Photograph Vishnu Mathur ©
Every morning when I go up to the terrace of my building to feed a bunch of pigeons it is a new day. Depending upon the time (it has to be between 7.15. to 7..45 A.M.otherwise they fly off to other place in search of food) they approach me differently. Normally they approach the place I am sitting at in a helicopter fashion. They approach me from the left and land a few yards away and then cautiously walk towards me to the center of the terrace where I start throwing the Bajra (Pearl Millet) grains. Once the first bunch starts eating more pigeons will appear from nowhere and join them. The number varies from thirty or forty to some times hundred when the neighboring building pigeons also join the party in the absence of their regular source of their first meal of the day. On other days when I am late a few pigeons will be still waiting at the distant corner of the terrace but then they are cautious and approach very carefully one by one.Sometimes they will wait for some reason to make sure if all is well till a more courageous ( or more hungry) pigeon will land alone. When he or she (I can't still make out their genders,I am told that the ones with slender necks are females and the ones with thicker necks are males) starts eating the others join the party one by one.On some other days if I am very late there will be no pigeon in sight and I will have to wait till a few of them spot me sitting. They will come nearby and wait till I start throwing the seeds.Once that group starts eating the whole bunch will appear from nowhere and finish their quota of feed for the day. But there are days when I wait with the seeds and no bird would appear and finally I have to spread the seeds around and leave. Of course they come and eat the feed sometime during the day because when I go up to the terrace for a walk in the evening or the next day all that I threw down would have been eaten up. Another interesting thing is that sometimes when the bajra is over and I try to feed them any other grain they make a lot of fuss and sometimes just fly away in disgust. But again when I go there next time the feed is all eaten up one way or the other.
The whole group of my building are all not grey as one would like to imagine them.Because of some homing pigeons in the vicinity and because of the freedom of cross breeding habits, I have on my terrace pigeons of many shades apart from the predominantly grey. There are a few pure white ones whom the previous tenants of the adjoining building have left behind, then there are the first generation mix breed who are with black and white spots and then the further away breed who have just a streak of white and grey, sometimes just a white feather showing on its underbelly. To my surprise there is one pure black pigeon in my group whom I first suspected to be a water bird. Maybe it is a cross breed from there I am not sure. So I recognize some of them clearly because of their distinct colours and have named them likewise. The white one is obviously called Shwet, two of them who have grey and white spots are called Spotty. Because I can't distinguish between the two they are just Spoty 1 and Spoty 2 .Lately I see only one of them; I suspect one of them is dead. Others whom I can recognize are called in different names like Fluffy, Toughie, Black, Dakota because of a certain shape which looks like a Dakota plane and so on. Many don't have names because I can't make out which is which, they are all different shade of grey, but not identical in their shades and shapes. Anyway I know that it does not matter because I have a suspicion that they don't know that they have names and that they don't even know that they are 'Pigeons' for that matter! And I am sure they have no name for me; not yet! They recognize me perhaps as just a figure who appears in the morning on the terrace at a specific time and feeds them.
Pigeons are pigeons. Not really. When I see them closely I see that each one of them has a distinct personality and different nature apart from different shapes, sizes and shades of their plumage. Of course as they are popularly known they are peaceful by nature. They never rush or fight with each other to grab their share of feed. Some of the birds because of their nature will stay on the periphery of the main group and timidly wait till a grain or two falls near them. That is why I throw the seeds slowly in different directions so that all the birds get their share of food. There are others who are not afraid to come close to me and eat the grains sometimes from under my feet. I sometimes feel like a guru who takes care of all the disciples, keeping in mind their nature and specific needs. There I am reminded of the gurus and teachers I have known who took special care of the pupils who were quiet and remained in the shadows.These birds are also not greedy when a particular bird has had enough to eat it just flies off even if there is more food there to eat. And as a group they just take off once they know that the day's quota is over without waiting even a minute.So unlike humans!.
I am a human all right. When I started feeding these birds a couple years ago I used a a small measuring cup full of grains, roughly calculating how much it would cost me to feed the birds and that it would not upset the household budget.of the month. And then as I regularly started to feed them I realized that more and more birds are joining the group and I felt that I must put more bajra for them. So I chose a bigger measuring cup which I thought was double the size of the previous one. As I started to pour the cup on the first day I stopped mid way. "Am I going overboard?" I thought. "Am I stretching my generosity too much,can I really afford this?" And then in my mind I start calculating the money I would be spending in a month and so on.(Never mind the amount I may be spending on my evening beverages!) So I did not fill the measuring cup to the brim but just two third of its full capacity.That was my way of economizing the monthly budget. And at that time I realized that I do not have a big enough heart to really be generous enough to fill that cup in one go. So I started filling the cup just a little more every day so as to keep my expenses in check and at the same time I practice to be more generous as the days go by. It has taken me a little time but the good news is that my cup is full now and I think I am putting enough feed for the pigeons on my terrace and they seem to be happy. I also realize that there are other benefactors around who are taking care of the other birds of the area. But it certainly makes me happy as I climb up on the terrace each morning when I see my group of pigeons waiting for me to have their breakfast. And when they flutter around merrily I can instantly feel the presence of so many loving innocent souls around me. It certainly makes me feel good in a quiet way. Never mind that they do not know my name yet.
Post Script. Who said pigeons are like Dodos and who close their eyes when they see a cat.It was very difficult for me to get a nice picture of the pigeons .They became very conscious of the camera in my hand and would freeze or just fly away before finishing the feed. After many attempts I could manage a decent photograph. I will keep trying and get a better one.
Vishnu Mathur.
September 15 2013.
Lovely
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