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| Pigeon’s roost | | | Mahesh Grover | 7/5/2013 11:20:34 PM |
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THE bedroom window's ledge provided a perch for the avians, giving a beautiful account of their chirping and preening. A pair of pigeons however made it their home.
A loud flutter one day revealed a captivating sight. The pigeons were procreating. Risking an accusation of being a peeping tom, I watched them and beckoned my wife to my side.
The male with his feathers apart did a short balancing act on the female and fell off, only to preen his feathers and repeat, undeterred.
Days thereafter the sight of two eggs in the nest sent waves of excitement in the entire family, including my son in distant land, when informed.
Thrill caught up with each of us and there were regular enquiries to know further developments. The lady pigeon patiently incubated the egg, while the male pigeon would often get food for her. To facilitate them, we had kept a seed tray in the lawn.
One day to my horror, I saw a crow, sitting in the nest. I scared it away but by then an egg had been destroyed. At last a small gawky bird emerged from the surviving egg and the pigeons started their parenting. There were greedy noises from the young one whose open beak constantly demanded more food.
Then tragedy struck and the young one vanished. The presence of an eagle around confirmed our worst suspicion. All of us were shattered. There were tears, no food, and a silent disbelief.
The pigeons just sat there quietly by their empty nest, as days went by. Our helplessness added to our misery.
Early one morning we saw the male pigeon go down and bring new twigs, which the female would simply throw down, the moment he placed them on the ledge. His persistent efforts throughout the day met the same fate. It was his way of saying, "Spring is short so let us get on with life".
Finally, he had his way in convincing the lady, who then joined him in creating another nest but spurned his physical advances by inching away, with him following her determinedly. When she reached the end of the sill she would take a short flight and come to the other edge and the whole scene would be replayed. It was a most amusing and delightfully pristine dalliance ever seen. The next day, however, she succumbed to his desires amidst a noisy flutter and finally the egg came and then the young pigeon and this time life was the victor.
Humans with their superior brains and propensity to think, take time to rationalise a tragedy and then move on but these creatures of nature view things differently.
For them spring and time was running out, and if they wasted it, they would lose an opportunity to carry on with what nature had ordained for them and failure of which would rob us of the delightful sight of pigeons and birds flying.
"Men may come and men may go but I go on forever" wrote a thoughtful human symbolising continuity of life but I think the 'bird-brained' understand its meaning better. We need to learn the art of resilience from them. |
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