows: 
‘I bow to thee, king of birds, and (as such) the vehicle 
of Vishnu, whose parts are coloured crimson and whose 
neck is bright as the moon.” Now, I presume that 
Mr, Trivikrama Rau is here indulging in a little 
Oriental hyperbole. 
It would be all very well for the pious Hindu to act 
thus when he lives in a place where one only sees a 
Brahminy kite once in a blue moon, but it is surely 
expecting too much of the Madras Hindu to do all this 
whenever he sets eyes on one of these birds, Every one 
in Madras must see dozens of Brahminy kites daily, 
and I cannot bring myself to believe that he does and 
says all the above every time he beholds one. Mr. 
Trivikrama Rau also tells us that the sight of a Brah- 
miny kite “on any day, and particularly on Sunday 
mornings, is considered lucky, for it is believed that it 
is then returning from Vishnu, whom it has gone to see 
on the previous evening.” The Madras Hindus are 
certainly in luck’s way, for every one of them may 
depend on seeing a dozen or more Brahminy kites 
every Sunday morning throughout the year. 
