beautiful people

A collection of some encounters with our fellow earthlings from my childhood days…

the parrot

One day my Dad got a parrot home in a cage. I was delighted with my new pet and planned to teach it to talk, just like the one in my school. I would make it happy giving it a lot of chillies (thats one thing parrots actually seem to enjoy eating!!).

But this one was silent most of the time.

It kept itself busy all its waking hours walking round and round the metal cage, methodically testing the strength of every single wire. My parents didnt share my enthusiasm and seemed quite unhappy looking at it. I said its probably because its new to the place, will become comfortable after some time. I promised to take good care of it. But even after a few days, its efforts were relentless and desperate as ever. Though now, there were times when it seemed to be a little tired and just sat in the center of the cage.

They said its better to let it go.

I protested and threw a tantrum and cribbed and revolted in every way I could, untill they finally relented. I tried to pay more attention to it, running to it every day after I returned from school. Under the supervision of my Mom, I made sure I gave it always had the right kind of food, and the water was never lacking.

After a week, we noticed one of its claws was bleeding due to its efforts to get out. That was it, there were no second thoughts now.

It was a holiday that morning, and all of us stood outside and watched while my Dad opened the door of the cage. The parrot stayed silent and motionless at first. Then it edged gingerely towards the entrance, and hopped outside.

It suddenly broke its almost perpetual mouna vratha – with a loud screech, it flew upwards!

Quite possible that it may be devoured by a hawk the next minute. For it it was no doubt a risk leaving the security of the cage, where it was being fed very well daily and provided water by a very zealous owner (i.e. yours truly). But that moment of freedom was undoubtedly more than worth the risk, and worth more than a lifetime of imprisonment in the cage.

We watched mesmerized as it dissappeared noisily into the sky.

Standing there silently, we shared a kind of quiet joy. Strangely, I felt no regrets at the loss of “my” pet 🙂