We humans tend to project our
emotions and thoughts onto animals and humanise them as a way to accepting them
in our lives and homes. That is why I think we have Uncle scrooge a miserly
duck, the lovable pranksters cat and mouse ie tom and jerry. And the loving
couple rats mickey and Minnie mouse. I realised this tendency of ours today
when we sisters got together after a long time. I think we today was the second
time we met since the imposition of the lockdown in march. A very long time for
the three of us who used to meet every week.
As usual once the usual talk
of our loved and hated ones tapered off the conversation went on to nonsensical
things. My sister has set up a small garden in her modest balcony and in it has
a bird feeder and water bowl. After giving us a visual tour of this green
corner of her apartment, she proudly informed us a lot of birds come to her
balcony to feed, and speaking of these birds she narrated this story of two
parrots that visit her garner every morning. It seems a parrot couple has been
coming everyday for the last month and have been joined by a new female parrot
for the last few days. Now according to my sister, since the new female has
joined the couple there has been a drastic change in their dynamics. Whereas
previously the parrots used to be lovey and dovey and cooed to each other, now
the male parrot and the female parrot fight and argue the whole time they feed
while the extra female parrot keeps quiet taking in her feed and minds her own
business while looking at these two parrots with derision, sometimes she butts into the argument the
other two parrots are having, at which one of the arguing parrots snaps at her
and she resumes her silent feed, eating till it is time to go.
Now my sister spun a story on
this, as per her thinking the original parrot couple were husband and wife and
the new comer must be the husbands new girlfriend and because of her the
husband and wife have started fighting. The wife must be nagging the husband to
get rid of the girlfriend but the husband parrot is adamant and is bringing her
to the seed restaurant to date and woo her, which the wife is objecting to. And
the silent parrot is the girlfriend who is having her seed and eating it too
and needles the wife in between the other two’s argument for some fun and
mischief and to show her hold over the husband.
My elder sister came up with
her own version of the parrots family drama. According to her the arguing
couple is the husband and the girlfriend parrot. And the girlfriend parrot wants
the husband to leave his wife and move in with her. And the husband parrot is coming
up with reasons why he cannot leave his wife. The wife parrot fully conversant
with her husbands philandering ways is secure that he may dally with the
girlfriend for some time but will not leave her come what may. Hence she serenely
has been feed and in between advises the girlfriend to leave her husband and
fly away for her own good.
An argument ensued between all
of us as to whose version is more probable, before the argument escalated my
brother in law who has seen many such arguments escalate from vague topics to
sisterly accusations of deeds and misdeeds perpetrated in the past intervened
and said, let us see how many more scenarios you can all can come up with to
explain the parrots fights. At this my youngest sister who has spent the
initial years of her married life in a joint family and is fully in tune with
in laws politics, piped in saying the new comer could be either the sister or
mother of the husband and has come to him with complaints on the wife. And the
wife being the wise one is leaving the husband to defend her to his sister and
mother. While at the same time adding in her complaints and views at strategic
points in the discussion to keep the emotions boiling and giving feed to her
husband’s agruments.
And the discussion continued
with different and unlikely versions coming up like the new parrot being a bill
collector to being a marriage counsellor and on and on. Finally my brother in
law said, why are you all being so prim and proper and your versions are all
like old times, you should come up with versions that are in tune with current
times. He continued, may be the new parrot is the girlfriend of the wife and
they both want to set up a nest together. And the husband is arguing against
this. This new spin on the old tale silenced us, while we were still trying to
think up a scenario to up the one my brother in law came up with, my niece
piped up and said maybe the new parrot is a female Arnab Goswami and she and
the husband are discussing the SSR case. End of story, none of us could beat
it.