Fable
The balcony belonged to
the pigeon couple. From the time we
moved into the apartment they were there.
It was their home before the apartment became ours. We didn’t disturb them except for putting up
the cooler against the window. Then they
made the cooler top their home. They built their nest there and the female of
the pair laid eggs which hatched in the due course of time. The nestlings grew wings and flew away when
their time came. The cycle
continued. Years passed. Many more eggs were laid and many more
nestlings grew wings. We cleaned up the
cooler top each time the nestlings flew away.
One day I was standing on
the balcony when the mother started pushing a nestling out of the nest. That was not a new sight for me. It happens occasionally. The first flight has to be forced
sometimes.
The nestling cried. “Ma, please, don’t,” It said.
“You have to go, my dear. You have to move on,” said the mother.
There was one more
nestling sitting in the nest trembling in fear apparently.
“Don’t you love us?” the
nestling asked.
“Love belongs to time,”
the mother cooed.
“We don’t want to miss
you,” the pigeon pleaded.
“Memory belongs to time,”
the mother cooed.
The little pigeon cried.
“You have to move on,” Ma
said. “That’s the law of nature.” By then she had already pushed the little
bird to the edge of the cooler. “Move
on.” And she gave the final push.
The little one didn’t
even get the time to be startled. Its
wings spread out. It remained in the air
for a moment and flew away into the space that unfolded itself before it.
The other little one had
stopped trembling. It came out and
fluttered its little wings. “Go to the
edge,” encouraged Ma. “The take-off is
easy from there.”
The little one
obeyed. And it took off. Easily.
The mother bird heaved a
sigh. Then it flew away into the air.
In the evening two
pigeons cooed from the cooler top. They
were the original pair.
lovely love and memory belong time what amazing concept.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher I am like the parental pigeons having to push out some students 😀
DeleteVery nice narration, loved reading it.
ReplyDelete