Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Mother's love






Meera shifted to her new house. A home of her own. She was thrilled.
The house was small yet beautiful. The location was fringed with lush greenery. She was analyzing her new home and the surroundings. Suddenly, she heard some chirping sound coming from the kitchen. She climbed on the kitchen slab to have a look at the overhang. Her heart fluttered to see a pair of new born pigeon cuddling on the cluster of straw.

“Now what to do?” she wondered. She had to let them live here until they grew up. It will be so unkind to keep them outside to become the feast of cats and dogs.

2-3 days passed by in shifting and settling. But the kitchen was not completely settled yet. Few things rested on the floor of the small kitchen as the overhang was preoccupied.

Anyway, life went on. Every morning Meera would open the window to let the waiting parent pigeon enter to feed their offspring. They used to squeak as if sharing endless chats. Though it was a troublesome situation especially when this set up was in the kitchen, but there was no option but to provide them shelter in such a tender condition.

Chintu, Meera’s two year old son wished to see the pigeon family. His eyes would beam with happiness and excitement. Meera too could not kill the urge of watching them occasionally. They squeaked, cuddled, chuckled and ate food urgently joining their beaks.

In just 15 days, the baby pigeon grew up. Almost looking like a big grown pigeon. They used to flap their wings and, every time they did so, dirt and a few tender feathers would spread all over the kitchen. The entire overhang was filled with their feces, which stink a lot.

Now they were grown up, Meera expected them to fly away so that she could clean the kitchen properly. But the ritual of meeting and parting still continued. 

It was really disturbing. Quite often she would spot feathers and grime on the kitchen slab. Now she was fed up of wiping off the muck several times in a day. “They’re grown up. Don’t they feel like flying?” Meera would think.

One morning when she entered the kitchen, she saw some spots of feces on the kitchen slab. It was very unhygienic. Her already irritated mind filled with anger. She closed the window. “It’s enough now. She need a break. She won’t let them come inside anymore.” She decided firmly.

Two days elapsed and she did not open the window. The whole kitchen was stinking and pleasure of having the stream of fresh air in the morning and evening was gone.

That evening Meera was preparing tea. The mother pigeon was sitting on the iron bars of the window and struggling to get inside but every time failed as the window was closed. The pigeons inside roamed restlessly all over the overhang and squeaking harshly to see their mother. The mother’s neck was dancing in anxiety. Eyes blinking in desperation to meet her children. They looked completely heart broken. Suddenly, affection and Kindness peeped from her heart. She imagined how she would have felt if she was not allowed to meet Chintu? She shivered at the thought.

She opened the window. The pigeon flapped its wings and fearlessly flew to the overhang. Suddenly, a gush of chirping and squeaking permeated the kitchen, as if they were condemning Meera for keeping them aloof. Expressing that how much they missed each other.

A satisfied smile formed on her face. She realized how mother's love & family is important for not just humans but for birds and animals also.  




Prompt@: 3WW (Blink, Occasion and Kind)
                                                                          Theme Thursday (Break)





10 comments:

  1. Sheialgh Lee said: beautifully written

    ReplyDelete
  2. Touching and True words !Surely her love is the strongest :)

    Ready to take a challenge?
    http://umaspoembook.blogspot.com/2011/02/experimenting-with-poetry-forms_13.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. i'm so glad to meet you, tarang! this is such a tender post. thank you for linking with imperfect prose! i hope to see you there again.

    ReplyDelete
  4. with full understanding to Meera's condition (as a homemaker) I applaud her final decision.

    Its one of the worst sins in this world to keep a mother/father (loving) away from children.

    Pigeons are very, very dirty but Meera did not had any other choice :(

    trisha
    http://sharmishthabasu.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/the-occassion/

    ReplyDelete