Our house had a sprawling compound in which a lot of trees and plants were home to birds of numerous species. The early morning cacophony of birds filled the quiet of our house compound. It served as a wake-up call for my mother who would have completed a sound sleep by then. Sometimes I also would wake up hearing my mother’s chat with the birds in an alien language as she had established a deep affinity with them.
Little did I know the preciousness of the birds’ lives until something tragic happened 37 years ago. When I was an adolescent, everything seemed to be dreamy and colourful. One day, I saw a grey-breasted prinia (Prinia hodgsonii albogularis) hopping from branch to branch on a mango tree foraging for food. It flitted so fast that I could even not monitor the bird’s position. Out of sheer envy, I decided to catch the prinia somehow.
It was the winter season and our neighbours had made a huge bonfire in our compound. I searched for a stone, but I could find only a broken tile. I took an aim at the sparrow. Alas! It flew to the next big tall tamarind tree. As the tree had too many intricate twigs, I could not target the bird.
I was enraged and more determined than ever. I searched for my catapult in our outhouse. It was one of my proud possessions. Now I came back and looked up the trees. At last I saw it on the jackfruit tree swallowing the worm it had just caught. With the aim of a sharpshooter, I shot at it from a vantage position.
For a moment, I cursed myself for missing the target. But then I looked intently at the bird. It remained still for seconds; it looked as if it had ducked the first salvo. But it came down dead. I picked it up. It lay motionless on my palm and was bleeding from the back of its neck.
Remorse hit me as hard as the stone had hit the sparrow. It was a mother sparrow collecting food for its babies in a nearby nest. I thought deeply: What did I get in return for killing it? I destroyed its family too. I was very much shaken by my cruel act. In the finest part of our courtyard I dug a small grave and buried it pledging that I would not kill any creature in the future without any valid reason.
By burying the bird, I buried by cruel nature forever. I became a new boy thereafter knowing the preciousness of the lives of animals around us.
T K Nandanan
Email: nanduthejus@gmail.com