We have a mango tree just behind my home that my Didi had accidentally planted when she was just a baby.So when I was in my teens, an Oriental Magpie Robin(doyel)had built a tiny nest with a baby inside it.Just like the green young leaves of my mango tree the baby was also growing up everyday.And I knew the parents were eagerly waiting for the day to watch it grown enough to fly itself.
And finally the day arrived.So one sunny morning,I woke up to the conversation of my Mom and Dad saying how the baby had fallen from the nest while its parents were out for fetching food.They were repeatedly trying to put it back into the nest.But that stubborn little being took it as a threat and tried to go here and there all by itself.Apparently it had learnt to fly!We were keeping an eye on that tiny bird all day long in order to protect it from cats or some other threats.So after some time my Dad took it gently in his hand and tried to keep it back into that nest.But alas! Sensing it as a false alarm it flew away slipping right away from his hands and sat quite far from where we were standing.A cat who was watching it with its prying eyes didn't waste the chance at all.And with a shrill cry the tiny bird was gone.... forever.
I remember the parents came home and kept on looking for their baby for days.If only I could forget that empty stare of the mother beside their empty home,while the father was helplessly flying here and there all day searching for the baby.The couple finally flew away some days later.All was left was their broken empty nest once built with care and love.
© Ananya