DIVINE BIRDS

This is a short funny tale on one of the so called divine species - the pigeons, who are supposedly classier and more dignified of the lot, holding a rather esteemed position in the bird world. A closer look and you discover quite a few chinks in  their divine armour. 

‘Oh! The place is too bright to sleep in to-day. I can’t sleep here anymore.
“Sleep, sleep as I do! You are always fussy on trivial things.”
“No, I am going to go some other place.”  
                                                                           
“You will suffer one-day for your wild nature, I warn you.”
It was a full-moon night. The moonbeams were laughing at their squabbles while dragging a canopy of soothing light over the sky silently.... very silently; but the lady pigeon was not very comfortable with their high spirits.
She flew away for her unknown destination in search of a shaded place. I had hardly any knowledge where the lady bird had gone at that odd hour at night.

It was slightly disturbing for me, because I had always admired these peace-loving, quiet- natured birds. They had nestled on my window-sill for a few months now, but I never saw them so restless before.                                                                      
My culture never permits me to intrude into other’s personal life. So I kept quiet and forgot all about the incident in a few days.

Almost a month had passed by after that. The male bird was still there clutching at his old habit of returning home during twilight on my window- sill, but the female bird totally vanished. She couldn’t be found anywhere nearby. I felt sorry for the desolate male-bird.

One crisp morning I woke up very early and came out of the room to greet the first rays of the sun. The sky was crystal clear. The breeze was blowing gently. It was a lovely morning. I felt a divine bliss.

In few minutes of time an awful smell I sniffed. It blurred my sunny morning at once.

I looked all around peevishly to make sure that it was not coming from any part of our balcony. As bad luck could have been, soon I discovered that the very smell was coming from a small compartment adjacent to that balcony itself. I rushed there to have a look.

“Oh! God, you are here at last my lady bird?”I asked her astonishingly. “What are you up to?”

I was astounded to see that the female pigeon had laid two eggs there side by side in a dark corner of the shaft very smooth and glossy and made the whole place incredibly dirty, smelly as well as unhealthy. I spoke out loudly,
“Dear bird! What the hell have you done? What sort of manner do you expect from me now? You have made the whole place so messy and filthy!” An accusation was there in my voice.
The lady pigeon didn’t answer me at all, instead looked at me quietly. Certainly a sign of embarrassment was there in her eyes still her appearance looked very promising. I didn’t know why? It could be that she had been knowing me now since last few months very well as her affectionate buddy… that’s why!

Everybody at home got startled at my tête-à-tête with a bird at this early hour of the day. They rushed by my side immediately.
“What’s happened?” They seemed to be very worried. “Who are you talking to?”

I kept all my allegations towards them against the female bird.

This time the bird looked into my eyes very promptly and penetratingly. Being not very happy,
she rolled her eyes thrice and made some strange sounds out of her voice profoundly as if to say something.

“Good for you! Have you got anything to say? I asked her. You will take at least two months more to vacate this place. It will not be possible to come to this balcony for this long period of time. What do you want me to do now?” I yelled at her.

Few moments she took to consolidate herself and then answered in a mellow voice, Bloo,ooloo kum, Blook blook blook - as if she was saying “I want to be treated the way a lady should be treated by another lady.”

“Oh, God! This is strange!” I almost cried. “I can’t believe this.
You behave like Dignitaries. Am I supposed to behave with you like that? Mrs. Glookum Boo? Only king Puru dared to talk like that against Emperor Alexander.”

Any way, arguments went on for a long time but I appreciated her for her courage and self –respect. Besides, the female bird was very soft-spoken and gentle. She was not very much in good health also. She looked very weak and under nourished too.
Further side of her argument, she seemed to be quite realistic while asking for some favour from another female during such a delicate period of her life which should be permissible.
So my whole family came forward in her support. We let her stay there, where she wanted to be for a certain period of time and didn’t disturb her at all.

