A Parrot’s “Tale” ๐Ÿฆœ

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Going back down the memory lane … Three years back … It was just another hot and humid summer afternoon of 2007 … I was preparing to leave Lucknow to start my college life … And then it happened … I heard something fluttering in the balcony … At first instance I ignored the sound, assuming it to be some random bird who might have stayed behind, given the absolute heat at that time … But the fluttering continued … accompanied by some random chirping … Then I decided to go and check out for myself what was really happening …

The scene that I encountered then is still very much vivid in my mind … Just around the flower pot, I saw a dirty and sanguinary creature flapping its wings, trying to find a proper landing … At the very first sight, I was totally confused about what it really was … maroon colored … with whitish spots all over the body … not even sure how to fly …

I expected him to behave rationally … to fly away at the very sight of me … but going against my logic, as soon as he saw me … he came straight towards me, running with all his might … and didn’t hesitate for a moment when I let my hand in front of him to hold on to … That little thing was lying on my palm, helpless … looking at me with his tiny crystal eyes … nudging my fingers with his small underdeveloped beaks …

Then I realized that it was not any random maroon-colored bird … But it was a parrot … only a few weeks old … and he was completely soaked in blood … Must have been attacked by some crow I believe … It was quite obvious that he didn’t know how to fly … And that scene still flashes in front of my eyes as I am writing this down … The way he was looking at me with such an affection … He, obviously, assumed me to his savior … and though I don’t understand bird’s language … but still, I am very sure that he was trying to thank me with his random and totally powerless squawking …

I brought him inside and was quick enough to do all the first aid I could have thought of … I was home alone … and was waiting for everyone to come backso that I could rush this little creature to doctor … In the meantime, I presented him with all types of eatables I could think of at that time … There was nothing remotely close to bird food in the house … Giving it a try, I gave him everything ranging from rice to biscuits, wheat to bread … And boy was he hungry … He ate anything and everything … The way he was wrestling with the loaf of bread ….made me fall in love with him … He looked so sweet … so cute … And I knew that I am going to do everything I could to save his life …

Two weeks passed by … father had arranged for a temporary cage for him … Everyone in the family was emotionally attached to him by then … 24 x 7 I kept him in my room and he was the center of attraction for the entire crew … With all the love and care, his health improved … And by the end of the month, he was fit and fine …

And then it happened …. My father had a mini-conference with me one day and told me what needs to be done … Even I knew that there was no point being recalcitrant … The bird needs to be sent to the place it belonged to… But he was so small … How would he take care of himself ??? .. From where would he get his food ??? … What if some evil crow attacks him again ??? ….

All these questions kept striking my mind all through the night … I had to board my train the day after … And though I was too emotionally attached to him to let him go … I knew that this was the right thing … I took him to the terrace .. set him free … He cat-walked out of the cage … climbed to the top of it … and stared at me as if asking “What am I supposed to do now??” … Along with me he learned how to play with the ball … He learned how to tear apart anything he could get his beak across … He had already started talking like a small kid … mumbling all kinds of random words … But there was a thing I was unable to teach him … I couldn’t have possibly taught him ho to fly properly ( like a bird and not like a shooting star ) …. I couldn’t have possibly taught him how to live without someone to feed him … This was the thing he had to learn himself … And this was the reason I was letting him go … Even if I hated the entire idea to the core ….

Two days had passed by … He was already gone … I was lying in my hostel room, thinking about that bird when my cell suddenly rang… It was my sister on the other end … And she was as elated as I was on hearing the news … My parrot was back … And this time he refused to go … Even the father has to give up now and had agreed that we could pet him … We had a new member of the family now …

And quite aptly he has become a part of the family by now … He calls everyone by a particular name … For some inexplicable reason, he calls me “Mummy” …. And I don’t have a single complaint with that … More than 3 years old, he talks all kinds of weird things … Whenever someone scolds him, he takes care to scold him back … He starts complaining if not fed or provided with bath at the right time … For some peculiar reason, he is very hostile to outsiders … And can tear them apart if not controlled …

And whenever I return from the hostel during the holidays … he looks at me the same way he did when we first met … sitting on my palm … thanking me for saving his life … with all the gratitude … with all the love … with all the affection … !!!!!