The parrot that loved rasogullas...

Animal love stays. There are no fears.. no proposals to make and silly insecurities that goes with them, no shattered lives, no divorces and though they too leave a hole in your heart when they go, esp. when you really get attached, you know that the memories left behind would be the fonder ones (except maybe when you think about that one shoe of your favourite pair that went missing or the suspicious bite mark of a squirrel teeth on your toast each day..). My house has been a walking zoo for as long as i can remember.. not for the people who live there (clearing this before i get a kick up my backside..) but for the number of birds and animals that have came and found a place in our hearts. in no particular order, there has been one dog , one kitten who became family and raised 3 generations , 3 squirrels, 4 parrots, 2 mynehs, 2 lizards, 1 rabbit, 1 frog, 4 generations of mongoose , 2 chicks , one snail, and 3 generations of sparrows, that i can remember , who've been there and done that at my place. there are amazing stories to tell about each and every one of them.. and i'll be more than happy to tell them to anybody who's interested but the story i'm writing about right now is about the 'Parrot who ate rasogullas' .. coz she was the first creature i really got attached to..

she came to our house when i must have been 7-8 years old. she was bought from a bird seller coz she was thin and weak and the glummest looking bird you could ever imagine. it took the biggest cage with the largest space you could find, lots and lots of typical parrot food and a tiny water cup to get her moving and speaking. her health improved and so did her voice and she became family. then, one day, came the test.. we opened her cage door inside our house , moved back and waited. Nothing. we decided to wait some more. still nothing. after an hour or so , we gave up. maybe she couldnt fly.. but that was hard to imagine. maybe, she was afraid..

We tried again the next day and this time we moved out of her sight. Then it happened. She slowly came out of the cage door.. had no idea what to do next.. paused for a moment and then, flew on top of the curtains. SHE COULD FLY. we were ecstatic. she was a very beautiful bird.. very shy but had exotic tastes for a parrot. with her very tiny tongue.. the cutest you could ever wish to see, she licked cream found between biscuits, ate pineapple jam.. she liked pineapples, but her all time favourite were rasogullas. she could eat one entire small dripping rasogulla at one go and then go to sleep.. maybe it was heaven for her. we joked she'd get diabetes one day coz of her sweet tooth but of course, she didnt care. she never did. she would sit on your shoulders when you had biscuits in your hand or would sit atop one of the open cupboard doors in anticipation of her favourite cream biscuits.. AND she had to get her share, else your earlobe took a bloody beating.

She was with us for four years and then one day she flew away.. she had to go.. start her own family. i cried that day , maybe coz i thought she'd never go and was also fearful of her safety coz we all knew she had never been in the open on her own before. but she came back .. about 3 months after she left , we heard her voice one day .. and there she was .. sitting on our verandah chair's hand rest. 5 minutes later.. she flew away again. we all saw her.. she was fine.. she was a tough cookie, that girl.. maybe i underestimated her.

we still have two parrots coming to our guava tree at the back of our house each month. the voice is still the same.. she was a chatterbox.. no other parrot could maintain the intensity of the noisiest parrot talk which she could , and with ease. she's way more healthier now.. maybe she's become a mother..

Maybe the love's still there...