An Essence Of Love

Pihu came into our lives suddenly on a dark and stormy night and filled our lives with colors and joy.

One dark and rainy night when everyone was asleep in their rooms, I was waiting for my husband Sashwat to return from work. I was moving around in my balcony and gazing at the road that was wet. I tried calling him a few times, but he wasn’t answering to any of my calls or texts.  I was becoming restless as he hadn’t come yet. I started twisting my fingers and my eyes were constantly staring at the clock. It was 23:30 (almost midnight) and the rain had taken a halt. It was just drizzling when I could see a light flashing far away on the road. As the light came closer, I realized there’s someone on the bike coming towards my house. Alas! It was him. I was so happy now and relieved too. I could see him coming, but he wasn’t alone. His close friend Joginder had come to drop him. But there was something in his hands wrapped up in a soft cloth. I wondered what it could be. It had been more than fifteen minutes they both were having a chat downstairs, but my curiosity was growing.

Finally, he comes upstairs in our room and asks me to bring a chair quickly. Immediately I pull the chair from the study table and as I was just about to ask, what he was holding in his hand, he soon takes off the cloth. And to my surprise, a small beautiful and colorful bird was in front of me. The first word I uttered was “Awww, it is so pretty.” Soon my mind struck and I asked him why he brought the birdie here, that too so late in the night. But his excitement was beyond words, he was so happy and it was clearly seen from his smile. He exclaimed with joy, “ from now onward she is our family member.” For a few seconds I really got happy, but soon I said NO. He didn’t like my answer and must have thought that I am being rude and harsh.

It was one of those nights when I could hardly sleep. Every few minutes I would check on the little bird to make sure he was feeling okay. It was already dawn in no time. I wake up my dear hubby and tell him, “we are keeping the birdie.” He was overjoyed on hearing my reply and his face was glowing with happiness. And now, it was the time for a surprise for the rest of the family. I introduced the new one to my other family members. For some it was more of a shock and they asked a series of questions. Some of them approved and others were not so keen at first, but finally everyone accepted it. And that made me more confident in keeping the bird. Now it was one of the hardest parts. It was time to name him. Everyone suggested me a list of names and even the children in the family were super excited to guess names, but the only name that came to mind and heart was ‘Pihu’.

I wasn’t much aware about birds and their habitats as I never had any bird as pet before, though I have lived with dogs and I am quite familiar with their nature. Keeping this bird and looking after him was my first time. I did everything that was needed for Pihu to settle in a new place. Early morning I took him out from the cage and left him free for some time on my balcony. Then giving him food, water, cleaning his cage, keeping tiny toys was my daily routine. After a few days passed, I got worried that birds usually flies and this one is still not flying. I asked my hubby to meet his friend or else talk to a doctor. He replied saying Pihu is adjusting here give her some time and she will start to fly in his cage. The same thing was bothering me even after a few days. During the day, I took him out of his cage three to four times to play with him and give him some free time from his cage. In the early morning and noon when I clean his cage, at evening on my sofa or big table and at night on my bed. I kept saying to my child that once she starts flying, it will be difficult for us to take her out of his cage. But soon I realized that there is some problem and she cannot fly higher. So I arranged some paper slide for her and made slide the jump from the pillow.

Life was fun when Pihu was around as he had spread the colors of happiness around us. To know more about Pihu, I had to research a lot on Google, I visited different sites and watched YouTube videos on how to raise a budgie bird. Yes! It was budgie bird. I was told that it is ‘bajri’ so I studied everything related to him.

One day one of my close relatives passed away so I had to go to Udaipur to attend the last rituals. And meanwhile my husband had an important meeting at Bombay and so he had to travel. We decided to keep Pihu from where we got him for a couple days. It was Joginder house and he already had three to four budgie birds and two parrots at his home. We were assured that he will look after Pihu as he loves birds and takes immense care in upbringings of the birds. But we didn’t want to keep Pihu away for a long time at his place, so we decided that my hubby will be back the next evening and bring him back to our house. I had to live a day longer than him but was satisfied that Sashwat will bring him back.
After three days I arrived home late night and just ran to see Pihu in my room but couldn’t find him. I knew Sashwat was hiding something from me. “I told you to bring Pihu as soon as you are back home, but still you haven’t brought him.” I urged him to go quickly and bring Pihu back. For a while he was not able to answer and said that it’s too late and the family might have slept. I’ll bring him tomorrow. Unfortunately, I had no other option but to wait for the morning. So we go to bed, but after some time he can’t control his emotions and said in a low voice that Pihu has left us forever. It was heartbreaking to hear those words. I was unable to accept the fact that Pihu is no longer with us. I was too angry at him and started yelling. “It’s been just three days I wasn’t here, but you got back in a day and could have got Pihu home.” I asked him, “why didn’t you bring him back?” Lots of questions and millions of thoughts were popping in my head. We both were saddened and the pain of loosing him was more deep for both of us. I could not understand the reason how it could have happened. Sashwat told me that as soon as he came from the meeting, he went to get Pihu back home.

Never miss real stories from India's women.

Register Now

But unfortunately, he couldn’t meet him. He had to control his feelings then.We both burst out our emotions and cried a lot. I felt as if my little baby of just two months had left me and I am not aware of the reason of his death. He yelled  at Joginder and didn’t speak to him for quite some time. This incident had hurt my son too, as he was always there to look after him rain or shine. After a month, Sashwat met Joginder at a social gathering. While talking to him, he said that the bird was very attached to your wife and he could not bear the separation. The bird had stopped eating food and water. This reason was very unrealistic. And how indirectly his life depends on me and that he could not survive for two days without me. The change of place, atmosphere, people, everything may be the cause, but it was just for two days. And the very next evening, my hubby went to pick him. Does a bird who doesn’t drink or eat for a day die? Or the mere fear of abandoning him made my Pihu lose his life.

But deep within my heart, I felt that his love and attachment to me was deeper and stronger and deeper than mine, which made him very special. It’s been six months already, and life was getting back to normal gradually. And one day someone special comes back to our life to fill the missing space. It was a Labrador!!! No doubt it shouldn’t be compared but my mind says this is Pihu again, who came into my life.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Comments