A short story of matching of wits with the wise owl...
“Hello? Hello? Is that Mamu?”
"Who is this?”Mamu responded.
Phone caller was Disha. She was shouting on the phone.
“We are in great trouble Mamu! Please do come at least for a week.”
“Why? What happened? Aren’t you happy with your newly purchased villa in the countryside? Is’nt it marvelous Disha?
“Eve-ry-thing is wonderful-- except from the dusk to dawn. During this time we feel so scared! It seems we are always under scanner. They are watching us from the darkness. We feel prey to them. We want your help Mamu. Please do something! Try to find out a solution. Come as soon as possible.”
"Strange! Quite mysterious! You mean something is scaring you in the darkness of night?’’
“That’s right! The place where we live is surrounded by hills, dales and greeneries. The house we have bought had remained empty for at least two to three years without any human habitation nearby. So it had become a safe haven for a large group of OWLS for this long period of time.”
“Really! Mamu interrupted.
“Oh! Yeah,
Now we stay here, still they think it is their domain .They are much active from dusk to dawn and very aggressive sometimes. You won’t believe how they have made our life a hell! We are so disappointed!”
Disha continued again,
“The adult owls look so atrocious! Some of them look horrible with their big bulging eyes. It seems they could gouge out your eyes if they feel endangered.
The white ones are not so bad, but there are other varieties of this species --the dark grey or brown coloured birds are simply unfriendly. Getting along with them is terribly difficult!” Disha tried to explain everything in one quick breadth.
"Hmmm….Its really a thing to care about. I promise I will come over soon."Mamu replied.
By the way, how is Nisha? Does it bother her too?” Enquired Mamu.
“Oh yes! She is even more scared than me. One day while she was swimming in the pool one huge owl fell into the water just right in front of her. She gasped screaming “Help, help. Owl,Owl !” We all stormed off in search of her. Just at that point of time a huge owl flapped past us right away. We all panicked”.
“Then?”Mamu asked excitedly
“Nisha looked as white as paper!” Disha answered. “We helped her out. People say owl cannot judge the depth of our pool water because of its clarity. That is why they fall accidentally. They are awfully horrid!”
Mamu listened to her quietly and then said,
“Don’t worry, I will come very soon. I think I know the solution still let me think over it a little more. He laughed mysteriously and hung up.
“Who were you talking to Disha? Nisha came behind her in tip-toe.
“You promised to play Hide and Seek this evening, I am afraid you have forgotton all about it, right?” Nisha gave her a smack on the back and stretched her hand to offer her some tit-bits.
“Oh thanks, so nice of you!” Disha turned to Nisha delighted and said, “How do I forget that but would you mind letting me finish what I was reading a while ago? This is a real story of a three year old American boy who was born without an immune system. How strange! Is’nt it interesting? I want to know how the doctors ultimately replaced his broken gene with a functioning one to recover him from that danger. Only few pages are left, would you mind! Pleeeese! ” asked Disha.
“Oh! You are mad on books. It irritates me so much”. Nisha replied.
Disha looked up at her sister’s scornful face. Nisha meanwhile leapt up at once, her face full of anger said,
“It is strange! Why don’t you understand that we can’t play in the late evening! I am off,” She yelled at Disha impatiently shaking her curls back.
Oh! Yeah, yeah, here I come” Disha replied looking at her sister’s sad eyes and dashed towards the door steps immediately even before Nisha could reach there.
“I am sorry, very sorry. You’re right Nisha, your annoyance is obvious.” She chuckled.
Nisha looked happy and hurried behind her. She was glad to feel that they could play for sometime.
They passed across the hall, came to the front door, opened it and stepped into the garden.
Mr. Gomes who had been in charge of the garden was standing there. Both the girls came forward and greeted him with a smiling face. They looked up too to ensure that their mama was watching them from upstairs.
“Fine dear! The man replied. “You sound as if you know lot about horticulture. I could get the seeds tomorrow and plant them. They are easy to grow and it’s true they make great background as fences. They will flower in the next year in the month of July to September. I won’t disappoint you.
