Crow Ramblings

• Shri Thyagarajan and others have essayed on
  crows.The writings made me ramble a bit on crows.
  Definitely crows are clever, cleverer than human beings.
  With a single syllable'caw' the bird is able to communicate better than what we human beings do with millions of words in the dictionary.
  With a small miniature black form ,it has attained the gloriest tribute of being the representative of our ancestors.They are just satisfied with 'black' and are not victimized by'Fair and Lovely' cream.
  
  Bharati saw Lord Krishna In kakka.
  :Kaakkai siraginile nanda lala
  un kariya niram thonruthayye nanda lala'.
  
  
  , A child' s life starts with crow. We see mothers feeding children in open having a cup of dal rice with liberal dose of ghee
  extending the rice to the crow first and to the baby next..Many pancha tantra stories revolve around crows-the dull headed crow that stole the vadai,the intelligent modern crow that kept the vadai in its claws and cheated the fox,the crow taking water from a narrow mouthed pot and so on.
  
  Dropping bigger stones into a jar of water is not accidental. They know pretty well that bigger stones can displace more water soon.
  
  Crow watching is as interesting as sky watching.If you place some food in a small basket at a distance, crow will search for a small wire from somewhere ,bend it into a hook and simply draw the basket.
  
  
  In our country, crows are seen as representing communistic principles of sharing. But present day crows are opportunists.
  
  
  when crows have food they want to stash, they always keep an eye out for other crows. If another is watching, the crow will pretend to hide the food in their cache, when in reality, they're stashing it in their chest feathers. Perhaps those poets would not have imagined the thefty character of crows.
  
  It is strange that crows are able to locate the pattern of traffic lights.They are very sure of red light sign for cross walk,simply cross the road, pick up some nuts or eatables and escape unhurt.This skill ,even human beings have not learnt. Many get involved in accidents because of wrong assessment.
  
  
  Quick quiz: What day of the week do the garbage men come to your block? What day do they service the next block over? And the one after that? And after that? Some people are interested in knowing these things. This must be a proud moment for Them. But they need not get too excited, because it also means that they just been outscored on a test by a bird: Crows have been known to memorize the patterns of garbage trucks so they can get easy access to the sweet, sweet waste contained within. They know they don't have the strength to open the cans, but also that the sanitation workers who open the cans for them inevitably leave some trash behind, so the crows simply memorize a driver's schedule, then follow the trucks to pick out anything tasty.
  
  Now I understood why the crows exactly arrive at the time we keep rice on the balcony.They know when we switch on the pumpset.They would stand on the outlet pipe and take water as soon as the tank starts overflowing.
  
  Crows can recognise human faces, to a frightening degree.I have read that When seven masked men tried to catch the crows,the crows were able to recognise those 7 men out of hundreds of people wearing masks and went murder crazy on those 7 men only,recognising their eyes.
  
  All that cawing isn't just noise; they're talking to one another, and doing so in a very advanced fashion.
  
  So, not only do they recognize us as individuals, but they have the means to describe us in detail to one another, even across generations. You know what that means: If you've ever meddled with a crow, even if it was just the one time, decades ago, his children might be out there right now, plotting bloody revenge against us.That is why in our mythology crows are treated as our ancestors. Who knows whether they come to bless or curse?
  
  We have heard of dog menace and monkey menace. But there have been crow menace too. But human tricks and baits won't work out.Once some attempt is made to shoot the crows, a few die, of course. But other crows get the hint,spread the news by their caw language and become too precautious. They would start flying at too high a distance that they can't be shot at.
  
  Today we talk of development in advanced communication and boast ourselves becoming global.But it is surprising that the communication network among crows is too intricate to be imagined by human beings.They know the street and address and can easily pass it on to other crows. Now a days when criminal cases get extended to years, lawyers find it extremely difficult to correlate the papers.But see the crow,If anybody does any harm, the crows can take revenge , identify the person with the mere eyesight and can attack him after a few years.
  
  Perhaps The investigation Dept can, with the help of some ornithologists try to train crows in their dept for easy investigation.
  
  Two years back my husband had a visible lump of a small lemon size,on his head.Very much visible because of baldness.It did not disappear with ointments and medications and it was a nuisance. Doctors did not advise surgical removal as he was a brain injury patient.One day as he was performing Surya namaskaram near the well, a crow was found to be just wandering over his head for a few mts and it did not leave him notwith standing so many shoutings and Choo-choo drivings. Next morning at the same time the crow sat over his head and within two seconds it plucked away the lump and flew away.The lump didn't reappear.The black surgeon had done a magic.
  
  Our summer holidays were spent in preparing vadam in the mottai madi( open terrace).Naturally we had to protect vadams from the crows. Notwitstanding our keeping umbrellas and blaclk plastic covers crows invariably hover around to pick up the tasty vadams.
  It is entirely a different issue that children would eat the wet tasty vadams and throw the blame on crows.
  I will not be doing justice if I don't mention about Rama's Viswaroopam.
  Crow has an important place in Tulsi Ramayan
  
  Whenever I think of Viswaroopam I can't but be reminded of the sage KakaBhushandi.
  Those who have studied Rama Charita manas in Hindi might have known.
  Sage Kakabhushandi took the form of a crow and was revolving around the world.He saw the entire objects of nature as Rama.So Lord Rama somehow decided to show his Vishwaroopam to the sage.As the sage in the form of crow was enjoying the Balalilas of Rama,the child Rama wanted to catch the crow which started flying. The cute little hand of Rama followed the crow wherever it went, even beyond Brahmalokam.The sage was literally panicky.
  
  Ultimately he was back in Ayodhya.He took the form of smallest crow and enjoying the beauty of the child sitting very near to his face.Rama utilised this opportunityand swallowed the crow,The sage could see many brahmandas, crores of devas, maheswaras, stars, many suryas,yamas, lots of mountains, seas and oceans,sages, human beings, kinnaras- among them the beautiful child Rama also.He was totally amazed at this great sight within the small stomach of Rama.
  
  The child Rama laughed loudly at the confusion of the sage held in his stomach.
  Along with his laughter, Kakabhushandi sage also came out.
  This is beautifully explained by Tulsidas in his Ramacharita manas.
  
  jayasala42
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The verse in Ramacharitha Maanas is very famous for Ramas Viswaroopa Darsanam.
Jayasala42