Odi Baba, koto unchu…bhoi korche!
That was Chulbul talking to
herself in Bangla as she looked down from the 17th 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 17th
floor to 16th 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
