What Do You Owe Me? Part 1
Akhand Parasnath was a small brownbird - like thousands of brownbirds
that you may or may not have noticed. He lived with his tribe beyond the
mountains yonder, where the mighty river that flows through the plains
is but a young stream - bubbling and excited as it sings to every tree
along its banks and brushes against every stone on its bed. It is a land
of rolling hills and grassy valleys and forests fragrant with flowers
you have never smelled and fruits that you can never find in the grocery
store.
He lived with a tribe of other chattering brownbirds. They chattered
from the moment they woke up to the time they slept off. They chattered
with the rising sun and they chattered with the setting sun. They
chattered when the sun was mightily hot at noon and they chattered when
clouds covered the sky and threatened to thunder. They woke up the
valley with their chattering and the valley stayed awake till they had
gone off to sleep. It was only after they had done with their chattering
that the grasshoppers chirped and the frogs croaked and mosquitoes
buzzed.
But Akhand was different. Ever since childhood, he was a quiet
brownbird. He was smarter than the rest of his chattering tribe, he was
sure. He observed the rising sun and the setting sun and knew when it
would rise again. He watched the clouds move and knew when it would
rain. He knew when the wind would blow and when the stream would rise
and when the flowers would bloom. And he was sure that none of his
chattering relatives knew about these things. It was only by chance, by
following stupid traditions that they moved into the forests during the
monsoons. And it was only by chance that they laid eggs so that the
chicks would crack out with the coming of spring.
He was better than them all. He was meant for greatness. He could not
wait to see new things and change the world.
One morning, when he decided he was old enough, he told his parents that
he was going to go and explore the fields beyond the forests.
"Don't go", his aunts said. "We hear it is dangerous there."
"There is an evil spirit that hurls tiny balls at birds", his
grandmother warned. "My cousin was killed by this spirit when I was a
young chick six springs ago."
"Old village stories", he said, waving his brown wings.
"Be careful", his parents told him.
So leaving his village on the upper branches of the forest by the
gurgling stream in the valley beyond the mountains yonder, he flew east
towards the rising sun. And as he flew the forest became taller and
thicker. After flying for three days and two nights, he began to notice
that the forest had become less dense and the trees had become
different. Akhand was excited. He was going where no brownbird had ever
gone. He was so excited that he could not sleep that night. Every half
hour he would open his eyes to see if the sun had risen.
The next morning, with the rising sun, he set off, excited at everything
he would discover. As the forest began to thin, he noticed a grassland.
It was a sheet of green dotted with red. It was beautiful. And right at
the center of the plain was a blue lake with its water still. There were
other birds - like he had never seen before. He was disappointed - he
was not the first bird to see this place. But he was certainly the first
brownbird, he consoled himself.
The birds here spoke a different language. It was so sophisticated, he
felt, compared to the ways of his chattering tribes people. And they
looked so much prettier in their plumes and colors. He wished he could
be like them.
He spent the first few days on treetops near the lake. He listened to
the other birds and heard the animals converse. But he kept to himself.
He saw the birds suck nectar from the flowers in the plains. And he saw
the birds pluck out fish from the lake. And he began to learn their
ways. He observed and learnt. It seemed so easy. You had to find a fish
as you glided over the water and then swoop down, grab the fish with
your beak and take off. Just like those large white birds with the long
beaks. But the first time he tried to catch a fish, his head hit the
water and he tumbled over and lost consciousness.
