A HUNDRED FLIGHTS TOGETHER!

It is about a beautiful Tuesday morning. Not that my Tuesdays are any special, but that morning indeed was in many ways. The most important thing being that I managed to get up early and go for a morning walk!

My maa, for most part of her life till date, has been an early riser. This is one thing she has always wished me to inherit from her. And I, in my 26 years, would have hardly welcomed the sun. But the credit of my getting up early doesn't go to mum, the honor is reserved for a friend who took all the trouble to wake me up and that too as early as 6:40 AM. Amazingly I turn deaf to the alarms!

The society where I live is surrounded by a lot of trees and parks. And with the world getting health conscious, we have many early risers in all shapes and sizes who kick start their day with a dose of nature in these parks. Mummy has always been fussy about my weight and health. She has tried, in every way possible, to get me out of bed early and go to the grounds, may be for a single round only. So, the second reason the morning was beautiful was that mum was very happy seeing me gearing up with my shoes.

With all set and done, I was waiting in the park downstairs for maa to come, when a man with a big polythene bag in his hand crossing the ground grabbed my attention. He went all the way to the center of the park. No sooner the man reached the center  a flock of pigeons came rushing towards him as if they have been eagerly waiting for him to come. I noticed that the man was carrying the bird food in the bag. And watching their friendly relation, I could easily make out that this has been a routine affair. The pigeons welcomed him in their own language. He started spreading the food on the ground and the birds were rejoicing both, the food and his company.

The pigeons were continuously coming in and going out but magically their number seemed to be constant. This kept on going for about fifteen more minutes and then the man was ready to leave. Until then I did not know that I were to witness a majestic sight. Just as the man was leaving, all the pigeons, as if to pay their tribute to him, rose high in the sky with their wings spread. All of a sudden my view was full of pigeons rising everywhere in the sky with their wings spread. It was like a hundred flights together where the timing and co-ordination of each was so perfect. Every bird was making the way for the other. The view was panoramic and the color of the sky was in perfect contrast with that of the pigeons. There is nothing that could have made it more beautiful.

Everything around looked just perfect. The early morning, the cool breeze gently brushing against my face and a hundred flying pigeons in the sky. It was then that I realized what I have been losing all these years that I spent sleeping till late in the mornings. I have been losing the opportunity to be one with the nature. I was so dumbstruck with all that was happening around me that I did not notice when Maa came. I went to the park for the walk. But for all the time that I was walking, the thought of the pigeons did not leave me. And its instances like these that makes life worth living!

I am reminded of a Hindi dialect which goes with the situation perfectly ‘Uth jaag musafir bhor bhai ab rain kahan Jo sovat hai. Jo sovat hai so khovat hai, Jo jagat hai so pavat hai’