A Stroll on the Beach

Aimlessly I was wondering on the beach… looking at the sunset, finding my way through the children playing, avoiding getting hit by a stray ball coming in my direction, glancing at the couple walking hand in hand passing from my side…

The carefree joyous shouts of the little girl playing in the waves were music for my ears. A cry of a baby for the balloon brought a reluctant smile on my face…

Few feet away was an old couple walking side by side, the man was holding a stick in his one hand and his wife’s hand in the other… the peace and contentment on their faces was priceless…!

Someone tapped me on my hand and I looked down. A girl of 4 – 5 years was begging for a rupee. As usual I was moved by a child’s poverty. Thinking it is wrong to encourage her to beg and still somewhat not able to ignore her, I fetched a rupee from my bag and dropped it in her hands. The brilliant smile she gave me was worth many such rupees, for the pure pleasure in her smile was not for the rupee but for achieving the seemingly impossible task her father had set for her. At her age she did not know the value of the rupee but she certainly knew the value of the praise of her father as well as the value of the envy her siblings will feel for her…

Spotting a place which was somewhat free of the crowd, I sat down and watched the sunset. I could certainly appreciate the beauty of the sight which every poet on earth had tried to tap. As always the source of light sinking at the horizon of sea brought me closer to nature, closer to myself and a usual calm settled on my mind. Losing myself in the enormity of nature I sat there for some time.

When the twilight started fading I got up and started my return journey home.

The stroll on the beach had refreshed my outlook on the world, brought me closer to nature and rejuvenated my insight on life……

Giving them Home!!!

It was a Saturday morning… time for a leisurely bath! Already feeling good about it, I entered the bathroom.
“Oh!” I exclaimed. To my surprise and disgust, the bathroom was all dirty with many grass sticks and leaves spread on its floor!
“What’s this… from where did it come here?” I wondered.
And there I saw, in the window just behind its glass, was a bunch of grass sticks, leaves and threads woven through it.
Looked like some sparrow was building a nest there…

“No! It can’t be… Stupid sparrow made my bathroom all dirty!!” I thought.
Within two minutes I was there taking the window glass out of its slit and collecting that bunch of sticks to throw it in the dustbin. Within next 5 – 10 minutes I had all that ‘dirt’ cleared, restoring the bathroom to its original ‘cleanliness’.

Forgetting all about my act in just a few minutes, I was back to my work…

And suddenly I heard it… the helpless sound of two sparrows from the window of the bathroom. They were searching their ‘home’, which I had so thoughtlessly put in the dustbin!

“My God!” the realization of what I did came too late…
For me it was just a bunch of grass sticks, some ‘dirt’ disturbing the looks of our bathroom… but for those little birds, it was a ‘home’.
I removed it in just a few minutes but for those tiny birds it must have taken hours to collect it!

We build a home… how much it means to us… imagine someone just coming and taking it away from us…!
In today’s crowded world of human beings, where else would these birds go to build their ‘homes’?

What would it have cost me if I let them build the nest except for some dirt on the floor? Were the looks of the bathroom so important for me as to discard the bird’s nest?

The sparrows were there for considerable time … and I could just stand there, listening to their cries and do nothing!

…But may be my act was not enough to stop them from building their cozy nest… or may be I still had one opportunity to improvise on my deeds…
To my surprise and yes… pleasure… the sparrows had yet again started collecting the sticks there from next day!

I was actually glad this time. Enlightened with the new realization, I decided to bear the little discomfort of cleaning the bathroom and let the sparrows build their home there!

Within next two days, there just behind the window glass, was a neatly built nest of the birds!

By this time, I was already getting curious to see if the sparrow is really going to lay eggs there!
And to my delight, one day I found two small eggs in it!
What a feeling… I was actually going to see the birds taking birth in nature!!

And then one day in last week… when I entered the bathroom, I heard it… the small noises from within the nest.

With great anticipation, I peeped inside the nest. Two small red baby birds were lying at the center of the nest… unaware of my presence, calling for their mother perhaps…

I felt like someone was born in my own family! It was a moment of real wonder and joy for me!

The nest with its small growing baby birds is still there.
I see the babies everyday… see them growing day-by-day… see the changing color of their feathers to soft brown shade… silently watch the mother sparrow coming there to feed them… see the other parent feed the mother sparrow… see the babies opening their tiny red mouths to prompt their parent to feed them…

… I actually see budding life in nature!

Soon the babies will grow and come out of this nest to fly out in the sky …
The birds will no longer come here and the nest will not be here…

But this joy of watching the birds taking birth… the joy of watching the babies grow… the joy of seeing one of the nature’s miracles will always be with me!

I have gained a lot by giving them home!!!