For our Crows

If it is true that there was a god high above who sat and created all the creatures and living organisms of Mother Earth, then perhaps there is no greater mischievous mind, no mind that has greater sarcasm and creativity than God himself. For he has probably spent a few thousand light years indulging his creative senses to the maximum and then created our world, carefully placing before us such marvels of creations, each so different from each other in so many ways. While he gave a lot to a creation, he also deprived the same creation of so much and yet the marvel that it is, can only be recognized by some gifted few, who also have been deprived themselves for they are also creations of His. And then there are those few who cannot recognize the marvel in those creations, because they too are deprived.

To my mind always one of the greatest Marvels of his creations shall be the simple neighbour hood crow. The same crow that awakened and irritated our senses with a deafening cawing noise. While all the beautiful birds around cooed and sang and strutted their gentle feathers, the crow remained the vilified poor soul who seemed so out of place and yet truth be told. If there ever was a bird which has been most helpful to mankind, it is this cacophonic black marvel of a creation that knew to keep rodents in their place, who made sure their bodies were disposed off in the morning from the roads. The same crow that searched everywhere with his sharp unfailing eyes and picked every piece of rubbish that there was to pick and kept the place clean. Yet, unlike the cow that strays, was always wary of plastic, knew that, it had to be left alone.

Since childhood, we've heard those stories of how the hardworking crow picked every straw, every twig that lay around, took them up to the tree and created a nest to lay it's eggs. To this nest would sneak that cunning quail, whose singing we all love to hear and yet this lazy bird would lay it's eggs, in the poor crow's nest. If these words, open your eyes and create even an ounce of respect for this crow, believe me our crow is still deserving of more.

It is perhaps the power of a crow, that it realizes that death is required for new life to begin. It is perhaps why that all crows gather for any funeral, be it one of their own, be it of human kind, or be it of that sleepy dog that got run over on the highway. It is also perhaps why in Hindu Mythology our ancestors are believed to come and visit us in the guise of crows to accept our leftover morsels of rice. While some of us believe that the crow is that evil prankster that waits above our heads to shower us or our belongings with it's droppings, I also recollect my mother rushing towards the kitchen balcony on hearing a cawing noise. "My mother is hungry. Let me hurry", she says. It is truly wondrous therefore that while we are all creations of the same god, some are blessed with the ability to respect a crow and some are deprived of the same. So different are our perspectives.

It is a shame that the peacock is the national bird of India, because that place rightly belongs to the crow. But we are fools who grow blind looking at outward beauty. The peacock is a very ordinary bird. It is like that beauty queen who is all skin and no substance and devoid of character, while the commonplace crow is that dusky beauty who has the fire in her to take on roles of substance. Even if provoked to stand together in the same frame, the crow shall always stand out.

Of all that the naughty creator endowed me with, my respect for the crow shall always be my favourite.