Pigeon Snatching

1st May, 2009 - 2:37 am
Pigeon Snatching

In mid March, I travelled to Kolkata. I was gone for a week and my house was locked up almost the whole week except for the occasional fish feeding sessions. The balcony was untouched for a week. And I think it was for that reason that some pigeons assumed that it was deserted. So, when I come back I find that a pair of pigeons is constantly hanging out in my balcony. Not just hanging out, but playfully enjoying themselves out there. Sexual connotations intended. The constant rumbling noises all afternoon often interrupted my rare noon siesta. I wasn’t too worried because each time I checked to see if there was any sign of an upcoming nest. Since there wasn’t a hint of any, I let them use my balcony for their romantic liaisons.
Sometimes, when I heard no sound, I would just walk out into the balcony only to find one solitary pigeon among the pots who would dash out the moment I stepped in. I didn’t give a thought to what it(probably she) was doing in my pots. I kept a constant vigil for sticks and dry grass and the rest of the stuff needed for a nest. But what did I know, humans don’t build thatched huts anymore you know. At least not the ones in the cities. And so one fine morning, a few weeks later, I walk into my balcony to see one little egg sitting prim and proper in a vacant pot. It’s not just humans who change their way of life. Good for the pigeon that my Mom wasn’t around or that pot wouldn’t have been empty. (she would definitely have planted something there) Anyway, as fate would have it, the pot had only mud and that seemed enough for the pigeon to lay. But they were definitely a lazy pair, what would you call birds who don’t even build nests to lay!!!
So, the pot remained with the one egg and the pair would incubate it all day. Well I was looking forward to the hatching day. But there was another pleasant surprise in store because mama pigeon had one more egg to lay. (how could I forget my Dad telling me as a kid that pigeons lay in pairs!) So, the pair of pigeons was happy with a pair of eggs. Mama pigeon would sit on it all day, Papa pigeon would keep vigil on the terrace of the opposite building.
About three weeks back, that would be the second week of April I guess, I woke up to find two little chicks in the pot and Mama pigeon nursing them (I am assuming it was Mama). Well, well, well, who would have imagined. Eggs laid in a pot. No nest and in a month we have little chicks out of it. Good going I believe. They seemed to be growing fast. I don’t know how I resisted the urge to go near them, to touch them. But like all things in life, it was too good to be true. Yesterday when I came home in the afternoon, I felt something wrong when I stood there in my living room. I got a strong smell of one particular plant, ajwaine, from my balcony. It wouldn’t smell unless someone had messed with it. I ran to the balcony and sure as hell, the balcony had witnessed some roughing up. There was one chick in the pot and no sign of the pigeon parents.
What happened? What happened? I kept asking. I hadn’t gone near them. The parents wouldn’t just pick up and leave one chick behind. They aren’t human you know. Well it turns out they didn’t just leave. Mama pigeon came back and sat with her one chick. In the evening I heard a crow in the balcony. I went to check it out and there it was sitting on the railing. And the entire thing dawned on me. The other chick was dead, I guess. Gone. A victim of fate. Fate brought them to me and then snatched them back. Tit for tat. So each time the crow came I shooed it away. How long was I going to do that? Well at least till sunset that day. Gave mama pigeon my condolences and wished her a good night. Got up early the next day (had a paper to study for). The first thing I did was to check them out. But then there was no them. The pot was empty. All gone. Away. Hoped to see the chicks fly away one day. But they did go away alright. Just not the way I imagined it. This time it dint seem like there had been a tussle. But then you never know. I hope I never know.
juhi