Angry Birds

I opened my eyes on hearing a constant chatter. The morning breeze was very relaxing and also the fragrance of flowers of the March spring filled the air. My meditation was interrupted by two diminutive creatures, a set of sparrows.  They appeared to be angry is all I could make out by looking at the way they stared at me. I realized that something all together different happened as I could suddenly understand what they were trying to tell me.

'How can you keep your eyes closed, when we are talking to you?' the first one snapped at me livid with anger

'Ah, eh, I am sorry, I did not know, you were talking to me' I stammered, as I replied.

'You know for the last few minutes we tried to tell you something and  you were not even interested to look at us ' the younger of the two now took its turn to admonish me.

'Believe me, I did not know you were talking to me, but tell me what is bothering you' I asked with a sense of disquiet.

'We are very angry, with not only you, but with the entire set of humans' she continued. 'You have driven us out of your neighborhood '.

'When we came here this place was so lovely, there was a Guava tree in the backyard, also a mango tree and the neighborhood was so peaceful’ the rant continued.

‘I did not see you for many days. Where did you go? I asked

“Your neighbors made our life hell, with non stop construction in the house. Next the trees were chopped down right behind your house. The fumes of the diesel generator make our lives miserable.’ I nodded my head in agreement and dismay as I looked at the poor creatures.

‘We find there are too many cars and vehicles now, and the concrete buildings all around us that make our living so difficult. Even the big park across the river was not spared. The greedy men chopped down all the trees and have now constructed many idols and concrete structures there.’ So many of my friends died, the sparrow suddenly fell silent with a tear in the eye!

‘You know, earlier the children would throw food for us , and enjoyed to run after us’ the bigger sparrow continued after a pause, but now we see them play a video game all the time with pictures of ‘Angry Birds’ demolishing the pigs in hideouts!

These birds are so knowledgeable , I realized and were even aware of the latest blockbuster video game, ‘Angry Birds’ which has recorded the largest number of downloads in last one year and made the founder Finnish owner richer by 6 billion dollars in just two years!

‘I promise to propagate your misery to my fellow blogger and request them to carry the word around, to stop the crazy construction of concrete structures and deforestation .I would request everyone to bring changes in environment gradually so as not to alter the fragile balance and bring in any changes gradually’ I promised, as they flew away feeling a little relieved.

PS- 1. I urge my fellow blogger to fight for the cause of sparrows in the city to bring them back so that we hear some real ‘Twitters’.Let us bring in the change

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, 14 species of birds from India are critically endangered. The critically endangered birds include White-rumped Vulture, Indian Vulture, Red-headed Vulture, Pink-headed Duck, White-belled Heron, Sociable Lapwing, Christmas Frigatebird, Jerdon's Courser, Siberian Crane, Bengal Florican, Himalayan Quail, Forest Owlet, Spoon-billed Sandpiper.

2. Image – Kind courtesy Google and video of Angry Birds from You Tube on link ( Do not miss) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bk_nqUQ0fc

( A big thanks to Jenny for awarding me the The Versatile Blogger Award on 26 Mar 12)