Fate Of My First Children

It was one of those fine sunny mornings when I was pestering my dad about purchasing a pair of pigeons; many may be surprised but most of the people in Assam love feasting on pigeon dish. As that time I was studying in my second year of engineering and staying in the hostel, so my dad would usually succumb to my wishes during my short stay at home during the holidays and so we set out for our nearby market. It was the time of Bihu, the Assamese festival of feasting, so pigeons were a common sight, sold usually in pairs. Henceforth without much pain we were able to fetch a healthy pair of squabs for us and joyously brought them home. However as already the house was filled with eatables, the refrigerator overflowing with fishes etc. of all varieties, we decided to wait some days for the fowls to be feasted upon, and till then they could enjoy their few days of life whose span could now be decided solely by us.

For the time being I decided to shelter the pigeons in a wooden crate in our verandah at the backyard feeding them occasionally with rice, tit bits etc., and since I was without work most of the time, lazing around with them almost the whole day. It was then within that day itself in the evening that I realized that I would keep the pigeons as my new pets, thus granting them an entire new life, and refusing to feast on them ignoring my mom’s repeated warnings that bird off springs are impossible to be cared for and raised by humans. But headstrong as I was, I just couldn’t bring myself to be the reason behind the death of those tiny little beautiful birds; and eventually my parents had to give in to my whims.

 

Thus from the morning, the day after began my whole day care sessions of my new children, feeding and tethering to them the entire day long. It was not long before they began to recognize me; opening their beaks wide whenever they sighted my fingers, peeking their heads out from the crate whenever I tapped it and following my feet wherever I went. They were just two of my most beloved siblings now; their innocence and helplessness in not knowing even how to bite or attack back made me love and protect them even more. I still remember their clumsy and fast little steps of following me with their wings flapping and raised for balance…oh! Such trust on us selfish humans who don’t give a damn to whether they die or survive. I also remember how my too much of feeding them with fruits etc of all kinds led to their serious infection of the gizzard, with the gizzard inflating and the squabs passing green excreta. My dad, an experienced vet after examination said there was not much hope; fowls are difficult to be raised through human hands, they eat only half digested food from their mothers and that was the reason behind their infection. I was devastated, but just couldn’t give up on them. I took out all my dad’s medicines, read their compositions and started treatment….and guess what, after a week they started improving, gaining strength and walking again. However due to weakness their wings were still drooping, but now I was sure that they would recover. How happy I was!!!

 

However as we all know, happy moments do not last forever as my vacation was over and I was to go back to my hostel. My dad wouldn’t allow me to take the siblings there and I left them with a heavy heart under the trust that my parents would take care of them until my returning back again. But I was ignorant of the fact that squab caretaking was not my mom’s cup of tea who was always busy with all the household chores and neither my dad’s who was the family’s busy bread earner. And it was one of those nights in my hostel when I had wept the entire night, and cursed the neighbor man to whom my parents had given my two dearest children to be …. Till day I don’t know what happened to them and neither have I asked my neighbor about them for the fear of not being able to bear the pain at knowing their fate.

 

But those were my children who taught me something very valuable - I had left pigeon delicacies , never touched such dishes till date and never will in my near future. And for once they infested me with a feeling, a bond of love towards all birds which makes me feel like releasing all of them from the bonds of prison towards the blue sky above.