I found this morning, a Magpie Robin frolicking in the water bath station, which we have in our garden for birds. This ten minute ritual was worth watching! The bird calls in between and the intermittent stirring of water with its bill to splash it, and feel it falling on its body and splaying in the air seemed a typical bird play of a young bird.
It was after a long while I noticed any bird coming to the bird bath. It was raining for about a month and the resident birds in our garden had other pools of water to go to, for their bath and frolicking.
I wish I could send these photos to parents of children, who refrain their pre-school child from any form of play in water, for fear of catching cold! Many parents make their young children's bath time a struggle to refrain children from, staying in the bath room to play in the water. Some parents keep the bath room shut to prevent children sneaking into the bath room for playing in the water.
If only parents can think of the several benefits of playing in the water-motor co-ordination through dipping water with a mug and throwing it around; dropping objects in the water and see them sink or float; filling containers having narrow mouth with water which promotes visual-motor co-ordination; foaming the water with soap....! No other experience of play can substitute for this learning experience, which has a motor, cognitive and exploratory dimension.
Seeing this Magpie Robin play in the water, I realised how the traction to play in water can be an instinct! I remember seeing something a toddler did in a car park. A family got down from the car and their son, went into the pool of rain water adjacent to the car and jumped and splashed water on his body. His dress was wet and his mother came rushing to rescue him from getting soaked in muddy water. I heard his mother telling him, 'How can we go with this dress for the birthday party'! To which his response was, 'You do not let me play in water at home'!
While water is a fanciful play medium for birds and toddlers, it also creates some serious concerns in public life.
The instances of flooding have increased in different parts of India. There is a suggestion from overseas experts that Mullaperiyar dam, which is old, is a risk for human life and property, if it were to have a crack! The Kerala and the Tamil Nadu governments have an ongoing conflict with the Kerala government wanting to rebuild the dam, which the TN government opposes.
There is a state wide Bandh today in Karnataka, with farmers protesting over the water sharing dispute between the states of Karnataka and the TN governments.
The towns in Himachal Pradesh have been destroyed in recent floods due to faulty planning of building in terrains which are prone to flooding. Ther is an overload of building weight on the subsoil which is loose and at risk of erosion.
During the recent dry spell of one month, the nearby villages had suffered from the water level going down in their wells.
What surprises me is that neither the central government nor the state governments have a plan to negotiate and resolve disputes between states over sharing water. Water is a national resource. The Supreme Court of India refused to enter into the dispute between the the TN and Karnataka states over sharing Kaveri river water and left it for the states to resolve it.
I feel the resolve to settle disputes is much less than what existed in the past. The reconciling climate is replaced by an imposing attitude!
The political climate in India is a partisan outlook! It is not a climate of bringing goodwill to people who struggle for wellness! The current attitude of the ruling party in the central government is to move towards its political ideology of a majoritarianism. The conflict in Manipur with two dying yesterday in gun shots, tells us how the central government for political gains, do not act decisively to end this ethnic conflict, prevailing for four months.
Let me retune to the Magpie Robin. It nee act of thoughtfulness for anyone of us to offer to birds, in a garden to make them feel cared for.
Often thoughtfulness towards others can be expressed through small acts of kindness. My parents have had a habit of sharing the produce of our farm with our neighbours. Anna continues that habit now with fruits from our garden distributed to all the neighbours. At the weekend, the domestic workers go back home with a bunch of banana. A neighbour leaves small packets of vegetables at their gate for others to take and use. Another neighbour leaves the newspaper hanging on the gate after they finished reading it, for anyone to pick up. Some people return it on the next day. One neighbour replaces the street light in front of their house for the benefit of others. I come across so many such small acts of kindness which remind me of the generosity of others.
We read recently about a teacher telling the students in the class, to beat a boy hailing from a minority religious minority. The teacher even after the Supreme Court of India referring to it as 'hurting the conscience of the nation' has offered only a half hearted apology.
Against this backdrop, there is a school which led the students in a harmony walk recently in the community!
Water symbolises thirst and cleaning. In both instances water is a source for our wellness.
Water is a larger symbol of life, as water is a major component of our body mass.
When the Magpie Robin dipped in the bowl of water, I felt that it received the water we offered. That was the least we could offer. That small or trivial act seemed to be special for that bird.
At the end of the day, what stayed in mind was the awfulness of realities of life that we face in a broken world and the several small acts of kindness, each of us can offer to others, which can make our neighbourhood a pleasant place to belong to.
'What is that, which we have not received'! If so, giving is an overflow of what we received!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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