While cleaning the house I noticed 4-5 broom sticks and feathers on floor close to the kitchen exhaust outlet. I cleaned them on the first day but they were back next day and their number was increasing day by day. My queries were soon answered by a pigeon, who was trying to build a nest on top of the kitchen almirah. Daily she would bring these sticks which would be placed on the shelf, adding to the strength and the warmth of the nest. I wouldn’t have minded her presence but somehow I hate pigeon’s “ghutar-goo” sound. So we decided that she would have to choose a better place for her mansion and this place belonged to us. So I needed to check for the time when she was not there so that I could block her entrance to the kitchen by placing a board/stick in the exhaust opening. But to my dismay she was more regular to our home than me going to office. Morning, Evening, Night…even at 2:00 AM!! Now this was heights! And enough for me to climb on the Kitchen shelf to have a peek in the next morning and
wooo…This time pigeon was not there!! BUT there were two eggs! That explained the pigeon being there day and night..Mother’s affection! :-So soon we were five of us staying in the flat..It seemed so impartial that only me and Hardeep had to pay the rent while the rest of the three were allowed to stay for free. ;) Anyways the chicks were not yet born and pigeon mom seemed to be quiet. So we kind of agreed to that as well. But they would soon be out of their shells and we knew that PM (Pigeon Mom) would then become defensive. What would be the situation if she doesn’t allow us to enter the Kitchen? And what about the chirp-chirp and Ghutar-Goo family talks?? They might not be that particular about their privacy but I was…about peace at my home. They have to go away!
Debate time…Should we throw her nest out along with the eggs or should we let the family stay there till the kids grow up and learn to speak and fly! J We had discussed about the Pigeon encroachment with our apartment’s watchman and he arrived next day with his weapons to demolish the unauthorized construction. But now when we had seen the eggs, we could not let that happen. When asked about what would he do with the eggs, he said ‘This just keeps on happening every now and then! Inka kya hai?? Utha ke phenk do..kitni’k tension loge!! Sab ko pareshaan kar rakha hai inhone. Yahan sabhi yahi karte hain. Main abhi isko nikaal ke phenk deta hoon…Aap chinta nakko karo!” But the idea of pigeon mom without her eggs almost made me shiver. She could not spare a minute without them, what would happen to her if she suddenly discovered that the eggs and her nest are gone. “No…We will take care of this ourselves..You can leave” May be we can find a better place where we can just place the nest outside our kitchen, where pigeon mom can still foster her kids and we could maintain boundaries. I wish I had placed the nest outside that day and not worried about the cold outside or cat eating the eggs.
So we started living happily as a single family. Soon a mutual treaty was signed between pigeon mom and Hardeep and me. We didn’t mind her presence in the kitchen as long as she was quite, and she would allow us to enter the kitchen and do our chores as long as we maintain a safe distance from her nest. Without realizing I had added another regular activity in my daily calendar: Check for the presence of Pigeon Mom and if chicks were out of their shells! I used to check for the chicks daily ;-) With a naughty smile Hardeep took a promise from me to take care of the chicks when he was away and started for his home trip.
I was drinking water in the kitchen when from the corner of my eye I noticed a blood stain on the floor near the sink! And there was a body of a small chick, like it had fallen from a great height and had burst. L It lay dead there!! I was shocked to see that. As I moved closer suddenly I stepped on something and I quickly lifted my foot up…and I had stepped on my fears... :-‘( it was body of the second one! Both of the chicks were dead!! I couldn’t believe it! I was feeling like something had hit me hard! What would happen to the pigeon mom when she gets to know about this? I was not sure if cleaning the kitchen of the dead bodies was a better option or letting the pigeon mom know that chicks are dead! The news was definitely disturbing but I did not want her to wander around the window and shelf, trying in vain to search for her kids while they were lying dead in some pile of rubbish.
While I was thinking all this she suddenly arrived at the Kitchen exhaust and came and sat at the corner of the almirah top close to the dead bodies. She was watching her kids..her kids who were no longer alive. May she had seen them dead before I did, but I wanted to leave her alone. I just picked up what I needed from kitchen and walked away.
I am still not sure if I should have allowed the watchmen to destroy her nest and eggs. May be even placing her nest and eggs outside in cold exposed to an attack by cat and other animals would have been better as well. Atleast she could have cried at the loss of eggs for some days and forgotten about them. But now they were out of their shells and alive..the family had started!!
Here I am writing this blog and still feeling bad about the family which never started. While my watchmen might have killed so many families of same species by now. Why is it so easy for a person like him to kill offsprings of a bird saying ‘Inka Kya hai and chalta hai!!’ The reaction had definitely not been been the same if a decision had to be made to kill a human’s child? Because the pigeon mom can’t speak human language or rather because humans cannot hear her plea of mercy; does that give right to humans to kill her kids! I think humans need to be taught a lot!
The pigeon mom was there whole of the day. Next day I had to leave for 10 days for a home trip. Even though the pigeon mom was not there I did not have enough courage to pick up the dead bodies and clean the area. May be thinking too much about all this had moved me enough to not to see any more of it. Hardeep would be back from home before me. May be walking out of home, leaving everything as it is, can help me escape Hardeep’s questions about the pigeon mom and her family; but I will have lots of unanswered questions in my mind. I wonder who has trespassed into other’s world, we or birds…
