The Aviator

 Odi Baba, koto unchu…bhoi korche!

That was Chulbul talking to herself in Bangla as she looked down from the 17^th floor overlooking SV Road. Translated literally, it would read, “O My God, this is so high…I am afraid!” You must be wondering how a pigeon could speak Bangla. So then let me take you back into time, not so long ago. Chulbul was born at the Sen’s Ledge Maternity Clinic under the able care and supervision of Dr. (Mrs) Sen whom Chulbul now referred to as Aunty. Having taken all care and protection of the single egg that survived, Chulbul was now almost a month old. Having shed the hairy look, she now looked a pretty damsel (initially thought to be of the opposite gender) with feathers and a beautiful shining coat of fluorescent green and pink around her neck. When Momma Pigeon would fly away in search of food early morning, Aunty would keep walking to the window to see how the little birdie was doing on an almost hourly basis, if not more. She was ably assisted by her compounder hubby. Since they would talk to each other in Bangla, it was but natural that Chulbul learnt the language of the Bhadraloks before her Birdie tongue.

After the scary sight, Chulbul retreated to the safe confines of her well- guarded maternity home. Here the Aunty had kept flower pots to create a fort like structure with only a small passage way that allowed Chulbul to walk in and out to see the blue sky above. The birdie was pretty non-enterprising or should I say non-adventurous. Usually, she would stay put in the small enclosure, hardly moving, just a little here and there. Even though her wings seemed to have grown fully, she would hardly open them. Just walked a few steps to the right, a few steps to the left, some in front and then back to same spot.

The Sens of the Clinic were wondering why Momma pigeon, who usually returned in the afternoon once, did not come that day. It was almost sun set and they were worried whether Chulbul had been abandoned by the mother and now they would have to take full care and custody of the little one. As they wondered how they would manage to bring up another kid after so many years of bringing up their own kid…Momma Birdie finally returned with food held between her beaks. Suddenly the corner became bright and noisy as the little birdie, who had also lost all hope, got excited on seeing her mother. The two snuggled up to each other and the kid started her non-stop chatter but surely this time in her mother tongue.

“Mommy, where were you for so long? Why did you not come to me earlier? I was so afraid and feeling lonely. I thought you had left me and gone forever.”

“No Chulbul, how can I ever think of leaving you. I had gone in search of food and I was not able to get the soft twigs and grass that you love to chew anywhere close. I had to fly far and so it took so long. My Baby, I am so sorry. But tell me what were you afraid of? With the good Aunty around, you have surely nothing to worry.”

“I know the Aunty is good. She even tried giving me food and water. But I did not eat one morsel; I did not sip the water either. She is often missing for some time, maybe she has some other work. But during those times, she asks a funny man in shorts to come and see me. He is more interested in taking pictures of me than anything else. He hides behind the curtains and tries to take my pictures from many angles. He thinks he is smart and is fooling me….Ha Ha…Funny Man.”

“So what were you afraid of?”

“Mommy, when you are gone, there is a bad bird who comes. He is big and strong and he comes and pushes me around. I try to go into a corner or behind a flower pot but he follows me there. He keeps poking me with his beak. I start making noise…help…Help…help! And Aunty rushes to the window and shoos away the bad bird.”

“O no! That must be Prem Chops…he is a bad bird and he is always up to something with young chicks. Now that he knows you are here alone, he will keep coming and his intentions are not good. I wish I could stay here and protect you round the clock but I must fly out at dawn in search of food. I will come quickly from tomorrow but you better start making your cry for help even louder. Aunty and the Funny Man will surely come to your rescue. I just pray nothing bad ever happens to you. I will ask your cousins Sonu-Monu to come and play with you. They will give you company. They are a month older than you and they are a fine pair. I am sure you will be happy and safe in their company.”

It was pitch dark and having had their conversation, the Momma asked, “It is late baby, why don’t you sleep?

“Tell me a story and I will go to sleep after that. Night time is fairy tale time.”

“Ok. Today I will tell you a story about a brave bird and I want you to become, the bravest pigeon ever so that next time someone comes to trouble you, you will teach him a lesson of his life. …Long time ago a ten headed monster was driving away a pretty woman in his chariot up in the clouds when Jatayu swooped down and attacked with all its power. The monster was a supreme fighter and had defeated the bravest of men of his time and the bird Jatayu was no match for him as apart from its huge wings and claws, it had nothing to fight with. The monster had bow and arrow, spears, sword, mace and many a weapon to fight but the bird fought valiantly and was finally beaten after a long fight. Jatayu fell to the ground….” By now Chulbul was fast asleep dreaming of becoming the Super Bird fighting all evil forces, rescuing birds from disaster and saving Mommy from the Big Bad Birds of prey.

