Spaced out

The idea for this particular post came from a very unusual source.The incessant and very annoying twittering of a pair of mynah birds outside my bedroom window provided fodder for thought.Mynahs are essentially small birds with an exceptional vocal range.I say exceptional because their persistent tweeting manages to rouse me from my slumber.For all those who know me,I sleep like a log.Maybe even logs will get up given enough evolutionary space but not me.So that is why I say that those little birds are exceptional.
Now,I believe that my family should probably give up all academic pursuits and spend its time opening an aviary.We've raised at least four generations of pigeons,one of sparrows and two of mynahs in our bedroom windows.And all of these birds have incredible memories.They keep coming back to visit us time and again when we least expect it.I have a tremendous birdophobia..or is it,avophobia.Whatever it is,these unwelcome guests always leave me with a sense of profound terror and sometimes I feel that the house belongs to them,not us.
Almost all of these birds first make their cosy and comfortable nests either in the window sill or in the exhaust fan placed in the kitchen balcony.I begin enlightening my mother about the "nesty" state of affairs,and more often than not,my observations are brushed off with,"Oh okay,I will look into it." I wait.Some days later,I notice,with trepidation,that there are eggs in the nest.My apprehension increases now and I repeat my earlier statements with more force.Now my mother looks at me like I've dyed my hair purple and says,"Eggs?There are eggs in it?How can I remove them now?Let them stay and hatch." My helpless stare and open mouth go unnoticed.Days pass.The eggs hatch and out come batches of little birds.After about a couple of weeks,the family leaves and I heave a sigh of relief.Now my life will be somewhat my own,I mistakenly think.The very thought of roaming about in my house,in a jaunty,fearless manner is stopped short as I hear with horror another set of chirps coming from the window sill.There.Another set of parents ready to start a family.
Why do birds build their havens in people's houses?Why do they not go and live in forests,as they were originally supposed to do?Why do they risk being chased away and even killed by us humans and our gadgets?We all know the answer.It's all our doing.During the last two or three decades,we have destroyed an enormous amount of wildlife,trees and natural products.We have very smartly and as I might add,arrogantly,usurped the rights of millions of animals and birds,by taking away their habitats and flora.It's only natural then,that these homeless and defenceless creatures try and live in alien spaces like window sills of apartments and small confined holes in walls.We have effectively and cruelly made life hell for things which are non-people.We think smugly of our advanced technologies which have made our lives super easy,but not a moment is spared in reflecting about those unfortunate and hapless fauna whose lives we have wrecked.
We think we are invincible,right?Well,we live on a very small planet which is revolving around an average sized star,situated in a small galaxy which is just one amongst billions of its kind,many even bigger than it.How is that for a perspective?The way I look at it,if God was a man living in a house called the Universe,and Earth was one of the window sills,if He had decided to kill oxygen and water and food supplies,where would all of us go?What if He had banned the entry of any human on his window sill?We would all perish in a matter of a few days.That is precisely what we are doing to other livestock.God has created a space for each and every living being on this Earth,from the tiny bacterium to the gigantic blue whale,and it would really be better for all of us to give every mortal his or her designated space.Just the way He intended it to be.