A peacock and a Bird Mynah  lived in a garden. The two had a very close friendship. Be it day or night, work or rest, both used to take time out to meet.

Their friendship used to add more color during the rainy season. When the peacock started dancing by spreading its colorful feathers in cloudy weather, Bird Mynah would start singing. In the season, the joy would spread all around.

In those days the son of  that garden’s owner had come to visit. Seeing the captive mingling of peacock and the Bird Mynah, he was stunned. Now that child would sometimes come to the garden to see both of them.

Here the peacock was the lover of weather, the lover of cloud. He danced only when the cloud covered the sky. Because of this, the child had to wait a long time. But to please the child, Bird Mynah  used to imitate his voice exactly.

The child was happy to see the Bird Mynah  imitating his voice like this. He would repeatedly speak to the Bird Mynah  and Mynah would imitate him. In this way Mynah got closer to the child and his distance from the peacock kept increasing.

Peacock repeatedly tried to convince  Mynah to stop copying others' voices, but Bird Mynah  turned a deaf ear to the advise of his friend. The peacock continued on its nature of loving the weather, loving the cloud and Bird Mynah kept trying to please that child by imitating his voice.

With the passage of time the child grew up. He had to go away from the village to a big town  to further  study. But he was fond of Bird Mynah  so much that he could not imagine living alone without him.

The boy started insisting on his father to take that Bird Mynah also with him. After all, how many times could the father refuse. So his father made allowed his son to carry the Bird Mynah with him  , but for the safety of Bird Mynah, he kept him in a cage. No one could harm Myna in the cage. Bird Mynah’s  safety was also to be taken care of.

Bird Mynah  had to pay the price for copying another. By the time Bird Mynah  realized his mistake, it was too late. Feeling sad, Bird Mynah had to stay in the cage.

It is said that time heals every wound. When Bird Mynah  left, the peacock kept on shedding tears for some time. But for how many days? Life does not go on by shedding tears.

It was necessary to work hard to eat food. The peacock had to come out to live. The hunger of a sinful stomach makes everything forget. Peacock got busy with his life. Slowly everything became normal.

Here Bird Mynah  also kept on adapting himself  with the changing times. Initially, Bird Mynah  also felt bad to be tied in a cage. He used to remember the day of independence. Remembering the days spent with the peacock.

When the clouds covered the sky, the peacock used to dance like his own feather and sing, wow what a moment. When the whole sky used to be the home of both of them. No one was there to stop them.

Now his whole world was confined within the wall of the cage. Bird Mynah  had realized that the old days are not going to come back. So why not adopt the life of a cage.

So forgetting the old days, now he started focusing on the good things of the new life. Now without any hard work, Bird Mynah  would get food on time. Now he could not be killed by any carnivorous animal. With the passage of time, Bird Mynah  now felt quite secure inside the cage.

And what he was supposed to do for this, just wag his tail at the behest of his master and imitate his voice in front of his friends. And in return he got the love and admiration of his master. After all, what else did he need?

Time was flying with wings. Soon the education of that child was completed. After completing his degree, he had to return home. When he returned to his home, he also brought that Bird Mynah  with him.

After a long time, when the peacock heard the voice of his friend, his happiness knew no bounds. When he immediately reached his master's house, he saw that Bird Mynah  was making them laugh by imitating the voice of that child.

The peacock hid and waited for the night so that he could meet  Mynah alone. At night, when the owner's child went to sleep, the peacock approached  Mynah after getting an opportunity to inquire.

When  Mynah met his friend after so many days, both of them had tears in their eyes. After taking care of each other,  Mynah asked the peacock that why the owner's child has kept him in this cage, why not the peacock?

Peacock replied, Man likes the slavery of society, country, religion, caste, history, family and does not know whose slave and compels others to live in the same way. Whoever a man likes, he gets to control it.

Only for the sake of name, a man fights for freedom, but the real fight is not for freedom, in fact man's fight is to enslave and get slaved in his own way.
Look, my brother, the peacock further said, man does not want to live in freedom but in a chain made by himself. You imitated man, man drew a cage line for you too.

Well leave all these things too. The peacock further excitedly said to Mynah, now the time has come to break down the line drawn by the man. Come on friend, the whole sky is waiting for you again. Let’s come out of the cage.

Saying this the peacock opened the cage door and asked  Mynah to accompany him. Peacock thought Mynah  would not let this golden opportunity pass by. He thought that both would be able to sing and dance together in the open sky.

But alas, contrary to the peacock's expectation,  Mynah closed the cage door hesitatingly. In a single day, the peacock felt both immense joy and immense despair. Bird Mynah, with folded hands  requested  the peacock to return.

Bird Mynah said, Brother, because of being in the cage for so long, the habit of flying has gone. The second thing is that even drinking food in the cage is easily available. I am happy here brother. You go back to the garden. And yes sometimes keep coming to meet me.

The peacock returned to the garden with a smile. The peacock was laughing. It was clearly visible to him that due to living with man for so long time, maybe even my friend Mynah has also developed affinity for slavery.

Man can neither live alone nor allows others to be alone. Like a man, his friend Bird Mynah was also afraid of freedom. To fly in the open sky, after all, one has to bear the dangers of the sky too.

Ajay Amitabh Suman: All Rights Reserved