“There is a wide range of its colours” he continued again- white, yellow, crimson, pink, red…
“Yes! Yes! That I know”-Nisha snatched the words from his mouth and said “but pink will suit here more as a background, I believe. Isn’t it Disha?
Disha in the meantime went to the swing and began to sway to and fro. She shrugged and said “You have a better artistic sense, I think. Decision is yours. I do appreciate your taste”. She smiled turning her face towards Nisha.
Nisha smiled too and gave a nod to Mr. Gomes.
“Well Nisha” Disha stood up next moment and said “I have to tell you my most interesting story. Please listen to me now.” She put her arms round Nisha.
“I can’t really tell, Nisha replied “Don’t blame me if I keep falling asleep in the middle” she giggled and skipped out of her sister’s arms.
“You are very naughty.”Disha grumbled. “It is strange that you don’t like stories.”
They exchanged a look at each other but Nisha frowned at once and said,
“I am not willing to take what you say. I can tell you for sure… She was just going to tell something to Disha – meantime the hoot of an owl forced a way into their ears .They looked round the garden and became vigilant at once to follow through this ever-familiar sound to avoid any possible difficulties.
“Wish they don’t spoil our play this evening” Nisha said tossing her curls back again.
Nisha and Disha are twin sisters. They are very young. Ever since they have shifted to their new villa they are hopeful that they are going to spend lot more times outdoors to explore Nature. They are fond of opens, the birds, wild flowers, greeneries, hillocks and even very curious to know all about the thick forest beyond their boundary walls.
The house is perfect as per their choice.
Being a twin their physical appearances are same but they differ very much in their behaviours. They can be best friends one day who do lots of things together while next day they are certainly enemies to each other who can’t agree on anything.
Nisha is happy- go- lucky type child. A tiny girl with a sharp nose, curly hair and smiling face - very imaginative. The quiet Disha reacts in just the opposite way. She is not a dreamer, she lives in reality - a considerate girl, an avid reader of books; gets enthralled very easily by everything she reads and prefers mostly to read other books rather than finishing her home-work from school.
They are the combinations of both rational and imaginative minds maintaing their respective individuality .
“By the way” Nisha started again in a low tone “What the hell were you talking about! Are you blind? I enjoy reading horror stories, didn’t you notice that? I am so fond of them!”She said in a quiet but bad-tempered way.“ Someday I am going to write horror stories myself, you know!”
“Oh! That’s great!” Disha giggled,” but if it is so then would you tell me why are you so scared of owls even more than me? You know it certainly how they provide us sudden attack of fright everyday! Why don’t you embrace them closely and write stories on them when you are so fond of horror?” Disha remarked in order to anger Nisha.
“What? Are you out of your mind? Friendships with horrors in real life? By no means! It’s an odd choice. Actually I do have the least courage to face horror in reality, you know! I tell you frankly, I just enjoy it in books. Nisha giggled and moved her hands quite nervously.
“I have an idea of a storyline” she continued again with an amusement in her face “which though will be full of horrors it has to be a hilarious ending to entertain people.” She laughed aloud as if satisfied with her own imaginations.
“Really! sometimes you can become so moody !” Disha laughed at her too. “Tell me your story to-night after dinner while slipping into bed. I might have some suggestions on your stories! Who knows!
Nisha took a deep breath and said, “Okay, Agreed.” Her eyes began to glow in happiness.
Both of them left to play happily galloping and chasing each other.
" Disha run! I will catch you up."Nisha ran after her .
It was suddenly she stopped and uttered dreamily,
“Everything is so beautiful here! I relish every moment of it. The young green leaves in the newly planted trees, the soft and silky carpet of green grasses and so many other things. I have grown to like all of them.”
Disha in the meantime was alert at monitoring the owls instead.
“While trudging along the lawn, I feel like rolling down on the soft grasses and smelling its freshness. These grasses become soggy at the middle of night when many unknown insects and creatures come out from their hidden nests in search of food and crawl over them. Nature has so many secret lives to reveal every moment. It is really amazing!” Nisha murmured.
“Great! Add all these secrets to your story, right! I’ll have real good times with your stories”. Disha giggled. and turned to her .
