The great Stupa from afar
Anuradhapura, affectionately (or conveniently) referred to as "Anu" in the book "The Winds of Sinhala" by Colin De Silva is one of my favourite places on earth, as is the book a favourite book of all time of mine.
If you haven't read "The Winds of Sinhala" already........!?! What the hell have you been doing all this time???!!@!#!#
The incident happened many many moons ago......in Sri Lanka at home. We were wrapping up an ordinary day, past 9 o'clock in the night I think...... When our Bindu started barking somewhere in the garden. It was a bark with a certain alarm to it, as if saying "I'm not too sure what this thing is but I need to get some one's attention here!!!"
Now Bindu has always been a garden dog as he was never granted visa to enter the house by his superior, Bingo. So one would expect him to know his territory well, and he's not the kind of dog who barks at just about anything, so naturally this got us worried.
So torch in hand we approached the suspicious scene cautiously. The sight of 'back-up' sent Bindu into a frenzy! and he started jumping around this suspicious object and then looking towards us for an explanation.
Upon closer inspection the black rounded heap on the ground, turned out to be a tortoise with its head inside its shell!
Naturally we bursted out laughing! which seem to add to Bindu's confusion.
It wasn't the first time that we found a lonely wandering tortoise in the garden, but it has certainly never happened in Bindu's lifetime.
My father told us what they used to do (back in the good old days) when they found a tortoise like that. Light a candle and erect it on its shell, and send it on its way!
This was all good fun but somehow Bindu didn't seem to be convinced, so he decided to continue with his woofing and waffing. What with the tortoise going nowhere fast, we decided to lock Bindu up in a room, unknown to Bingo that is! ah the drama!.
And that's how we managed to get some sleep that night.
Reading Gallicissa's blog reminded me of an incident that took place about 3 years ago.
Setting: Sri Lanka, parent's home
It wasn't just once when birds searching for a place to make a nest to raise a family decided the best location for the new house was on a Ficus tree in our courtyard, inside the house. The parents-to-be would come into the house, inspect the location, the tree, all the branches and all the while talking with each other (trying to make a decision I guess) and then leave, after about 2 or 3 inspections, they would decide whether they are going to build the nest or not.
The first time someone decided that a high-up branch on the tree is the best spot were a couple of Kondayas (apologies for not knowing the real or scientific name of these birds, maybe Gallicissa can help!).
They built the nest and laid the eggs. There were 3 small eggs with brown spots. We could conveniently see into the nest from the second storey. We watched as the parents took turns in hatching the eggs, and going out in search of food. We watched as the eggs hatched and two teeny weeny pinky babies came out. The third one was a bit late, but eventually did manage to squeeze out. We watched as they grew feeding on whatever their parents brought home.
And then one fine day the little ones decided that it was time to stretch their wings. This was quite an exciting and anxious time, not only for the parents but even more for us, because just a few feet away from the foot of the tree was the fish pond. And then there was good old Bingo. Dogs are not generally interested in a bird for a meal, not even for an afternoon snack for that matter, but anyone fluttering around in 'his' house becomes his problem, so was a bit scary. And then there was the stealthy kitty cat, always choosing the most inappropriate times to show up.
So the little birdies took to the sky...... or more towards the ground. They would fly as far as their little wings would carry them........like a few centimeters at a time. Then they would sit on a low hanging branch of a plant, sometimes on a fern just over the edge of the pond (gulp!) and rest for about an hour before finally gathering up the strength to do it all again! The bird parents were behaving like any normal Sri Lankan parent would when their little ones first start moving around.......screaming, or rather chirping at high frequency and running behind the little ones excited and nervous at the same time. And whenever it seems that the babies were having trouble getting back to the nest, the mother or the father would demonstrate how it should be done, over and over again until the little birdie made the attempt.
This drama went on for a few days, quite nerve wracking for us knowing the potential dangers lurking in the vicinity. Fortunately everything went according to plan. Once the babies had had enough training the parents led them out to see the wide world. They flew up to the window, sat there for what seemed like ages, and finally made the move. The younger sibling, who seemed a bit smaller and backward than the others took a few more hours in mustering up the strength, but he (or she) too finally joined the others. The parents were heard making quite a racket outside for a while.
A couple of days later I spotted three Kondayas on the bird's eye chili tree (their favourite fruit, I think) and I knew it was them because one seemed a bit smaller than the other two. And they seemed to be happy, and it was really nice to see them doing well in bird society!
