Woes of a bird hit family

Stories are aplenty of people having unbound love for their pets like dogs and cats. They would go to any extent to give them all possible comfort. For them, no price would be too high to keep the pets in suitable environment.

Instances are not lacking of dog lovers having held memorials in honour of their "best friend". They would visit the grave to pray for peace to the departed soul. Admittedly, it is a manifestation of the strong bonds of love between man and his beloved animal.

I know of a person, one Mr B, who immensely loved each and every pigeon in the big flock that he was having on the roof of the second floor of his ancestral house in a north Indian city.

On coming home from office, the first thing he would do was to rush upstairs, open the pigeonholes and feed them. In between, he would pick up a bird, hold it and kiss it on the head or the beak. The man would also examine them for any possible injuries caused by pecking. He would then send the flock on routine flight, call it back and cage the birds again before leaving.

For him the flock was too precious and maintaining it an unwavering passion. Nothing would deflect his attention from the birds, which he loved like his own children. Tragically, however, B's biological children and wife remained neglected due to the priority he gave to the birds.

Members of B's larger family and neighbours felt sad over the fact that while he never forgot to replenish the depleting bird feed, he seldom bothered to find out whether his own kitchen and store had adequate provision in the shelves.

Onlookers were shocked to see how as a result of the continued indifference, his wife as well as children remained undernourished and looked pale. Whereas other kids were admitted to good schools, B's children were sent to an ordinary one.

The same was the case with their wardrobe. The difference in the quality of education, health and clothes was too evident not to be noticed.

B was working under the federal government and drew a modest salary which was sufficient to support a small lower middle class family. But woes surfaced because there was no proper utilisation - again due to wrong priorities that B gave to spending. Probably this trait could be traced to the family's rich past as Zamindars (landlords) and the royal habits and lifestyle B had inherited from his forefathers. With the abolition of the Zamindari system, the family, like all others of its ilk, had fallen on bad days.

Over the years, his unusual love for the pigeons became an anathema to others. But there was little anybody could do about it. While the children anxiously waited for their Dad in their room on the ground floor, he would be feeding the birds upstairs.

One wintry afternoon, when the family members were discussing something in the courtyard, the youngest one in the family entered holding a vessel containing Desi ghee (clarified butter) in his hand. By mistake, the vessel fell and all the ghee was spilt on the ground.

Suddenly, B got up and rushed upstairs. Even as others were wondering he had thought of retrieving the spilt ghee, he came back with a mug full of millet. B quickly threw it over the ghee, collected the ghee-soaked feed and rushed up where it was served to the pigeons.

"Madness, sheer madness", muttered B's father in disgust adding that the incident reflected on his frame of mind and his wrong priorities.

Lalit Raizada is a journalist based in India.