Next morning by the time Chulbul woke up, Momma pigeon had flown to bring food and she was admiring the sunrise. After a while two pigeons came. These seemed friendly. They were her cousins Sonu and Monu. The Sens realized that Chulbul was in company of friends so they opened up the enclosed space a bit for the three chicks to play around. After the initial round of chirping, something Chulbul was better off than her cousins, the duo asked her to join them in a short flight. Chulbul flatly refused…Na baba na, ami kothaou jaabo na…Ma boleche boshey thaktey (No no no, I am not going anywhere…Mommy has told me to just sit here only). Sonu-Monu told them about the fun of flying, how nice it is to go into the clouds, lovely wind blowing into their faces, go anywhere you wish to, eat anything that you find and see the world going by. But it had no impact on our Chulbul. She said she was not meant to fly but she could dance like Happy Feet…and she showed her cousins her little tap dance. The cousins were not impressed and after a while flew away. Chulbul was alone and in crept the sly Prem. Seeing him, Chulbul started making a loud noise, louder than ever, which brought the Funny Man rushing to the window and drive away the Bad Angry Bird.

Things went on in the same way for another week and despite all efforts of Sonu-Monu and her mother, Chulbul refused to fly. She would walk out of the iron grill and through the flower pots to take a look outside. “Ah, this is nice.” She could see others of her family flying. She even saw other birds of green and black, too, flying with wings spread wide. But the moment she would look down….Odi Baba…koto unchu….ami parbo na (O my, this is so high…I cannot do it!) and pronto she would return to her hiding place.

Momma Bird brought in Pensei, the Pigeon Guru. He was a learned man and a well-respected bird trainer. In the initial few days Pensei took time to get friendly and started talking to Chulbul. Having got the confidence of the shy bird, now the trainer was able to make the bird spread her wings….start fluttering and slowly running in the small space available. He started talking and doing some pep talk…including sharing some quotes from Jonathan Livingston Seagull with some variations, of course!

“You are a bird and your life is all about flying. You are not a plant that you see on the pot here. You will see many places, go to beautiful lands and never be afraid of anything, whereas this plant will always stand here and not know about the world outside. It is just meant to flower once in a while and hope someone gives it water and manure to survive. We are different. We have to fight to survive. We have to find our own food, companions and life. We are free of all on bonds unlike the plants who are stuck to one place. “

“You will have freedom to be yourself, your true self and nothing can stand in your way.”

“Your whole body from wingtip to wingtip is nothing more than your thought itself in a form you can see. Break the chains of your thought and you break the chains of our body, too.”

“The pigeon sees the farthest who flies the highest.”

Such inspiring talks made Chulbul feel like knowing more and seeing more. The Pensei showed her how to open up her wings, how to speed up when approached by a bird of prey, how to swoop down upon food and go from place to place, never to build a nest. Then, one morning at around 6 am, Chulbul was called out by Pensei. Her mother was also around watching her kid come out of her hiding place. Slowly Chulbul, instead of looking face down, turned and put her claws to the building edge….Now Chulbul, just do it my brave girl…you can do it…go for it and jump off. Chulbul suddenly realized that falling off the place would mean instant death, not like the brave Jatayu but an unknown and un-cried for birdie. Alas, it had rained the previous night and the ledge was wet and in spite of trying her best to claw up back to safety, she slipped and opened up her wings and dropped off…

The Funny Man caught the entire first flight of Chulbul just like they do on NatGeo Channel. His next shot was to click the mother and her baby who had fallen or flown from 17^th floor to 16^th floor ledge…there they were…but possibly the fear in the bird had gone away. And after a while Chulbul was gone. Aunty was both happy and sad at the same time. She was happy that the bird had finally flown, she was sad, now that she did not know how she would spend her day after spending almost 5 weeks seeing Chulbul come out of the egg to grow up into a fine young bird. Now her window side was empty. Next morning they washed the place of all the muck on the window ledge. An emotional Aunty said, “I will never allow any more pigeons to hatch their eggs in my flower pots. You fall in love with them as babies….they then grow up and fly away.”

The next evening Chulbul returned to her spot on the Sens window, one last time. They were happy seeing the bird back. Chulbul looked at the couple and possibly wanted to say thank you but kept quiet. After a while, she flew away…never to return. And even if she did return, how could the Sens even recognize the Bird who was once afraid of heights. The Maternity Home is now shut forever.

SS