Nisha glanced at once at her. Looking not very convinced she charged
“Are you teasing me?”
“No, no-by no means. I am serious! Disha looked at Nisha with her bright eyes and said “I am curious to know all about your informations. I am sincere about it! I love to indulge your feelings and imaginations too. Not many girls have that quality!”
Nisha smiled. They came to a momentary compromise immediately.
Soon they were greeted by the calls of the owls. So many of them this time.
Their loud calls reverberated from the surrounding hills. Disha looked around peevishly.
“Awww, let’s split up Disha and look for the reasons of their frightening call- go to the left!” Nisha ran to the right instantly.
“No, no, be careful Nisha. Don’t try to play prank with them,” Disha cautioned her to avoid possible problems.
Next moment Nisha felt a swoop at her back. A most gorgeous owl came out from no where and moved rapidly through the air to sit right there on their front porch. Nisha and Disha got startled for the moment.
Minutes slipped. All of them stood there motionless to have a glance at each other.
“This one is incredibly beautiful. It looks both elegant and wise. Is’nt it Nisha!”Disha whispered.
“Sh—-Nisha nodded at her putting her finger on her lips, but made no sound. Only their eyes met agreeing with each other.
“Their daily activities start at this time only”. Disha said in a low voice and came closer to Nisha.
“They would stretch, yawn, comb their heads with their claws. They would clean their toes and claws by nibbling with beaks. They will hoot, whistle, screech, scream, purr, chitter, hiss and what not?”
Disha came further near to Nisha. Glancing around she suggested,
“It’s not wise to stay here longer. Let’s go somewhere else. If the bird feels upset she could become quite ferocious and would stop at nothing to harm us, I am quite certain.”
“Humm, you are right!” Nisha agreed.
So both of them headed to the other side of the villa. Many huge trees were standing there.
They looked around curiously with a strong premonition that they might face many other happenings at this hour of the day when sun was moving towards the horizon. This was the high time for those night creatures to come out from their hiding places and start their daily activities.
It was difficult for them to concentrate on any game. There was every chance to be attacked by the owls. So they kept on being watchful all the time.
Pulling an awful face and leaning against a tree Nisha uttered,
“I just wanted to play for sometime but now find God has something different in His mind.” She looked very unhappy even more lost. Disha too was trudging on the field with troubled face and head down without speaking anything.
“My Goodness, look here again?”Look up there in the tree”, Nisha pointed her finger in great agitation to the direction of a tree to show something to Disha. What are they doing?”She asked to Disha. A big owl and her chicks were busy at something.
“Look at their expressions. They must have seen us coming. Aren’t they focussing their eyes on us? The big owl is sitting nearby in another branch dangling their dinner in its beak! It seems to be a dead rabbit. The adult owl must be coaxing the chicks to fly up to her, you see!” Disha uttered astonishingly.
The little fur-balls did exactly as they had thought. The adult owl fed the little ones by stripping the flesh bit by bit and pushing it down their throats. When they were full, the adult owl finished off the rest of it.
Nisha and Disha were engrossed in observing them tending to forget all about their other dangerous neighbours for the moment.
In seconds another large owl swooped over Disha’s left shoulder. He was making them his prey. He came back soon overhead peering down at them.
"Hey you! What are you doing?"Nisha cried looking at the bird,
"Look Disha, is he playing a friendly game with us?”
After every thirty to fifty yards the owl would swoop down over them. They felt even strong tugs on their heads.
“Oh, no! It’s not a game at all. He is trying to warn us,” Disha almost cried. We got to go home immediately.
“What do you mean?”Nisha got alarmed.
“The owl is making a clicking noise with his tongue every time he swoops over us. Do you notice that? It means he is threanted by us. Look at it—head lowered, wings spread out and pointing down. That means he is in a defensive posture. It wants to protect those chicks up there in the tree from us. He thinks we are here to threaten their precious babies”.
“How do you know?” Nisha asked, quite surprised.
“I have read about them in the books .He also seems much similar”.
Nisha looked aback. Her eyes went wide! She had always rebuked Disha when she read other books.
“You always had a complain against me. I wonder how could you do that? It is ridiculous” Disha got the chance to defend herself firmly right now.
