Song of a Bird...

City life is losing its tranquility and becoming noisier day by day. A decade ago, during the hour of dawn, we could hear the birds singing on the trees. Now things have changed drastically, tell me when was the last time you noticeably heard a koel’s cry announcing the sunrise? The crack of dawn in cities has lost its splendor. Birds, disturbed by the urban noises, make their music short-lived. The popular myna-parrot duets have become tales of the past. One day, perhaps they will stop singing, leaving us amidst loud noises of vehicle engines, blowing horns, screaming loudspeakers, shouting vendors.

Here is an account of my journey through the woods. I happened to travel through the dense forests of Mudumalai (located in Nilgiri District, the western most part of Tamil Nadu in south India) and Bandipur (located in the Chamarajanagar district of southern Karnataka in south India). The Bandipur National park is contiguous with the Mudumalai National park. They are the most famous and thrilling wildlife sanctuaries in south India. These two Reserve forests share the border of south Indian states Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

We were travelling by a car and the road before us looked like a natural tunnel, formed by many a branch of giant trees which were on either side of the road. It was quite a misty dawn, cloud piled upon cloud and there was slight drizzling. After almost an hour the clouds melted away in air giving way to the bright sunshine. One cloud didn't give up that easily and tried to make its presence felt, as the reason it was still drizzling and the simultaneous occurrence of rain and sunshine lead to the formation of a beautiful rainbow.

The rainbow installed a new life into the birds; they setup their orchestra and started composing a fluorescent song. The notes of the song can be heard till the farthest corner of the woods. Look at the birds, the golden eagle is flying high up in the sun-illuminated sky and looks as majestic as ever, the magpie robin is dressed in black tie and enjoying the dawn, doves are cooing in joy, providing the picture of peace, the woodpecker is pecking the bark of a tree, producing perfect rhythm and beat, cute little sparrows are chattering deep inside the woods and parrots with their red beaks are wandering in the orchards for a bite of the ripened fruit.

All of a sudden, the driver hard-pressed the brakes and our car came to a perfect halt. "What happened?" was the question in everyone’s mind but before we tried to find an answer, oh my goodness, a beautiful peacock was standing right in the middle of the road and was moving slowly to the side with utmost grandeur, we took a snap or two and in an instant the bird bounced away into the woods. Just a close glance at our national bird, filled our hearts with lot of joy.

What about the birds living near the water bodies? What are they doing? The swans are spreading their wings and waiting for the first rays of the sun to touch their delicate feathers, cranes are playing the game of fish, whoever catches the bigger one, is the winner, the ducks are swimming in the cool blue waters of the river and just look at the little kingfisher, he is a specialist in tearing the water-curtain and catching fish, is happy hunting his breakfast. The seagull is sailing on the waves of the wind and occasionally going down in groups to the sea waters in search of fish.

The bird, sculptured in feather and bone, makes us forget the silence of the morning butterflies, by singing songs of nature. With the first flutter of her wings, she illustrated freedom. Let the bird family always have the freedom of wings, never try to prison them in cages. Why to cage them and use them as pets, robbing their freedom of flight and making them cry. Instead, pay attention to the song of the free bird.

Birds spin in the air, yearning to be noticed. If you meticulously observe nature, you get carried away by its beauty. Man is a devotee of nature; he should worship nature with utmost joy and respect.