Only thing, we kept her separate from the rest of the house by closing a door between us to keep those horrible smells away.
She hatched her babies there making the whole place as dirty as possible and doing many other nonsense activities that suit a bird only: but we were prepared to co-operate with her unconditionally, so remained in complete silence.
The male pigeon was looking not very happy though for our inconveniences. He felt so hot with shame and grief that he seemed to grumble from my window sill sounding “glorooor guglugoor”as if he wanted to say

“You will be punished one-day for your wild nature, I warn you.”

He ruffled his feathers in anger then pecked all over his body with its sharp beak very aggressively, scratched his head with one leg irritably ,then moved in clockwise and anti-clockwise manners for quite some time - very restlessly. Took some stroll pensively moving his head forward and backward constantly. It went on and on and on.
After sometime, not knowing what to do next, he sat down on his soft belly with folded legs and preferred to doze for a while.

                                                              
.He looked quite antagonistic though, still it couldn't be denied that he had been truly considerate of the fact that how laborious tasks it would be to clean up the whole mess till the babies flew away. Perhaps he was ashamed of those future inconveniences for us.

Two months later “Wuk-Wukum G-oool-e, Wuk-bukum Wukum, G-oool-,buk - as if the bird was saying, ‘’ How do you like this place? I am going to stay here from now on”, said the male bird and made “goo…goo” sound while moving around the female pigeon.
“As you wish! They have kept the room so well-ordered and clean. Nice place to stay in. Honestly I too have liked this place very much” Responded the female bird.

“I shall catch a bad cold if I stay outside this winter I tell you” she grumbled and made a low rumbling sound. “Do you remember our last years’ experiences? The nights were so cold and we had every chance of picking up viral diseases like Herpes virus, bacterial infections. How am I prone to cold you know much better than me! Am I wrong?”

“Don’t worry. We are going to stay here this winter –that’s certain”. The male bird “cooed” around her to give assurances.
“Right now let’s enjoy the warmth of the room. To make the room cozier let’s bring some hay stacks, Darling!” the male bird showed great energy and enthusiasm all at once. He moved his wings in a relaxed way making sounds like… lap,lap, lap and allowed himself to move freely here and there inside the room.
“The room is so tranquil, but” He continued again in a mellow voice,

“one thing is baffling me. Does anybody stay here at all in this room?
I am having a negative vibration. We love humans so much which they don’t know. We are semi –domestic creatures. We always want them around. See how this room looks so very deserted and lifeless! What’s the matter?
Humans often provide us food, home but not companionship .It is very heartbreaking. Any way….” the male bird changed his topic in a short while and murmured, “This place suits us in every respect and we decide to stay here from now on, my dear!”

The female bird meanwhile, was engrossed in her own world. She kept on mumbling, “We are growing old. We are no longer as strong as many others. For all those common diseases—such as rotavirus, adenovirus ,paramyxovirus etc. we the pigeons are considered to be quite resistant…but,but”,

The male bird made a sound in resentment as if to say something like
“What’s new about that? What do you mean to say?”
“You know what I mean?” female bird started again… for parasitic diseases antibiotics, antiparasitics vaccines are needed to save our lives which are not possible to procure without the help of an Ornithologist.. Think about those problems!
Carrying bacterial pathogens is also very common to us.
These very painstaking worries are always there in my mind.” The lady bird expressed her grief with a peculiar sound within her throat Gkloom OomOOm oom.
“Come on! You always love to talk wisely” told the male bird.

“I appreciate that, but right now I desire for a short nap. Just close your eyes and doze for a while and forget all about your dark premonitions.
Feel quite at home here and enjoy your sleep. Just imagine what a joy it would be to sleep here from time to time pressing our heads deeply under our shoulders and doing no-thing, nothing at a –ll: but, but sure, of course (he rectifies himself immediately) thinking“high” --grloo, grloo oom, oom”.He uttered in a deep meditative voice . “ We are after all “Divine birds”. We are thought of as one of those Supernatural links between the heaven and the earth. People call us a messenger of divine as we have connections with the region of the upper atmosphere which is far, far above the ground.

How nice of them! Isn’t it? I feel proud of being a divine bird.

The male-bird immediately fell asleep. Probably he was lost in his deep meditations… “The Divine Wisdom.”

