For a few years, we lived in Keonjhar due to dad’s posting. Our house there, except for the sophistication of the building, resembled a farmhouse. It lay amidst fields that turned green in monsoons, golden in winters and chocolate in summers.
A few steps from our house lay a mini dam which turned into a kind of podium during the warm months, and me and my little friends climbed onto it and reenacted all that we had done in the school annual functions.
And during the rains, we stood in awe watching the fisher folks fool a hundred little fish into their plastic bags with their baited fishing rods. The house oversaw the JudiaGhati.
During the day, the hills mesmerized us with their misty mien. During night, the lights of the vehicles descending down the slope appeared like a group of glowworms dancing in a rhythm. Beside our boundary stood a tall Red Silk-Cotton tree, an equally tall Eucalyptus, and a stout Tamarind.
In spring, the Cotton tree showered our terrace with her vibrant red flowers. And in autumn, the eucalyptus took charge of laying a golden leafy carpet there. Some nights, we would be awakened by the shouts of jackals and some other nights by the frenzied songs of tribals drunk with the indigenous drink and yet other nights by the sounds of banging of mortar-pestle from hillside villages to chase away elephants!
Inside our boundary stood several fruit trees though none had borne fruits till then. But the flower plants bloomed proudly with their gorgeous beauties. Bulbuls, doves, crows and humming birds nested there.
When the sunflowers bloomed, wild parrots came down from the hills and left when they had their hearts full of the sunflower seeds.
At times, pigeons flew overhead but never halted at our place. However, mom had a wish to see pigeons nesting! So, dad tied up a tin box to one of the pillars to tempt them. Though it failed to enchant the pigeons, one day the tin house was visited by a little sparrow couple. In a day or two, they even brought in their furniture – a heap of dry twigs. However, they were soon chased away by a myna couple amidst an exchange of loud chirps who ultimately nested there.
In the midst of the richness of the biodiversity that surrounded us, we could not notice when the sparrow couple had sneaked into our dining room and sought refuge in the skylight! Initially, my parents perhaps had some inhibitions.
However, they let them stay so as to feed my excitement. Besides, we already had enough comforts for ourselves; so, they did not mind sparing that little space for the little guests.
As if acquainted with us for years, the bird couple behaved perfectly in sync with our activities. While we would be dining with the fan on, the sparrows would perch on the door and wait till we were done with our food and switched the fan off. Soon, the female bird became even friendlier.
While we would be watching television in the drawing room, she would fly in and sit on the television set or on the study table.
Every night, she would fly in during dinner and pick up bits of vegetable peels that lay discarded beside our plates; and once she got something, she would fly away with such happiness as if we had blessed her with a sumptuous meal!
While we three would be going on with our usual conversations during dinner, she would be walking in circles between the three of us, searching for her share with such spontaneity as if she was the fourth member of our family!
But not once did she sit on our plates or touch it; she was courteous enough always!However, problem started when two little ones got added to the sparrow family. Every morning, the female bird would religiously clean her house and dump her wastes on our refrigerator! After a while, my parents found it tiring to clean the refrigerator-top every morning. So, a way out was decided.
The entire nest of the couple along with their babies was put in a carton and hung from the wall beside our bedroom window outside the house so that we would still be able to keep a watch over them.
One night, we were woken up by a thud on the bedroom window.
A little search revealed that a cat had tried attacking the sparrow clan. The entire night we lay on bed with anxiety.
As soon as day dawned, the carton was taken off there and hung on the wall beside the stairs as that was one of the not-so-visible corners of the house. We went about our affairs, relieved that we had finally reached at an optimum solution on the part of both the families! Two-three days passed by. Suddenly, one morning we spotted tufts of little feathers on the stairs.
There was no sign of the sparrows in the carton but just a few streaks of maroon. We understood. The bird who had feasted with us, we had given away her babies in a feast to the cat! Guilt left a permanent scar on our hearts.
Never again did we see a sparrow during the next few years we stayed there after that incident. Only once here, a sparrow flew into our house through the balcony, but it left as hurriedly as it had entered. We never saw one after that too.
(The writer is a PhD Scholar, Department of A & A Economics, Utkal University)