However not all bird's tales have a fairytale ending.
A few months later (or was it a year.....not sure) a couple of kondayas came in to inspect the ficus tree (Deja vu). I'm not sure if it were the same couple, for birds don't have facial features where we humans can distinguish between Tom, Dick and Harry (or maybe more likely chirp, choop and cheep). Anyhow, they built the nest again, and this time there were 2 little eggs. The eggs hatched and two little kondayas came out.
But this time the story took an unexpected turn, the bird mother was most tragically murdered.... the suspect was caught red handed (or feather mouthed) licking its paws and lying on its side quite content with the deed. The cat didn't get any lunch from me that day, he didn't seem to need any either....well, that's what he was born to do I guess.
The bird father had his hands full bringing up two children on his own. The elder one seemed a bit rebellious, for he left the house and straight into the wide world while the father was away gathering food. The father returned to find only the younger child on a plant in the courtyard, so he rushed outside chirping away to look for his other child.
The next day the younger one was seen sitting on the window grill looking into the unknown world out there. He looked quite vulnerable without the mother to guide him out.
Later on the day I was just outside that window, filling in the bird bath under the frangipani tree, when the little guy suddenly decided to make a dash for the nearest frangipani branch. Awwww...
As I watched the little bird sitting on the branch, I could see past him another pair of eyes watching intently. Kurulugoya! (again sorry I only know the names of these birds in layman's terms). It was such a helpless moment....I knew what's going to happen, and I knew I can't do anything about it, but I wanted to do something to save this innocent fellow, but there was nothing I could do....I can't shoo away the little guy for he could hardly fly, I can't stop the predator bird I didn't have enough time to cover ground...And all of these within a fraction of a second. So I watched helplessly as the big bird whizzed in.... like a missile, eyes focused on its target.
Swooooosh!!
Gone!
After being a part of our family for more than 11 years, Bingo passed away yesterday.
Bindu looking sad over Bingo's grave...
Photos courtesy of my bro
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
- Mahatma Gandhi
Woke up to the disheartening news that some innocent people were the victims of a cruel war in which they played no part in…one they didn’t want in the first place….which only exists because of a few greedy individuals who want to hang on to every inch of land they could get. It’s not fair…...for those who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, and had to pay the ultimate price…..it’s not fair for their loved ones to have to go through the rest of their lives trying to get over it……
And at the same time, here in another part of the world, a person on morning TV was winging about having to pay an extra dollar for a coffee at the airport ………….!!!&^##!*!
It’s a funny place…this world……..some people are worried about which restaurant they are going to tonight and what they are going to wear…when some others are wondering whether they will be able to find a couple of bucks to feed their children …at least this one meal for the day…………………..
Some people are worried about the new furniture they are hoping to buy and whether it will blend in with the existing interior………..whereas some others are very grateful to have found a canvas shelter in the refugee camp along with hundreds of others………..on the gravel bed…….
But I guess that the world has been like that since the beginning of time…….even in ancient times there were wars, where innocent people were killed for no fault of theirs….…. Empires have risen and empires have fallen….. from the Roman empire to the British.
There will always be wars even in the far future…….people fighting over things that sometimes doesn’t even mean anything! …. like the Jammu-Kashmir border struggle. Both countries have massive land masses but after more than half a century, are still fighting for a small piece of land in the cold mountain tops… that is neither arable nor habitable.
It’s a funny place …this world…..one has to put an effort into keeping oneself sane……. Accepting that getting all worked up with issues that one has to face on a personal level isn’t really the end of the world.
I used to visit the popular Sri Lankan blog forum Kottu on an ad-hoc basis up until recently. But some very inspiring blogs that started appearing on the blog roll some months ago, made me visit it more regularly. These blogs are not from well trained authors or prolific writers, but from a group of determined youth, who someday just might come to be known as such.
The Horizon Lanka Foundation founded by Mr. Nandasiri Wanninayaka, has been around for a few years now. It started in Mahavilachchiya and have now expanded to several other areas of the country which we regard as 'rural'. But there's nothing rural about the young minds of these villages, who exhibit the courage and the spirit that could help them go all the way to achieve their dreams.
The work done by the Academy is very impressive, and not to be outdone the effort put in by the students is heart warming. You can find some blogs of these inspiring young minds in the Kottu blog roll.
Great work!