The female bird, meantime, paid no attention to him and kept on talking and talking and talking –wukoom, wukoom, wukoom… concerning all about her ill health.                                                                   

I happened to overhear all their conversations from the next room by chance.
“I am going to be invaded by another couple once again. This time it is inside the room itself.” I warned myself and panicked.
Realizing the seriousness of the situation I gushed into the room and charged them.
“Hey! Who are you to decide your stay here, my dear birds?”
The male pigeon at once almost nervously flew away flapping his wings noisily. A sudden human voice woke him up from his deep sleep and alarmed him very badly; but the female bird seemed to be very obstinate and headstrong. She rolled down her red eyes (all grown up pigeons have a red rim outside their black pupil) and stood in a crooked posture against me as if ready for an encounter. She said, as I anticipated,

                                                                  
“The whole Clan of lady pigeons has the information that your son and his family have gone abroad. Their room has been kept totally empty! What’s wrong if we stay here till they come—you, selfish lady! The room looks so dull and gloomy when nobody is around.
“Please stay away from us. ‘Gulu,Luloo,Gulooglu!”

I got speechless for few moments by her scholarly lecture and swallowed hard.

She continued again,
“There should be some-one to cheer it up? Guoo,Guoo OOm”( making sound from her closed throat) and moved around quite energetically. The impression she extended openly was that she wanted to be there on her own and couldn’t be pleased at all with my being there for further talks.
All of a sudden, she moved her head up and down repeatedly. She was very much in anger I anticipated. Once she even looked for her male partner from the corner of her left eye to win his genuine support in her struggle with me .The male bird meanwhile was waiting outside very anxiously. He didn’t appear to be a very strong fellow.
Instead of helping his partner, in such a sensitive situation, he maintained a mysterious silence. Possibly he didn’t want to displease either me or his lady love, as I could guess.

So the lady bird chose to fight her case on her own. She looked determined to stay in the same room by hook or by crook and moved from place to place very actively.

In a few minutes of time the panorama took a complete change. God knows why? The male bird came back very soon vigorously to solve all the difficulties between us. He was being provoked so long by his lady partner to justify her arguments. This time when he came back he made his mind to ignore me completely.
I got surprised to see his unpredictable courage!

They dropped their voices to discuss something very seriously and privately and moved constantly in a circular manner (Whenever they face any problem they start moving like that only) making peculiar grudging sounds. They communicate with their flock mates through their calls and body languages.

I had no idea what were they arguing about; so I stood there for some time very foolishly to know all about their decisions. Time went on tick-tock, tick –tock, tick-tock.

There was nobody at home at that time to witness what the commotion was all about and to support m-y cause at this odd hour of mid- day. So I felt both tensed and helpless. I was suffering from a cultural misunderstanding between me and the birds. My sensory perception was that the couple had no intention to leave the room come what may. They were just changing their positions on an entire shelf to baffle me more. It was even far above my reach.

I watched their course of action for quite some time.
“How long can I hold my patience like this?” I asked myself. So I announced shouting at them,
“I resent this type of intrusion. You can’t stay here Mr. & Mrs Buk bukum boo. This is not fair!”

The lady pigeon at once took a serious offense on my uttering the word “Intrusion”. She made an odd sound inside her throat”Glaloro” with her closed beak to show how much humiliated she felt on my thoughtless remarks on them. She looked at me vehemently and responded-- as if to say
“You have made a mistake Madam! We are not intruders like bat, rat and mouse. We are not a threat to human being at all! We are noble birds-who have rather a spiritual influence on your existence in this world. We soar high in the air effortlessly. With such power of flight we rise highest above the superficial appearances on the ground and live there in accord with the “Divine Wisdom” whenever we like. People among you who are sensible have recognized that potentiality. You call us intruders?
Many of you use us as a symbol of love and peace as well. Being mankind’s oldest domestic bird, remember how many times we had served mankind by carrying their messages strapped to our legs in different situations in the past.
We stay for a short while, and then go away to another destination. Birds do not believe in possessions as human beings do but to ask for some physical comforts are natural to every living being. Do you disagree?
(As if that much respect I should have given to them as most revered bird.)

She took her exile immediately to avoid any more hassles between us maintaining her own dignity and even hurried her partner up to follow her. Her male partner followed suit meekly flapping his wings.


