When I got into the car in the parking lot at Jayanagar 4th block Shopping Complex, I had just then returned the blue colored love bird back to the shop-keeper, free-of-charge. The small portable cage was lying beside me on the front-seat, empty. I could still hear the chirpy twitters of the bird deep in my ears.
As I quietly drove on the long road towards my home, I looked into the rear-view mirror. My mind rolled 18 months backwards...
The previous year's summer in May, we suddenly thought of getting Love Birds for our home. Our 8.5 year old son who was in vacation just after completing his 3rd standard, instantly latched on to it and pressed hard to get them immediately. We often stop by the birds shops in the Shopping Complex in Jayanagar 4th block every time we go, and so, within a matter of few days we got a pair of birds from there.
We picked two very good looking birds. A handsome light blue colored male and a beautiful light yellow colored female. We bought them in a small portable cage. The cage was house-shaped, made of wooden square rod frames fitted with steel-wire grills all around. There was a small door in the front to access inside. It had two steel-rings to hold cups with water and food. It also had a narrow swing hanging from the top for the birds to play on. The pull-out tin-sheet tray at the bottom allowed little bit of easy cleaning.
The two birds looked happy. Our son happier. The cage moved around from kitchen to balcony to bedroom to hall all the time and we kept watching the birds. There was a lot of excitement.
A few months ago we had upgraded to a broader TV showcase and hence our 4 year old narrow TV stand was kind of lying idle. I got a carpenter to come and cut it into two. The bottom part with caster wheels became a nice bed-side table for our son's room. The upper part with steady feet-like side walls was kept on the floor and it formed a very nice roomy cage area. But it lacked a rear cover and front cover. We thought about it and developed a few design ideas.
- I bought wooden square rods, steel wired chicken mesh rolls of two types, nails, O-hooks, J-hooks, some hinge fixtures, etc.
- Using the hack-saw, hammer, pliers, cutters, and other hand tools we had at home I fabricated the rear cover with a fixed wire-mesh.
- I also fabricated a good, removable, front cover with framed wire-mesh.
- I even created a door at its center that can open and close to provide access.
We did not want to keep the new birdhouse in the balcony as that will expose the birds to all sorts of weather. Because our balcony grills did not have glass-cover, there would be direct exposure to wind, rain and sun. So we positioned the cage in the hall, right next to the telephone table, diagonally behind the sofa that gave a good view to us all the time.
Soon after we bought the birds we noticed that the yellow bird was distinctly more active than the blue. The blue bird was a bit bulky, black-eyed and he would mostly be modest. But the red-eyed yellow bird was slimmer and agile. She was more aggressive biting our hands when we put in, jumping around all the time, walking with face-down on the rear wall wire-mesh, chewing away the newspaper flooring, being very noisy even in early mornings or late nights and so on. She seized our attention all the time.
Our son felt that the birds did not have a perch to rest on. He had a lot of toys to play with and also a good bed to sleep every night. He wanted the birds also to have something to play with and also a natural perch that they normally like to sit on for sleep. We thought of more ideas.
- I cut some more wooden square rods and created a F-shaped fixture on the side wall.
- I also created a wide swing hanging from the roof using steel wires.
- We located a withered but nice cut-branch from the garden yard in the apartment and installed it firmly as a natural tree branch inside the cage.
- We also fixed a terra-cota pot-house used for egg-laying birds on the side wall, and provided nice bulk of corn fiber strands inside for the birds to sit comfortably.
- We bought pot-shaped, short and wide terra-cota pans for food and water.
- Plus we bought a hut-shaped terra-cota lamp-shade artifact to hang from the ceiling in the birdhouse.
- And we installed a big mirror too on the side wall for the birds to peck and play their own image.
The birds enjoyed the new toys and furniture. The yellow bird was too good at acrobatic display of movements. She used her beak and claws to great use and always moved from the F-branch to the swing to the top of the mirror to the tree-branch to the rear wire-mesh to the pot-house to the lamp-shade wire to the food-pan and what not. We sat in front of the cage and watched never-ending fun unlimited.
In spite of all household chores and studies and exams, my wife and son affectionately maintained the bird cage. A black & white print newspaper was used for the flooring and was replaced regularly to clean out the droppings. They also passionately filtered food grains, replenished fresh food, refilled water, rearranged the toys and furniture.
