Parrot thoughts

The first time I noticed the parrots was when I was hurriedly going towards the bench to join rest of my classmates for lunch. We had come to the hilly region of Yelagiri as part of our deprivation trip in search of stories. On our way back to Vellore, we had stopped in this hotel which had outdoor dining area. Thrilled and starved, I rushed towards the dining area to eat lunch under the trees.

The two parrots were walking on the stone embedded path oblivious to the visitors. Their rusty cage was placed on a wooden platform supported by three wooden stands. A strip of green palm leaf covered the stands like creepers would when they found a host. To keep the visitors from harassing the parrots bush fencing surrounded the cage. I found it odd and amazing when I found the cage door was open and the parrots sad there…lost in their parrot world. It didn’t strike me then as hunger had overwhelmed me and I was in a hurry to order lunch. But after my tummy full, I strolled near the cage and saw the parrots walking on the path. I though ‘what brave parrots. They don’t fear humans at all; walking around fearlessly without thinking that maybe somebody would touch them or harm them.’ I thought that unlike other caged birds, they got the freedom to move out of their cage as they pleased. Like a municipal tube light which takes tremendous amount of time to emit light, the thought struck me late; the wings of both the parrots were clipped. I was appalled.

I knew these things happened all the time but never had impact on me until I saw it with my own eyes. Suddenly I was engulfed by a lot of emotions…I felt pity, sadness and then anger. I enquired with the hotel official on who was responsible for crippling the parrots and he replied it was they had done it so that the parrots would not fly away. I felt like shouting and screaming at them, for telling them what they had reduced the poor creatures to. I again went to look at the parrots now. I wished I could help them somehow. Then I saw one of the parrots proceeding to the cage by slowly climbing the palm strip with the help of their claws and beak. The parrots had learnt to overcome their disability.

The parrots occupied my thoughts even after we left the place. For selfish reasons what had man reduced the birds too. The parrots were supposed to fly in the sky; they were the ariel residents who could not be troubled with the earthly matters. They could fly anywhere they wanted, without any traffic or red light stopping them from their journey. And now all this had ended because some human thought that they would be better as a showpiece. Now all they could do was walk on their small feet and if some one came near run for their lives. The humans had stripped them of their only way of survival; they could not even fly away if a predator came after them.

As the sun went to sleep, I saw the parrots going inside the cage with a lot of hard work and looking at the world without any emotions.