Julie

JULIE[Reposting inspired by TAMRAKSHARS article on crows]

One morning, when I opened the window above the air conditioner, a beautiful pigeon made a lot of noise before flying away. She perched on the roof of the neighboring house, watching me suspiciously. Surprised, I climbed onto a stool and looked through the window. There, between the air conditioner and the wall, lay a pair of pearl-white eggs, about the size of walnuts, resting on a cozy nest of leaves. The mother pigeon, with her bluish-tinged neck and lustrous, watchful eyes, looked endearing. For some reason, I decided to call her Julie.

A week later, I heard a peculiar noise and peered through the window. The eggs had hatched into two ugly little squabs. I shared the news of the new arrivals with my family. They each took turns peeking through the window. My daughter consulted an encyclopedia and said that the little ones wouldn’t open their eyes for ten days. My wife began feeding Julie a handful of grains every day. Julie would peck at the rice with feverish intensity.

Opening the window and feeding Julie became an exciting routine for me. She sat with her offspring, providing them warmth without rest or respite. One day, I noticed a sturdy fellow, whom I had seen earlier, gobbling the grains faster than Julie. I suspected he was Julie’s mate. I kept watch to ensure Julie got her fair share of the grains. I named her mate Ranganathan, inspired by Amol Palekar’s comedic struggles with a character of the same name in one of his movies.

Meanwhile, the little ones were turning into beauties. Their once-ugly feathers had changed to the soft hues of twilight. Surrounded by daughters and friends with daughters, I named them Geetha and Seetha.

Now, three weeks old, I knew it was only a matter of time before Geetha and Seetha would fly away. I was planning to go out of town to celebrate my daughter’s wedding, and I realized that when I returned, Geetha and Seetha would likely be gone.

With both my daughter and the young pigeons gone, I knew that life would never be the same again.

 

YES.I cried as an adult.As expected the birds had flown away by the time we returned after the marriage.To make it up I am staying with her now and she has a calming influence on me-it is as if I am meditating in her presence.

 

It is a wonderful experience.Of late there are quite a few articles on the danger of harbouring pigeons in window sills as they are carriers of many viruses.On one occasion We had two pigeons with lot of bulges and swellings.I brought a veterinarian who diagnosed it chicken pox. Thus ended my cohabitation with pigeons.