Man and a sparrow named “chioo”: 6

Man and a sparrow named “chioo”: 6

There was a man. But now there was no Chioo.

And how would she be? There were no trees, not even bushes, in the courtyard. In fact there was no courtyard. Only few unhealthy Rose-bushes in the balcony. There were no photo-frames, no vacant-unused places, no storehouses, no gaps under roof in the houses.

There were not even grains in the houses. Only ready to use Atta packets Roti packets or bread/Pizza from the malls.

Crows were somehow surviving. But where were Raghus (Parrots), Mainas, Bulbuls? And where were Cunning Fox, Wicked Wolf, Brave Waghoba (Tigars) and King of the Jungle – Lion? But there were no Jungles.

There was a man. He was grandfather now. Sitting on a chair in front of TV or Computer screen, while feeding noodles or cornflakes to his granddaughter, he would tell her the stories of Chioo-Kau, and Raghu-Maina. At first she used to listen. One day she asked, “what is Chioo?” He tried to explain, then showed her animated cartoons on internet. Then she asked, “where is Chioo?” from that day he stopped telling her stories.

She didn’t asked, but how on earth could he possibly answer the question of irresponsibilities and sins done for many generations?

Now he tells her the stories of Tiger-man, Falcon-man, Frog-man, Whale-man and Werewolf or reads her their comics. Or tries to make her laugh with the … of Heman-Superman or Zobot-Tobot-Robot. If nothing else, there are lots of cartoon networks.

There was a man. But he was alone in deserted world.

Once he was Omnivorous. Now He was Omnipotent and Omniscient God of Nothing.

Or, was he there in his own creation of Nothingness?            

Man and a sparrow named “chioo”: 5

Man and a sparrow named “chioo”: 5

There was the man and the “chioo”.

Suddenly she disappeared. No “bhurrrrrr-bhurrrrrr” around, no “chioo-chioo” in the courtyard. No straws scattered in the rooms, in fact there is no place in the rooms to build a nest. On the walls, there are even no frames of photos of grandpas and grandmas and pictures of gods and goddesses.

There is no chioo to show to the baby while telling him the old, now irrelevant, story of “chioo and kaoo”.

She was a part of his life and she disappeared as if sliced off from his existence.

How did it happen, and when, and why?

They were self-dependent and free birds, un-disturbing, living by themselves. Why did man touch them?

Did he really know nothing or was he ignorant?

Was he imbecile enough to understand nothing or was he indifferent enough to refuse to understand?

Or was he selfish enough to pretend that he knew nothing?

There was a man. --- But now there was no chioo. 

Man and a sparrow named “chioo”: 4

Man and a sparrow named “chioo”.

There was He and there was She. He chioo and She chioo.

He said, we will build a nest. She asked, Why?  He said, I don’t know. I feel like it … and I thought you will like to … She said, okay, yes, I will like to.

He brought one straw. She brought another straw. He said, you are tired, I will bring the straws.  She said, you are tired, I will build the nest. Then together they built a nest-home.

Then He brought one grain. She brought another grain. Then “bhurrrrrr”, he went and drank some water. She also went and drank some water. Then both brought one more grain each. They said, these are for our babies.

Then came the little baby Chioo in the nest. Days became small and “bhurrrrrr” they passed while bringing grains for her and taking care of her. She got little wings and she used to fly around, always twittering. The nest was always filled with her existence. Full to the brim with happiness. The home was home because of her. It existed and had meaning because of her. He and She didn’t realized how fast the days passed.

Baby chioo grew and her wings grew. The nest became insufficient and the piece of sky around the nest became small for her. When she found her He Chioo she flew away with him in their unlimited sky.  

Heart throbbed with concern and joy when she was in the nest and while she was learning to fly. And then there were tears of happiness of fulfillment and pain of parting when she flew away … .

Now again, only He and She remained in the nest. Once in a while He would say ‘Chiu-Chiu’ and She would say ‘Chiu’. Then sometimes She would say ‘Chiu-Chiu’ and He would say ‘Chiu’.

Then, sometimes, baby Chioo (now she was also a grown-up) would call over the wind. While she was on air the nest was full of her continuous twittering, as if she was flying around. Then there were only memories.

Still, as usual, reminding all these past things, the real sparrow “chioo” was twittering “chioo-chioo” and was flying ‘bhurrrrrr’ around. Her existence was a matter of fact. She was so familiar, that she was a part of his life.

But he didn’t know that. He still could understand nothing really.