I have always liked
observing the birds and animals in my neighbourhood. Dogs, monkeys and cows
were the only animals I got to see, but I was able to observe several varieties
of birds. I find watching birds very fascinating. It is also calming and
humbling because, we think we have it tough in this world, but for these birds
and animals, every day is a struggle. They have to fight for basic survival at
all times - look for food, protect themselves from predators, find a safe place
to live in these concrete jungles.
I remember waking up
to the sound of birds chirping and trying to identify different birds from
their calls. The birds I could see most frequently were sparrows, pigeons and
crows. We have the tradition of offering the first morsel of rice cooked for
the day to crows and other birds. The birds had got used to it and were quite
punctual. They used to wait at the balcony precisely in time for Mom to serve
them. When Mom was running late, she actually used to appologise to the crows:
Sorry 'kake' (crow, in Tamil), give me ten more minutes!
In school, during our
mass drills, I used to pass my time observing the two pariah kites that had
taken residence at the terrace of my school building. The kite looks majestic
in flight, with its powerful wings flapping against the wind, so high in the
sky. Oh to be able to fly like that! With the wind blasting on my face and the
world beneath looking tiny and far away, like a toy city. Once, during another
of my mass drills, I was looking skywards as usual for a trace of the kites
when I spotted a flock of pigeons flying close together. The next minute, the
pigeons scattered, trying to fly away as soon as they could. Puzzled, I looked
around for the reason of the commotion. That was when I spotted one of the
kites chasing the group of pigeons. I noticed a stark difference in the way the
two birds flew. The kite, with one mighty flap of its wings gained enough
momentum to glide in the direction it wanted to go. It was able to glide for quite
a distance before it had to flap its wings again. The pigeon on the other hand
had to flap its wings continuously in order to stay airborne. It also flew at
lower altitudes than the kite. The kite had zeroed in on a pigeon who couldn't
fly away in time. It made a beeline for it. I couldn't see how things proceeded
from there, but later that day, I found a half- eaten carcass of a pigeon on
our playground. I didn't look too closely at it. It was quite gruesome. When I
got home from school, I recounted the incident to Dad, who is a nature lover
too and has a great deal of knowledge about wildlife. He told me that it was
highly improbable that the pigeon was killed by the kite. A cat had most
probably done the deed since kites are scavengers. They feed on dead animals
and plants.
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Once, a family of barn
owls moved into the parapet over our drawing room window. This was an exciting
prospect for me as I'm a die hard Harry Potter fan. In the
books, owls play the significant role of delivering post. I used to observe
them every night. They were a very pretty sight: golden brown and white in colour,
with large beady black eyes. Looking at them brought to mind two contrasting
idioms: one in Hindi (‘ullu ke patthe!’, which roughly translates to, ‘as
foolish as an owl’) and the other in English (as wise as an owl). It’s
interesting to note how the two idioms which feature the same bird have exactly opposite meanings!
One time, I was
sitting at my desk doing homework when I heard a noise in the kitchen. As I was
getting up to go check out the source of the noise, I noticed a brave little
langur who had decided to explore our house. I stopped dead in my tracks. So
did the langur. We noticed each other at the same time. As soon as it saw me,
it scurried back to the kitchen. I followed it with increasing apprehension and
was not surprised to see a group of seven - eight langurs having a gala time in
the kitchen! One langur was seated very royally on top of the fridge. Some were
running about the kitchen counter. Others had discovered a basket of bananas
and potatoes lying in the open and were helping themselves to it. There was a
tiny langur too, who was clinging tightly to its mother. The mother had an air
of fierce protectiveness for her child, which was endearing to see. None of
them seemed to notice me standing quietly at the doorway observing them. I did
not want to alert them to my presence. So I turned and walked away as quickly
as possible to call Mom. She had quite a shock on seeing so many langurs
invading her kitchen. But she pulled herself together and shooed them away.
Some of the larger langurs bared their teeth at her, but retreated quickly.
Langurs make a
characteristic sound which goes something like, 'hoop, hoop...hoop, hoop'. One
evening, Dad heard this sound and when he went to check the balcony, sure
enough, there were three langurs lounging on the balcony seat. Normally langurs
leap away when they see humans, but these three were braver. They weren't
budging. Dad suddenly had a bizarre idea to throw one of my shoes in the
direction of the langurs. He didn't intend to hit them with it, it was just to
get them to move. The idea worked, but in the process, my shoe landed inside
the compound of the opposite building! Luckily, the watchman of the building
had been watching the proceedings with much amusement. He threw back the shoe
and it fell neatly inside our balcony.
Animals featured
prominently in the stories my Dad used to tell me when I was a kid. That's probably why I notice them so much. Besides being a stress buster, observing
birds and animals can teach us a lot: patience, persistence, hard work, to name
a few. I recommend it to everyone.
Picture Courtesy: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/
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