The repetitive reciprocal calls of Bulbuls in our courtyard in an evening time, when it became cloudy, windy and dark, a few days ago, dragged me outside to our courtyard. Dulcie and Daffy were also disturbed by this call and started to bark!
I noticed two Bulbuls, perched beside each other, appearing to be in distress from their body language. I positioned myself in the vicinity of their presence, hoping that they would see me. They were perched on a tree adjacent to our feeding station.
I brought some food to the feeding bowl, thinking that they would want to feed. I moved away to allow them to come down to feed. But that did not happen. For about five minutes the distress calls continued.
I returned to stay in their vicinity and it took about ten minutes for them to feel settled. Their calls became less loud, reciprocal and infrequent.
The last photo above, where they behold each other was, a sight worth watching! I do not know what made them feel distressed and what stilled them!
But I witnessed how intense was their expression of distress or threat or anxiety they endured, till they turned to each other found consolation in each other's beholding look! Their still presence to each other, in contrast to the earlier distress signals, brought a message that birds receive strength from each other, while being together! They seemed to overcome their anxiety state, when they turned to each other.
The parents of the lady doctor, who was murdered recently in Kolkota, in a medical college, when she was sleeping after continuous clinical duty of 36 hours, mentioned in an interview, that they were left alone to comfort each other. Their sorrow is profound; distress is unbearable and loss is devastating! And yet, they talked about comfort they found in each other.
A pair of Bulbul finding comfort in each other; a distressed couple turning to each other following the loss of their daughter....!
I feel moved as I ponder on this filial relationship! There is something mystical and transcendental in a relationship between a husband and wife. There is a drawing power between themselves, deep within that reaches its peek in distressing times!
I find family lives in some form of disarray, amidst the abundance of material prosperity we encounter! We have larger houses to live in, better pay packets to take home, access to comforts of life; social standing to be influential; children to be grateful for....!
Amidst the plenty there is emptiness in filial relationship between husband and wife in many instances. An advocate practicing in the family court mentioned to age that there are about ten requests from aggrieved men and women for separation or divorce in a week. Since he tarted his practice of alternate dispute resolution in the family court fifteen years ago, there is hundred fold increase in family discord. This family court has two counsellors, who cannot even meet a couple even once in three months.
The distress in family life is at an alarming state of concern! The alcohol dependence, marital quarrels, children getting disenchanted, and work place becoming conflict prone are some indications of a distress that religious leaders, social workers, psychologists, family counsellors and psychiatrists refer to, but with no tangible recovery proposal!
The bulbuls in our courtyard brought to my mind the distress in our midst- increasing reports of broken families!
The confession of the parents who lost their daughter, that they find strength in each other, is a message of hope, about the resilience of filial relationships in family life!
Before I completed writing this, Dulcie came to ask for a walk. When I went out, what I saw was a brilliant blue moon in the clear sky. It got covered by the clouds before I returned with the camera!
That moonlight in the blue sky was a message of hope, about light that shall dispel darkness in the lives of those who find family life distressing!
I wish each institution has a Family Life Unit, which focusses on fostering the wellness in family life !
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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