MY MITHU

I and my mother are bird lovers. Since my childhood I have seen, earlier my grand mother and then mother, feeding birds on our roof top. This practice is still being continued. When ever we be in Purulia ,we still do it. At Faridabad, we personally don’t go to the roof top, but birds are being fed regularly. At Purulia, hundreds of pigeons used to come to take grains every morning. They became very familiar to me. They used to come very close and were like our pet birds. It was my daily routine. Sometimes I could catch one of white pigeons to play with it throughout day and then release it by evening. This way I became interested in keeping some pet birds with me. Once while returning from Ranchi by bus, I had seen a young girl with a pet parrot. It was not tied. It was free to move around. She was playing with it all along. I developed a desire of having a pet parrot like this. I was about 10 years old then. On return I bought parrots many times, kept them in cages .They used to fly away when ever they be out of the cage. Mean while I bought two little white pigeons, only four days old. I used to feed them with dropper and through mouth feeding. They grew up soon enabling me to play with. They became very friendly to me. For most of the time I used to be with them. I could not imagine that they would learn flying as they grow. One day they flew away into the open sky while playing with me. I was at a loss. I could not imagine life without them around. In addition I was worried about their safety. It was their maiden flight. Whole day I was on my roof, top sad and disturbed hoping them to return back. As the sun was about to set in and it was getting darker, they returned back. I was delighted to have them back. There after, it was a routine. For next two years or so they were with me. Then gradually I set them free. But I could never develop such intimacy with any parrot for long as I desired though I used to keep many parrots in a big cage. This childhood hobby did not go away with age. And sometime in eighties, I bought a parrot who did not know flying. So I used to put it into cage during night only for safety .Otherwise It was kept free. Gradually it developed some kind of intimacy with me .It used to follow my voice and me. It used to go to office, kitchen, bed room, pooja room. It would see TV serials like RAMAYAN etc with the family. It would kiss me many times on my lips when ever I entered into home. It was a long cherished desire that got fulfilled. In between I had to be away to Ranchi for Shobha’s treatment for about a month. It was sad and silent through out during my absence. The day I returned, it came to me and shouted at me for an hour or so. It climbed on to my shoulder, kissed and hugged me for last time. It then left me and went up to Babuji. This was the way to put forward its annoyance about my absence. He found babuji to be always around. There after he developed the same intimacy with babuji. He started doing all those acts with babuji. He used to follow him where ever he is. He never turned towards me there after. Though I was delighted to see it intimate with babuji, I missed its attachment with me. I felt very sad about its behavioral change. My efforts to win back its love and intimacy went in vain. But it became symbol of our family. All visitors or relatives must enquire about him. He became an important member of the family. There were many parrots in the cage but he remained special for many years. Then one day I found him very sad and silent. I was to go to Calcutta for two days. I had to leave him. I asked all family members to take care. Sangeet was specially assigned for his care. I kept on enquiring about him over phone. I cut short my stay and returned back next night. I found Sangeet standing at the entry. That gave me apprehension of the inevitable. Yes it left for heavenly abode during my absence. He was hurriedly buried apprehending its impact on me. We still miss him. We could never develop intimacy like that with any parrot again. With time and practice, my mithu could learn to smile without biting. He could learn living in house without flying which was his natural instinct. He could learn to kiss on lips without causing any injury. He could learn to recognize me and/or babuji. But once annoyed with my absence he never turned towards me again. Perhaps he was loyal to continuous love and caring. Later in life, I had to face a similar situation when some one told, AAR TUMAR DIKE TAKABO NAI means never to look to you again Besides, we maintained a cow shed since inception i.e since my memory goes. A few cows and calves would live there under custody of a qualified person to nourish them and to cater milk for family needs. I was informed that my grandfather would very regular visit the place, half kilometer away from our residence to take care of their well being in person. Later I had seen my so called dadaji to visit them every day. It had social and religious point to nourish cows in Hindu family. Marwaris, who migrated from Rajasthan were very particular in this regard. That’s how Purulia Gourakshini Sabha got constituted to serve the scattered and stray cattles particularly cows. Thakurdasji, my great grand father and perhaps Badrnarainji, my grandfather served the society as its president. Babuji was once its treasurer. He wanted me to be associated with it actively but I avoided for some or other resaons. Later we brought our cow shed attached to our residence for better service. Babuji was never in good health to take care of it personally but my mother always tried her best to be very careful towards our cow stuff. My suggestion to discontinue this practice after a bit urbanization of town was never accepted in spite of many inconveniences. I had seen my mother cleansing the shed personally. I still remember the emotional situation of departing with the last cow and its calf when Bai and Babuji finally decided to move to Faridabad for good. We had horse and horse cart for many years for our local travel. A red color mair is still fresh in my memory which would carry us to gardens, at times to school and visitors from station to our residence etc. It was very much used to carry the bride groom in marriage ceremony for years in our locality. The information remains icomplete if I don’t mention about MUNSI, the coach. These informations seem to be irrelevant, but would let the generation next understand the way we lived and developed relationship with surroundings and inhabitants around.