They never showed their faces once again in future, as I remember. For the reason, I imagine, that pigeons,  and as I have read, can remember large numbers of individual images for a long time and obviously this couple didn’t see my representation very friendly to them. They left us forever after that. Pigeons are more intelligent than human being suspects.

I felt quite distressed and unhappy too over the situation but what to do?

After a persistent thought I decided to keep the room locked ever since. Certain amount of anxiousness was gone at least.

The third intervention came again within few months later, after a short break. A cut off portion of another balcony of the house had been turned into their “Intensive Care Unit”. This time one baby pigeon was lying there closing his eyes with a broken leg. Day and night his parents were strolling nearby raising their heads up and down impatiently. I guessed they were arguing,
                                                                        
“Here I find a great difference between you and me clear enough.”

From his size, colored ring round the neck and grouchy mood, I could make out that it was baby’s father. He was arguing,
“To begin with, he shouldn’t have tried to fly a long distance, but you rather convinced him otherwise. His limbs are still very weak to meet your demand.”
”I am pretty sure he is not weak in his limbs. He is rather weak in his mind. He has a troubled mind “to do or not to do.” That’s his problem.” The mother snapped back.
“He must learn how to overcome that confusion primarily.
Apart from that when we are far away from home we use a combination of cues to determine the location of the home: we sense the positions of the sun, the planet’s magnetic field and even smell in the air. He must learn all these things from now on!”

I hoped I could comprehend their arguments quite correctly as I had been living with them since last few years now and had developed a sixth sense of perception. I could easily distinguish them as individuals and could follow the meaning of their various sounds the way I understand the sounds of my own language or many other languages. Even half such sounds were enough to tell me that the questions-answers of the birds are going on.

The mother pigeon was in the full swing of talking and said again,

“When grown up we fly many miles high above the ground, sometime at the speed of ninety miles per hour. Mentally he should be prepared for that!”
Good reason to worry. His mother appeared to be rightly concerned about her baby, I thought.
“Quite right, but what’s so hurry! The father argued, “He is hardly one year old and is very gentle in nature. Each one of us is not the same as others! He has still several years to live. Almost ten /twelve years of his life span are enough to learn everything. You are worrying without any cause, Darling!” The male bird tried to pacify the female bird.
“Now see how badly he has hurt his leg and is lying immobile for hours. Somehow he can settle himself on his one foot, but can’t manage to get his food or water on his own! Isn’t it depressing?”

I didn’t feel it wise to intervene in their personal matters. My unwanted presence in giving him food and water possibly might have disturbed them. It is quite clear from our experiences that birds can sense peoples’ care but not very comfortable with their presence because of their own suspicious nature of being captured.
The baby needed some seclusion for its recovery,…I felt and left him on his own.


One day I went out of the town for some urgent work and couldn’t be back for a pretty long time.

Days passed unnoticed… when back again it was a dreadful scene to watch all over. The house was in a total frenzy state, - chaos everywhere. I couldn’t figure it out what to do.
Every nook and corner of our house was filled with many other pigeons and their young breeds. Every corner, the window-sills, the stairs, every room here and there, had been turned into their private chambers, - their own safe haven -horribly dirty and smelly and unhealthful. We were nowhere to be fitted among them. We felt like just outsiders, outcast and miserable.
Oh! God! The magnitude of cleaning up the whole mess made me edgy. I felt so discouraged! The intervention of these pigeons- the so called “Divine Birds” in our life was really incredible!
What to do? Life’s like that only. We need to move on. Time never looks behind, so didn’t we. We had to accept all these hazards of life with a smiling face and patience.

Surprisingly as days passed on, despite all these havocs, gradually we learnt how to fit ourselves with their accompaniment and to tackle those unpleasant tasks slowly but surely. Realigning ourselves with old relationships we expected to weather the storm on our own and eventually achieved successes.
We are still together, living in the same house, under the same roof but don’t complain any more against each other. We have rather learnt to co-exist and love  each other in a better way. They are now just like our extended family. Thanks to their Divinity: “Long live Divine Birds.”