God’s own tools

I have been placing leftover food, birdseed and water on our terrace. A large number of birds visit us. The other day, as I had placed the leftovers, my daughter went up to see the birds feeding.

I have been placing leftover food, birdseed and water on our terrace. A large number of birds visit us. The other day, as I had placed the leftovers, my daughter went up to see the birds feeding. She came down very excited. “Come up. There is a beautiful small bird eating the seeds”.

HT Image

I hurried up. As soon as we reached the terrace, horror struck. The small bird was picked away by a crow. The crow started circling as the little bird wailed piteously. We raised a hue and cry and the other birds created a ruckus. The crow got unnerved. It deposited the bird in the bushes near a lamppost. We rushed to rescue it.

Ultimately, we were able to catch the frightened bird. It was a small budgerigar, which had either been freed, or had escaped. The first thing was to put it in an improvised ‘home’. A shoe-box with holes punched in it did the trick.

My wife urgently contacted a lady devoted to the service of animals. She was wonderful and gave the address of the nearest bird doctor and asked that we ring her up as soon as the doctor had examined the bird. To our great relief, the doctor found it unharmed, but very frightened and starving. We rang up the lady and she volunteered to find a home for it. The home was found in no time in a household of Gurgaon.

This wonderful person offered to collect the bird and keep it along the rest of her budgerigars. The budgy was with us for two days and recovered well. It was very happy in its new cage, which we had borrowed, and was swinging merrily all the time. I had a tear in my eye as it left for its new home.

I think the whole episode was a medium to introduce us to two magnificent persons devoted to care and concern for all animals. And the instrument God chose to bestow this kindness on us was the small budgerigar- no more than 30 grams!