Sparrow Day Care

Our tiny balcony, if we can classify the space just beyond the ‘French windows’ as that, has been taken over by the Sparrow Day Care Centre. As soon as we wake up and draw the curtain there they are, mother sparrows and baby sparrows, lined up waiting for their meal of rice and bajra. After much chattering, shaking of wings and running around the little ones are fed to satisfaction. The mothers then go on to do what mothers have to do, while the little ones stay in the ‘Day Care Centre’ doing what little ones do best.

Eating

Wondering

Preening

Sleeping

Exploring

Demanding

And eating some more

But at the first caw of the crow, or the first beep of the car horn, the mothers are back and the chattering, shaking of wings and general running around commences again. Till it’s finally time for bed.

Bird on a wire

(All photographs by Anvita Lakhera.)

Home

You are home. You wake up with the sun in your eyes and the chirp of sparrows as they squabble over the bird feeder. Another year has gone by. Another candle has been added to the Birthday cake. But you are at home.

That was last year. Today the day hasn’t walked in from some foreign film. The cars parked on the road outside are as real as the dust laden leaves on the potted plant at the kitchen window. There are no deceptions except those conjured by over-active imaginations.

There are no epochal moments to be celebrated. Nothing exceptional to be wished for. For what more do you need when you are home? This is where you hang your head*. This is where it all comes together in peace. You open the window and the sparrow sitting on the ledge looks you straight in the eye. There is no escaping the facts. For this is home.

(*'Home is where you hang your head', attributed to Groucho Marx.)

Life with birds

(All photographs by Anvita Lakhera.)
The adventure continues here.