The Silence of the Crows

It was a long pending kiss of love between Chennai and Cyclone Nisha. The two made sure that their rendezvous was truly spectacular, their passionate romance in full swing for four solid days. Nisha truly swept Chennai off its feet – so much so that Chennai looked a, ruffled, exhausted man on day five.

Caught at home with my niece who had just landed from Coimbatore, shooting out abuses (at no one in particular) for our unfortunate house arrest, I was glued to the television set flipping between channels that covered the Mumbai episode. Nothing seemed to go right – people were dying, our media seminar was going nowhere (not like we could’ve helped it, colleges were locked up in Chennai and Pondicherry) and miss sunshine seemed embarrassed to witness Chennai’s love story. My niece was highly restless and annoyed with the 24 hrs news coverage and the doors that were tight shut. Graciously (quite graciously) my mom announced we could go to the terrace to experience this rare spectacle. The entire family ran upstairs in child like enthusiasm. And God! The Wind God – he truly deserves a pat on his back. It was amazing to stand there, by the riverside, amidst the wild winds and all that… we giggled, beating the branches of the Ashoka tree that dangerously swayed into our territory. My niece couldn’t have laughed louder and we played around with the trees and the irrepressible umbrellas.

Suddenly my brother pointed at the crows. They were trying hard to combat the winds, to get their wings sailing. But Nisha had the upper hand and the crows tumbled down to the tress, out of balance and out of control. It was a hilarious sight, to see those nasty, mean crows, who peck at our heads for peeping down their nests, (would they ever understand that we had better things to eat than their silly red mouthed babies?) go haywire, rotating 360 degrees vertically in the cyclone. We doubled up looking at them; we had the cheap thrill of getting back at the crows for their unexpected shower of crap, at the most helpless moment (we would only have a dried leaf to our solace), on the way to school and work and their merciless cawing all round the day.

But strangely, the crows were dead silent that day. It was their nightmare, and they chose to battle their way quietly. The silence ferociously countered those frightening gun shots from the Taj. The crows tumbled down, spun back to the branches. I don’t know why, but they bounced back to try again and again and again. Not giving up ever, maybe they were bewildered as to why something was acting against the norms of nature. What were they trying to prove and to whom? Why didn’t the brash counterforce intimidate them? Where did they get the will power to fight the odds and prove their point? We can and we will… they had resolved in their small bird brain.

Soon after, when Chennai bored the hell out of Nisha, she left, abruptly. The city wept in sorrow and soon little miss sunshine peeped proudly above us. The silent crows started chattering again, though many of their green homes had turned bald from beautiful. Nothing could stop them and they worked towards normalcy. Today their nightmare has turned a fairy tale and they live happily ever after – mom, dad, babies, everyone! It’s quite a crow’s story from a nightmare to a fairy tale… but the episode remains ‘my moral of the day’. India is recuperating and our media seminar is taking shape. The venue is booked, sponsors are happening and we’ve got a “BIG” radio partner. I feel good and I can’t wait for my turn of happily ever after…