The lone birds!

 

At day break, I noticed the above three birds perched in unusual places in our garden and engaged in intermittent tuneful bird calls. Often they stop the bird calls when there is some movement around. They break the silence of the morning!

They are single birds. 

I have noticed that single birds are behaviourally different from those in a pair or in a family of birds. The single birds make their bird calls for the fraternity of birds. but those in pair or family of birds communicate between themselves. 

The self sufficiency mind set is what disrupts a community consciousness. 

I heard a retired person telling me that he was in a dilemma whether to buy an electric grass cutter or depend on the labourer who cuts the grass manually. He resolved the dilemma only when he realised that he was able to employ the labourer about ten days in a month. With him using an electrical lawn mower, he would displace the labourer and deny him of his livelihood. He described this struggle to be an educative process. With a loan he was able to give the labourer, the labourer bought a mechanical grass cutter. This made huge difference for the labourer. He is now able to find job about 25 days in a month!

What this retired friend went through was a tension: whether to become self sufficient or include others in his orbit of engagement. 

Now I realise how the lone birds create a fraternity spirit among the avians. The lone birds carry a message of togetherness and nearness to others!

Anna and I live in a neighbourhood where our property is surrounded by protective walls. I remember growing up in a neighbourhood where the borders of each property had some demarcation but not a boundary wall. We too built walls around our property recently. We chose posts at a distance of about 6 inches from each other so that we could avoid the look of an enclosure!

The desire for privacy displaces the fraternal feeling!

The lone birds each morning remind me, while they render their tuneful bird calls, that they share their intent to be fraternal!

It is the sense of humanity that creates within us an attitude of fraternal behaviour!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)