Some Little Dove
It was the deadliest silence and the only thing you could see out the window was hopelessness. It was already the beginning of September 2020 but there was no clue if life would ever be normal again. No one ever thought that money won’t be enough. And it wasn’t.
It reminded me of those times which we saw in the films or read in the books about WWII, how people were hiding in the basement of their homes from their enemy. And one could even hear the rustling of every single leaf.
Loud whispering of the leaves was the case again but these times were even dreadful. It was beyond belief that people were scared even for and from their loved ones. Everyone was left alone. Schools were closed until unknown further notice, public places were sealed, worst of all was that all the hospitals were shut but only the emergencies. Many businesses got closed for good. People were locked inside their homes. How long one could watch Netflix or read books and it wasn’t fun as it was kind of forced upon people. One way or the other, everyone was caught up in this pandemic war.
On one silent day, with a frustrated and exhausted mind, as I looked outside my beautiful French window, I noticed my kitchen garden was drying out after bearing fruits. To divert my attention, I decided to take out those drying plants and wanted to prepare the soil for new ones. I was never a gardening person though.
I wore my gloves, and took some cutlery from my kitchen, and started working on my tiny kitchen garden. As I said that I was never a gardening person.
I began to pull out plants from the pots and to my surprise, I saw at the corner of my little garden a ray of hope. My hands stopped. I couldn’t move for some time. I was lost in the joy of such pleasant surprise; a visitor, a guest in a long time. Above all, something very unusual.
A beautiful dove chose to make her nest in my kitchen garden. Her nest was hidden inside the last plant pot of the far corner. I could never notice it before because it was camouflaged due to the dried potato plant in that pot. The fear and hope were both very visible in her beautiful eyes. I stopped cultivating the soil right there and slowly stepped back. There was a smile of gratitude on its face. I didn’t know for how long she had been there. In a month of Sundays, I had someone to talk to face to face, without any fear of being killed or killing a life unwantedly. Every day, I checked on her if she was ok. Her partner would visit her twice a day.
Soon the day came with two very beautiful little baby birds. To my astonishment, these were quite big with feathers on their body. It astounded me and made me think, was she sitting on her eggs or hiding her babies under her wings all this time? The beauty of these two little creatures took all questions away from my mind.
I used to sit for hours and observe from far how both parents were switching duties to look after their baby doves. One of the baby doves was growing vigorously I named it Wada as it appeared a bit bigger and stronger than its sibling but the other one was a bit frail, so I named it Nika.
As these little ones were growing, the mother dove started to leave them in the nest alone at night. Both of the parents paid a minimum of three visits a day to feed them.
One early morning, I woke up with the flipping sound of wings. The mother dove was inside my home, as my window was left open. It came to my kitchen for the very first time, stayed there a short while, and then went back to her nest. I was overjoyed that it needed me to feed her. I took bird feed and some water and walked toward my balcony with a bright shine of honour in my eyes. But not for too long.
The view came like bolt from the blue. For a moment I couldn’t move but then I rushed to help. The little one was fallen in the nest and was fighting for its life.
Nika’s condition was always a bit weak and many times, I thought to do something about it but didn’t want to interfere in nature’s business, so I couldn’t dare. But this time there was no choice but to find aid.
Wada wasn’t letting me come close or touch its sibling. It was trying to keep the young one warm under its wings but it was not enough. Even their mother knew that it wasn’t enough, so she called me for help. Restless mother dove observed me with hope as I was searching for a vet nearby to reach for benefit but but all went in vain because there wasn’t enough time. Nika was gone.
Wada was very upset, unaware of how to show its sorrow. It was just angry of being alone, losing his first and only friend. I didn’t realize when and for how long I was sitting in front of it in the silence of agony. Tears of torment from this unseen pain of Wada were falling on my cheeks.
Every morning I used to hear those pleasant chirpings and the pain of pandemics and lockdowns would disappear but again silence took over. At nights, I began to cover that particular part of the balcony to protect Wada from freezing cold winds. I was not supposed to do that but I needed it to heal and save myself from the thought that I couldn’t do anything when these little creatures reached me. I started waking up before sunrise, to remove the cover so that Wada could nurture in the maximum natural environment yet I took precautions. I gathered more info and with bird lice, in mind, I sprayed the balcony. While Wada would just sit and observe me from far and I used to think what would he understand?
Time passed by and one day I saw Wada was jumping from one plant pot to the other. As much as I felt happy, I missed Nika.
One day I woke up and found Wada was missing. My heart was sinking if anything bad had happened. I searched in the neighbouring balconies quietly but there was no sign of it.
I was cheerful and distress at the same time. But there was no certainty. Few days passed, I was scrolling my phone and then there was this moment that I was transfixed and moved by the filmier sound of chirping, I turned softly and saw the mother dove and Wada sitting not on the wall at the distance but all the way down in the balcony only a few steps away from me. Their eyes were twinkling with gratitude. These moments were mesmerizing. Their stopover mended my heart. They stayed for quite a while, sang some songs. As they flew back in the air, I kept looking at them until they had vanished from my sight. While I was turning back, I glanced down at the street. I saw life reviving; few children were out from their homes playing and running. Their joyful screams were very loud even through their masks, while their grandparents sat nearby to breathe fresh air. The glory of the view was justly charming, as slowly but surely, fear was perishing.
