(Recap — In the last part of the story, I narrated about my cynical hobby of counting the number of returning flocks of crows. In that demeanor, I noticed a single pair of crows, that had had a different kind of behaviour…)
As I told earlier, at the dusk of the evening, whole flocks of crows happened to retreat westward. I meant, towards the direction of the main city. Their pattern of flight was merely flapping the wings at the altitude of one hundred to two hundred feet. Along with, I too mentioned about my cynical hobby to count the number of flocks of crows. This hobby forced me to keep my face sky ward persistently. My sight remained engaged in upward direction only. In my this demeanor, I took notice of one bizarre occurrence. For the first time when I noticed it, I took it as an ordinary occurrence.
But, when the same same occurrence began to repeat daily, in the same pattern, it aroused my curiosity. The same sort of curiosity of teen age of not so matured mind. This curiosity gradually kept nagging on my thought. I have earlier mentioned that my district location was at the Himalayan foot hill. Where our village located, at a distance of about four km from my village, a long range of medium size mountains stood in a circle wise pattern. This mountain range one after another was then followed by other higher peaks afterward on the backside. This circle wise pattern of hills was spread to a considerably long stretch of many kilometers. From that North side it later on took a bend and stretched toward the East side. Since it being the the Himalayan range of rainy season, this chain of mountains was fraught with lush green forest in abundance.
The worth noticing occurrence was, when at the evening time, the entire flocks of black birds kept on returning westward towards the main city, at the same time, at a considerably high altitude a single pair of crows I always found taking flight just in opposite direction. I meant, at that height, I always found that pair flying East side Mountain range forest. Indubitably, their aerial path was at a very high altitude. The timing of this single pair was fixed. When all the black birds of this region were at the last stage of retreating, then this pair of crows would be discernible in returning mode. Meant, at some what more advanced stage of darkness.
Till that time, the sky was to be devoid of any bird at that height. In that open space, this pair seemed returning from the city side location. The pair flapping wings in slow musical harmonious motion, as if, already covered a long distance and feeling a fatigue. Their flight route was always on such a high altitude that from the ground they looked, as if, they were some small size birds. This pair of crows had had a rhythmic pattern in flight, discrete to Urban crows, who always seemed to fly like rompish brats. Always this pair seemed following a fixed aerial path heading towards the east side mountain range,
Watching them, a bizarre feeling used to assail the mind, as if, they were ostracized from their community as a pariah, and they decided to settle their life at a distant seclusive place. Both birds seemed to involve into their own affair, not caring the rest of the world. In my fancy, I compared this pair, who in the early of the morning left the house for a factory job in some industrial area and when working hours were over, returning home with a day long tiredness. Secondly, their fixed returning time authenticated the fact, their roosting place located some where into the dense forest of mountain of East side.
The another question nagged me, why they were only two in number? Crows always seemed to live in a community! They too should have had a flock of other birds? But whole through the wintry season, I found them flying utterly alone in a pair only. By watching them, it recalled me the story of Nanaku and his wife Ramiyaa of my village. This Nanaku long back had arrived at our village accompanied with his wife Ramiyaa. Originally he belonged to a far away Eastern province that distanced many hundreds km away from our village. Nanaku had reached to our village in search of some menial working job. Now he was an accepted dweller of our village community.
This Nanaku now had his own muddy hut as a dwelling place and fathered some children after his arrival at our village only. The detailed history of his past life gradually revealed to the woman folk of village and that to via his wife Ramiyaa. As it often happens, a woman easily shares her grief with other women on receiving empathy. Through woman folk, the entire village had come to know about that. The past history of Nanaku and Ramiyaa was the same old, conventional one. Both they fell in love with each other in the same parental village. At that old period of time, to be engaged in love affair with the girl of the same village were proscribed in the Hindu rural system.
But both they insisted to live the life with one another. The orthodox village community by a verdict ostracized them from the village community and both were expelled from the village. That was the time, when such kind of “affair” were despised strongly and not one village only, even the cluster of villages in vicinity too treated such ostracized couple as pariah. Nanaku and Ramiyaa managed to survive any how and wandering around in search of menial job and a shelter, covered a long distance of hundreds of km from the native place and ultimately found the shelter in our village.
To me, this bizarre pair of crows looked in similitude to Nanaku and ramiyaa. I felt, this pair of crows after being expelled from their bird community had taken shelter into the far away sequestered forest of the mountain. I kept on noticing the movement of this pair of crows in next two seasons of pea crop. It was my most favored hobby to wait and watch for this pair constantly on daily routine. In between, I completed my Intermediate education and I was forced to seek admission for further education in science faculty at the Main city degree college.
My family made a permanent arrangement for me to to stay in the city to continue the study. In a manner of speaking, my contact with that agrarian life got disconnected for some years. But after the lapse of some years, again I happened to come across with an another pair of crows. I new not, whether this pair of crows was the same pair whom I happened to watch in my teen age or some one else. But my personal conviction ever assured me, it was the same pair of crows and this I deducted by their bonding in their venture. That I occasioned to watch when I had developed the hobby of bird watching. ( Cont’d , End of the Part 3rd.) Penned by — Vinay Pharasi —–
