My daughter returned yesterday after spending a night at her grand-parents’ place. In the course of our conversation she excitedly mentioned that late at night she had seen ‘a real owl!…an actual owl…can you believe it….??…a real Owl…!!’ There was more about it’s curved beak, round gleaming eyes and wide wings as it flew away. (she recognized it because of its resemblance to the stuffed toy she had had as a child…..some irony there…)
I was listening to her and it was like a door opened and memories of our house in NDA and our garden came flooding in.
-The ‘Owl Tree’ in the side-garden-which was actually a Babul but so named because of its resident! I could see the owl from my window in the daytime too.
-The myriad sparrows, bulbuls and mynahs that used to flock in the fruit trees. There were the light brown ‘pahadi’ mynahs and the chocolate coloured ones of the plains. Remember ‘one-for sorrow, two for joy, three for letter…. and so on…?’ I learnt how to tell the male sparrow (with the little brown bib below his neck) from the rather drab female!
-The parrots that visited the eucalyptus and pine trees in the front garden. And the wood-cock that used to prance across the lawn.
-There was a bird with a tail that went up and down to a rhythm that only its owner knew. Much like the poem that we read in school…Wagtail will you tell me, oh…why your tail keeps wagging so…up and down it goes all day…and I forget the rest!!
-The birds’ nests that I used to come across in the hedges and trees; always a thrilling discovery, followed many times by disappointment that the eggs had already hatched and the chicks had flown! And the intricately woven nests of the weaver-bird and that of the tailor-bird that we used to find in the course of all those walks. We used to sometimes bring one home as a display!
-I remembered plucking guavas from the trees only to find that the birds had been there first! If the guavas were particularly large and tempting it was possible to slice away the part that had been pecked and enjoy the rest!
-Some of the mangoes that ripened and fell from the trees used to have large black marks on them. My parents would say it was the pee of the koel!! I’ve never tried to verify the truth of that statement!
-And who can forget the call of the peacock across the hills around D-1 and E-3, heralding the onset of the rains? The clouds would gather, the rain would come pouring down and when the skies had cleared the peacocks would call again.
-There were so many vividly coloured birds in all shapes and sizes that I saw but didn’t bother to identify because they were just …there…
Now on the rare occasions that I go to NDA I keep an eye out for them and try to match them with the boards that have been put up giving information about the wildlife found there.
In my 6th floor flat I still wake up to the cries of birds but they are soon drowned out by the sounds from the nearby construction sites.
There is a group of sparrows that flutter about the nooks and crannies of our building. I once kept a container of water for them in the balcony but it was only visited by a large crow! The container was hurriedly removed!
There are pigeons flapping about but I find them noisy and a nuisance.I wonder why they stir no feeling of nostalgia?!
Those days, those times will never return, they can only be relived now and then. But once again, Thank You- NDA- for all the precious memories in my memory bank!
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