A Baby and A Bird

It was still dark outside when Kittu woke up and slipped out of her bed. She struggled to open the door towards the balcony, and stepped out silently. She went on and looked behind the racks and the flower pots; there lied an empty cage. She picked it up and kept it on the table. Then she went in the living room and looked around. She picked up a bottle of water from the table and came back to the balcony. She still remembers when Bhaiya had told her that chilled water from the refrigerator is not good for health. She held the bottle with both her little hands and poured water inside the cage - directly into the cup. Now she looked relieved. Some old flowers and leaves were lying near the flower pots. She picked up many blue and pink flowers from there and one by one dropped many of them inside the cage. On the top of the cage she put the biggest one - an odhaul flower. She kept looking at the cage with her hands on her cheeks... It seemed she heard some noise from inside the house and hence rushed to go back... As she stepped in, mommy struggled to keep her tears in control... It has been three weeks and Kittu's daily routine always starts with this... She misses her bird...

She still repents why she allowed him bring that bird home… They had gone to a friend’s place. The friend was an IAS and had kept lots of pets in his bungalow. There were rabbits, parrots, kittens, and dogs of three different breeds. Then there was an aquarium and a big cage for colourful birds. He was her husband’s batch-mate from engineering days and had got transferred in the town recently. They were overwhelmed to see him after about twenty years. When it was time to come back home, they gifted something special to Kittu. She had spent much time playing with the colourful birds and they seemed to have noticed that. She tried to stop that – she didn’t favour keeping pets in houses. But he insisted – he didn’t take it seriously and saw no problem in the gesture. Back home, everyone was so happy – Kittu’s already happening life became four times happier with the beautiful bird in the house… It went on like that for about three months. The first thing Kittu did after waking up in the morning was to go see her bird. Then she took care of her, fed her, and talked to her as if she was the bird’s mother. She had wondered how this little girl still had a mother’s heart at this early age! But it was not forever. One afternoon when they came back home, the little bird was found dead in her cage…

They couldn’t understand the reason. May be she had finished her lifespan. She was wise enough not to allow Kittu know about this. She removed the bird from her cage with shaking hands and wet eyes and put it in a plastic bag. She went with her maid to the nearby park and buried the bird in the soil in a corner. By the time she came back home, Kittu had made it that the bird was missing. She was crying aloud and seeing her crying, mother also had tears in her eyes. It took one hour’s persuasion to make her believe that the bird had flown away in the sky…

Kittu kept waiting for her baby bird every morning and every afternoon. Her heart ached seeing her baby missing the bird like this. He was going to bring another bird for her from anywhere and at whatever cost, but she had stopped him. The new bird would also die some day and she wanted Kittu to forget her bird. They purchased many new toys for her and even got a new pendulum clock with a small bird in it, but everything went in vain. Kittu won’t forget her baby girl…

This early morning shook her from the core. As she turned back, she saw he was standing behind. He gave her a gentle hug and wiped tears from her eyes. He brought her to the bedroom and then brought Kittu on the bed too. Kittu’s school was closed because of swine flu scar and she had taken sick leave for some days to take rest. It seemed he was going to do something now… He called up his office and took a day’s leave.

“Kittu, we will go to the zoo today!” Kittu looked towards him with an open mouth and elated eyes! “Sach me?” “Yes dear. We will go to the zoo today and we will see many many animals and birds there!” “Will my bird be there too?” He picked her up and put her in his lap… “May be yes… Let us find her. How is the idea?” “Haan, maja ayega…” Kittu was so happy. She looked at mother, “Are you fine mom?” Mother pulled her towards herself and put the sheet over her too while she held her tightly to her heart…

That afternoon he imparted the best management training he ever had conducted for anyone in his career. To convince a child’s heart is the most easy and most difficult task in this world. They went to the zoo. He first showed her some happy animals. She was very happy and kept jumping in his hands. Then he took her to the caged animals. These animals looked sad and were not in good health too. Kittu was very sensitive; she felt something was missing there. He explained to her how the animals were missing their natural habitat and hence they suffered lots of physical and mental pain while living in this artificial environment. Gradually Kittu started understanding the things. Then he took her to the birds’ cage. At first Kittu was elated as if she found a heaven! The three stood there for long. He wanted her to notice all and understand things by herself. After some time he pointed towards the broken feathers in the cage and the scarce water and food which the birds fought to get to reach. Some of the birds were in bad shape due to neglect. The birds won’t fly but would only keep hopping at the walls of the cage. Then he explained how the birds were made to live in the skies and here in the cage they were forced to live in an artificial environment. They didn’t get their natural food and they didn’t enjoy nature’s fresh air and water. They were kept in captivity and they cried every night. Their wings would pain with no opportunity to fly in the sky and their stomach would ache eating the old fruits and other things given to them. “Your baby bird was also kept in captivity, Kittu.” “And it is nice that now she is in the open sky…”

He held his breadth to see her reaction. Don’t know from where the baby had got such sensitivity; she seemed to have gotten the message very well… She said, “Yes papa. Now we won’t keep any bird in our cage.” He looked at his wife, she was like ye!!!!!! while her wet eyes told how touched she was seeing her daughter saying this… “Papa, why not free these birds too? They would cry in the night!” He smiled and kissed her on her cheeks. “Baby, we will do that one day…”

It takes lots of effort to impart right lessons to our children. But each of our attempts is worth it…

By: (K. Rahul)