DINESH CHANDRA TEWARI -
Residential ONGC colony Shastrinagar Nirnay Nagar Ahmedabad Gujarat
It was when we shifted to a small flat in Naranpura, Ahmedabad, in the nineties. All the windows of our flat looked out on tall trees that were home to many birds. We could hear the sunbird trilling, the koel cooing and the notes of a peacock from a distance. We found out that the female koel is not black but pied. There were parakeets that merged with the background. In our balcony, there were climbers that bore small dark blue flowers with a pale yellow dot at the centre. A pot of water was kept for all the winged visitors who wanted to quench their thirst. Apart from a garrulous mynah who used to push the smaller ones of its species away to proclaim its right to drink water, there was a pair of sparrows that very quietly hopped in and out of the balcony. Male, one could tell from its countenance, had a little more black on the face; and the disfigured wing, probably because of an accident, gave an unmistakable identity to the female. So when the children came back from school they were first greeted by the same sparrows, no mistaking that. Sometimes when they did not show up for a few days, we waited and invariably they flew back. Familiarity breeds affection and our fondness for the sparrow couple also grew. That they reciprocated, we liked to believe.
But that was then. Come 21st century, our teenaged children left home for studies. And the sparrows? Was that the last pair of sparrows that our children were fortunate enough to have acquaintance with?
It was when we shifted to a small flat in Naranpura, Ahmedabad, in the nineties. All the windows of our flat looked out on tall trees that were home to many birds. We could hear the sunbird trilling, the koel cooing and the notes of a peacock from a distance. We found out that the female koel is not black but pied. There were parakeets that merged with the background. In our balcony, there were climbers that bore small dark blue flowers with a pale yellow dot at the centre. A pot of water was kept for all the winged visitors who wanted to quench their thirst. Apart from a garrulous mynah who used to push the smaller ones of its species away to proclaim its right to drink water, there was a pair of sparrows that very quietly hopped in and out of the balcony. Male, one could tell from its countenance, had a little more black on the face; and the disfigured wing, probably because of an accident, gave an unmistakable identity to the female. So when the children came back from school they were first greeted by the same sparrows, no mistaking that. Sometimes when they did not show up for a few days, we waited and invariably they flew back. Familiarity breeds affection and our fondness for the sparrow couple also grew. That they reciprocated, we liked to believe.
But that was then. Come 21st century, our teenaged children left home for studies. And the sparrows? Was that the last pair of sparrows that our children were fortunate enough to have acquaintance with?
