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On the sidelines
One evening, my mother called me excitedly from the balcony. I went up and looked to where she was pointing. I saw an egg among the entwined creepers on the roof of our patio. I thought it could be a snake’s egg as sometimes we do spot snakes slithering among the bushes! But, a snake’s egg could not have been this big! Then it occurred to me that it could be a peahen’s egg as there were many in our neighborhood.
The next evening, my mother told me that she had spotted another egg. Wonderful news! This meant we had a regular visitor. I have always longed for a pet, now I was lucky to own one! The next evening I noticed another egg and I was sure of our friend’s intentions. She had decided to make our roof her home! My joy knew no bounds as I repeatedly counted the eggs. The following day was the most memorable — there were four eggs. The next morning, I finally saw the peahen. I dropped a few pieces of bread and roti on to the roof . I had to wait for 21 days for the eggs to hatch. It had become a daily ritual to watch the mother bird. I didn’t see her moving an inch in spite of the sun. On some days, it rained heavily and I was sure the bird was cold too. Though it’s nice to have some showers especially in the hot season, for the mother hen it was not so. My mother told me that the hen went away sometimes in the night. There were some cats in the vicinity and I dreaded the thought that they might snatch the eggs. Every morning I would go and take a look at the peahen. A fortnight later, when I went to the balcony I was aghast to see, a cat was scurrying away with an egg in its mouth. I shrieked at it and in the hullabaloo it dropped the egg. I felt very sad looking at the contents of the broken egg. I hoped that this would not happen again. I was amazed to see the peahen continued to visit, without losing hope. One afternoon I heard my mother calling out to me. I ran upstairs. I saw a teeny weensy chick next to its mother. I ran in to get the camera and just at the moment the peahen got up and another itsy bitsy chick was there. They followed their mother, and while we were looking at them the peahen flew from the roof onto the ground. One chick followed. I just stared at it taking such a flight from the balcony. It was indeed not a small height for a baby chick. How would it come up again? The mother peahen flew back again and flew down once again. The other chick which was just standing on the edge followed. We were all looking at them wondering how they would fly back again. The peahen walked towards the hedge and out of our house with her chicks following her. I asked my mother how the minutes-old-chicks could fly from such a height. She smiled and answered that it was the trust the chicks had on their mother.
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When I first saw the egg resting on the creeper on the patio roof, I was excited. Then I saw one more the next day, and another the day after!
Every morning i would take a look at the peahen. a fortnight later, i saw a cat scurrying away with an egg. I screamed...
