Survival of the FATTEST

This is a theory by Sweta.

How this theory got expounded is what this post is all about.

There are 2 birds who take shelter at our home every night. Few days back they laid eggs in an artificial nest we had placed for them. Within a few days there were 3 little birdies.

The birdies were growing up and wanted to fly. One little adventurer jumped out and fell from the nest which had been placed at a considerable height. We carefully placed it back, but it jumped out again. This went on and the parent birds were helpless about its risk taking streak. The adventurer died by dusk.

The next day the other 2 little birdies also jumped out and we saw them hopping near the garden. One was agile and kept hopping and putting all efforts to fly. The other was fat and it just sat and watched its kin lazily.

By evening time the mother and the father got on to teaching them to fly because the little ones had to be shifted somewhere safe.

The agile one could fly a few inches but the fat one just hopped and gave up. Finally when night fell, we put both the birdies in a bucket and kept them safely in our house. Next day when we set them free the agile one disappeared in a few hours. Probably it went out into the street and became a cat’s meal. The fat one sat in the coolness of our garden for an entire day. The parents put a lot of effort to teach it to fly but eventually they gave up. The birdie just hopped. Probably it believed that it could not fly. We shifted it again to the safety of our house.

Next day Sweta and I got to work. We put the birdie in the bucket and showed it another stuff toy birdie of the same size but different color. The birdie got so scared; it flew out of the bucket. The bucket training went on at regular intervals throughout the day. We also put it in a double bed sheet and bounced it in the air. It flapped it wings for a few seconds before it fell in the sheet again, unhurt. We were teaching it to fly!!! That day we saw it fly a few inches in the garden. Yeah! The plan worked!

Next day we put it in a bigger bucket. After a few attempts, it could fly out of it too. Progress!! By now even its parents were not scared when we went near their baby because they understood we were helping.

The next day, we placed it at a height for it to see the outer world. Know what? It flew to the opposite house. Wow! by day 3 it was flying!! That very evening the birdie climbed a plant in our garden, branch by branch and flew away. Sweta was apprehensive that it might not survive. I just said it was time for it to fly. Our job was done.

We missed our birdie. We missed teaching it how to fly.

Two days later, we saw it playing in the garden. It visits our garden often. Its parents still come by dusk every single day.

Sweta calls this training, “Bird Empowerment Sessions.” She says it knew how to fly; we just got the realizations and created situations so that it could.

I know it would have hated us because we scared it to death each day. But all this torture was because we wanted it to fly.

Jai Gurudev!

Krishna and Sweta