“I have read many stories on owls. Now I can sense their motives very clearly. I can see things before it happen. Do you understand? I had always liked to remain calm and open to avoid reacting against you even if I disagreed with what you were saying but you had no patience to listen to me. Now is it making sense to you what I am saying?"
“What the hell….Nisha kept her arms over her head and whispered timidly,
“You are right, Disha. I am so sorry!you spend much of your time on other books and I opposed that. Now I realize how special this has made you. You are so well informed!”Nisha choked.
“Forget it. Now it is getting dark .We are neither comfortable nor safe outside any more. Let’s get the hell out of here and leave them as they are.” Disha shouted anxiously – half scolding, half in friendly manner. “They will be gathering in flock very soon.”
All these times the male owl was swooping down over and over again to scare them away. It looked more ferocious and aggressive as time went by.
Nisha and Disha rushed up towards their home screaming at the top of their voices .Tears began to roll down their cheeks. All their spirits of playing games were spoiled.
One more day passed away. They couldn’t enjoy their day outdoors as they had wished to do.
One week too almost went by . There was no trace of Mamu.
The expression of sadness was clearly drawn on sisters’ faces. Their hopes and expectations were not being fulfilled. They were looking forward eagerly to Mamu’s arrival, only who could solve their problems.
To their ashtonishment Mamu reached unexpectedly just the next day with a huge bag with him.
“To-night we will throw a house warming party,” he announced at the top of his voice and ordered to decorate the whole house with powerful lights.
“The party will go on as long as we wish!”Mamu declared with a big smile and hugged Disha and Nisha warmly.
“How nice of you Mamu! You mean guests will be dropping everynight and we will enjoy the party day after day?”
“Of course! why not! You have suffered a lot because of these unwanted dangerous neighbours around you. Now it is our turn to take revenge. We will show the owls that we are not scared of them any more. We have every right to enjoy our newly bought house. Isn’t it? We will enjoy our night long parties with great enthusiasm.”
Nisha and Disha were too young to understand Mamu’s strategy. So they kept quiet, but one thing was clear in their mind that Mamu was going to do something remarkable.
The party went on in a vigorous manner. All the family members of Nisha and Disha and other guests were awake every night to enjoy the parties. They were so delighted.
What about those dangerous neighbours? ---THE OWLS? They could not bear the light of those high-powered bulbs day after day that Mamu had brought with him in his huge bag. So they were forced to fly away, far far away forever. They were never seen ever in the neighbourhood after that. They were not comfortable in dazzling lights.
“Eureka! Mamu! We are so proud of you. You have done such a great job,” Disha- Nisha yelled excitedly.
“We are so happy and safe from now on” said others.
Mamu was happy too. His labor ended successfully. So he decided to leave one day.
“Wait ,wait Mamu you can’t go back without telling us the secrets of your investigations.” Disha requested firmly.
“How did you figure out what to do?”Others shouted.
“I had got enough feedback from you Disha about how everything was going on. It had given me some opportunities for seeing the situation in my own way that can lead me to an effective action. I applied both my instinct and reason to solve this problem.” Mamu said.
“I have a natural skill of solving any type of problem.”He continude again
“The power to think and drawing conclusion logically is inevitable.
There are two different ways of knowing a thing…to move round the object and to enter into the object. One is for short term another is for long term. I kept my focuss for the long term. I entered into the situation which you can call intuition—an instinct in animals. We, the human being, apply both intuitions and reasons in our struggle for existence but owls go by instinct only.
The owls were endangered because you were taking away their comforts, right? At the same time you thought that they should be deprived of their present state of eases which are justifiably yours. Immediately it came into my mind that they are incapable of living in dazzling lights. They are creatures of night only. They can live in the forest even more comfortably which stand just behind your boundary walls. So I decided to send them there with the help of those dazzling lights. Our problem is solved.” Every body shouted “Astonishing! You are so intelligent!”
Nisha and Disha learnt how to know their Mamu in a new perspective. They celebrated with sweets, garland and a tilak on his forehead as well.
Mamu’s wit could win the owls’ might.
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