In October we decided to cover our balcony grills with glass so as to make it into a small ante room. Ours was as such a small size 1.5 bedroom flat, so we were always a bit crammed for space, so, that was a valuable expansion. We got aluminum framed glass sliding windows installed. We also got curtain-rods fitted and installed curtains all around. We moved the birdhouse to the balcony. The ambiance appeared very roomy for them there. As we could close the French windows from the hall, it formed a good compact quarter-size room. It supplemented a bit of elbow room in our flat. Our son started using it as study room, doing all his homework daily just beside the birds. He even thought of closing all sliding windows and French windows and letting the birds to roam freely within that ante room! A couple of times when the front cage's door was opened for cleaning, the yellow bird flew out of cage and we had hard time capturing her back in the hut!
In winter we put a curtain cover on the front of the birdhouse so that they felt warm inside. Our parents or friends who visited during vacation time in December winter and also subsequently in April summer thoroughly enjoyed the time with the birds too.
The rains during the next monsoon in July / August did not affect the birds in our balcony, thanks to the glass window covers. Even with the big noise during heavy rains the birds continued to be noisier.
There was always something to talk about the yellow bird. Her antics or acrobatics or some action or some moment or some incident. We kept talking about her even during the week-end errands in the city or during our short or long trips outside the city during vacation or even over the phone with our brother's family, sister's family, parents or in-laws.
One afternoon in the pleasant month of October we noticed that the yellow bird was a bit slow in her actions. When we put our hand in, she started jumping around well. So we were happy. But, the next day we again saw her bending her beak into neck and keeping eyes closed, for short moments. Our son got upset instantly. I quickly consulted a couple of bird shops in Wilson Garden and they recommended a medicine that I bought from a pharmacy. We forcefully fed it to her. We were glad that we could attend to her problem quickly with the medicines.
But things did not seem to have improved. Even the next day she was dull. We were wondering whether she was infected with some kind of bird-flu. The other worry was whether it will spread to the blue bird or even to us. We decided that we should consult a veterinary clinic quickly. Our son was worried and restless, constantly asking questions. He could not even wait till I came back from work in the evening and kept on calling me and even started weeping mildly.
We identified a pet clinic in Basavanagudi and took her there that evening in the other portable cage. After a long queue of dogs, cats, rabbits, owls etc. the vet examined her. Finally we let out sighs of relief when the vet said there is nothing to worry and wrote a prescription. We picked up the medicines from the adjoining pet pharmacy.
Back home after 7 PM, we somehow fed her the medicine after a lot of resistance from her. But after a couple of hours she appeared even duller, sluggish and draggy. Her head kept curling down even as she sat on her favorite perch. Our son became inconsolable. He wanted us to let go of the bird somewhere, immediately. He did not dare to see its sight. We somehow made him sleep. My mother called from our home-town to inquire about the status of the bird. When she heard that even our 10 year old son studying in class-5 was sobbing and gasping she could realize our feelings.
The next morning at about 6:15 AM, my wife rocked me to wake. I went running with her to the balcony and looked into the birdhouse. The yellow bird was not there on the perch where she was sitting the previous night. I found her sitting on the floor near the food pan. Her legs appeared completely weak. Eyes closed. Head and beak curled down to her neck. I picked her up. She did not resist. Our son was still sleeping in his room. To avoid disturbing him, we quickly walked across the hall and went out to the grill-covered open utility space through the kitchen.
I rested my hand on the covered washing machine as pedestal. I could feel the breath and warmth of her body. She opened and closed her eyes only once in several seconds.
As we pondered hastily about what we could do to bring her back up, I sensed a dip in the rigidity of her body. Still lying on my palms. Her head started suddenly drooping quickly. I hustled. Tried to wake her up. But, her body wilted... with a sharp fall in stiffness... to... zero. I felt a tremble of jerk, and as though a virtual yellow bird emerged out of her body on my palms, made a swift spiral flight around my chest and head to disappear far... into the calm morning skies.
Soon, we completed kind of last rites for her on a cotton cloth mattress, with turmeric powder, kumkum, among others.
Shoulders drooped and forearms pained; I stood there still.
My mother called at about 7 AM and heard the news. She said that in those days they used to say, if there was some bad-time evil-spirit coming to hurt our family or member of our family, our own pets foresee it and they bear the brunt, sacrificing their very life to save us. Not sure whether that could be true, but I could not even remotely imagine our 18-month yellow-little taking such a huge blow on our behalf.
Even after several minutes, I stood there still, in the balcony, inactive, just staring outside, through the window. A signboard on the compound wall of a distant house on the next street, seen through the trees and gaps... said...
'Pets Not Allowed'.
Touching...
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