Yet another indoor shot

Chanced upon Top Gear the evening before. And it hasn't changed. Jeremy Clarkson is his same obnoxious, defensive and really funny self. It's this unchanged quality, the obsession with all that?s shiny and fast that would appeal to the teenaged boy in any man. I don?t think the show demands seriousness and I really enjoyed what I saw.

But what I liked even better was another show where Stephen Fry and a botanist friend travel to New Zealand in search for nearly extinct species and find ways to preserve them. I was looking forward to the humour, and it was there in just the right amount. Of course I thought of Hugh Laurie and I will try to watch some House soon. In this show, there were a team of archeologists and botanists holed up in an isolated island for months helping in the conservation of a large flightless parrot, the kakapo. They referred to these birds by their first names, talked about a specific individual?s habits with enthusiasm, were thrilled (some deeply moved) when they saw Jill (or Jane? I can't remember) sitting quietly on the first egg hatched in their breeding season. Their most important goal was to take the number of kakapos in the world to cross the 100 mark. It was about 80 odd when the filming took place.

Such an isolated life, such obscure priorities in contrast to the kind of reality we are so overwhelmingly surrounded by. But by no means, one lacking in quality. Perhaps even a far richer one.