Thinking through

by Manish Anand

Faced with a dull face and little to offer brain overhead, the best escape is to look out of the window. This is a routine at the new secretariat, seat of power of the Delhi government, which is full of mundane and unexciting people.

Its architect must be thanked for developing an artificial pond on the northern side, which the migratory birds have really liked to their zest. The pond looks like islands of black and white dots, creating waves and floating on them. The black dot is a small bird and the white one is like a duck.

Bonding one must learn from the black birds (I apologise for not knowing its correct name) as hundreds of them have coupled with no distraction coming their ways despite innumerable of them being there. A couple is either making a circle continuously or chasing the partner with watery waves created by their tiny wings giving them a world of their own.

Envious attachment one can easily call with the thought waves recalling the saddened voice of a friend sharing the breaking off with his could have been life partner. A friend in Indian Revenue Services had found his soul mate with one of his batch-mate two years ago and had later firmed up their relations with resolve to get married despite immense cultural and linguistic divide. Their love ended in tatters as the girl got through into IAS with posting thousands of miles away from him making marriage impractical, and hence the breaking off.

Though the black birds are very small in size, they are not at all in awe with their bigger counterparts and have divided the pond in equal sizes. No intrusion and no violation of territorial sanctity for them with remarkable discipline one could spot in them. In contrast to them is this place full of people ready to chop off each other to move over. Humans have so little to trust each other with eyes speaking out their minds so clearly these days.

One could easily fall in love with the duck like white bird, which could be taken as the best bather in the world with even the princess nowhere near them in their art of bathing. Ruffling wings after nose diving on and on, the question just crossed the mind if it would take a break and just dry out like some of them doing so, who must have taken their ablutions earlier. Sparkling white with purity shining all the way, they could give a run for money to all the brand ambassadors of the beauty clinic products on any day.

Ah, they are the migratory stuff who know no distance and barrier and can fly off to their choicest destinations. Life in all zest these birds are really blessed with just a wicked man waiting somewhere to trap them and end their celebration of life.