SMS for the Birds

There are psychological moments in life and an insight received in such a moment can change our perspective and transform the quality of life for better, and enrich it.

It was peak summer time. As is and was my wont the first thing I do after rising early in the morning is check my mobile inbox for messages that friends send me, particularly through the night.

There it was, this innocuously simple message which went: "Do you know several thousand birds die each summer for want of water. So, put a water pot in your balcony, terrace or window still. Forward this message to your friends as well."

The sheer simplicity and exhortation of the message subliminally settled in my mind, and set me thinking, of birds and nature. The sight of earthen water pots hung in Hessian baskets, or perched atop balconies swam before my eyes for a moment. Having absorbed the pregnant purport of the message the first thing I did was forward the message, as required, to my benevolent friends. I read this message to my dear wife and children as well.

After handling a few, I could lay my eager hand on not one, but two; one of which I told myself, I would use for bird feed for the added measure, and the other for water as planned.

As I walked back home I stopped briefly to buy some bird feed.

I put out a handful of barley bird feed in to the new earthen pot and poured to the brim water in the other and put both the pots on a particularly wide window still overlooking an abundant tree. Happy at the thought of having been inspired by the message to do a simple good turn, I progressed through my routine, and at dusk returned to check how the birds liked to respond to my gesture.

To my delight, I found the water-filled pot half empty and grains of barley strewn around the pot, testimony that birds had been packing here.

Next morning I replenished the supply with renewed interest and continued the routine for a few days. After which I found to my dismay that the barley bird feed would be left untouched. Perhaps the bird had enough. Don't we get bored of the same fare if given the same thing for days?

For a change, I bought some jowar grains, bigger and easier for birds to pick, I thought. At the end of each summer day, I noticed the replaced bird feed polished off by birds. The sight of the empty bird feed pot because of an SMS. Save my soul, I thought. Yes - that was what it was.

Trees and birds are just part of the big picture of nature which we share with them. We are all interconnected and interdependent. Fed on water and bird feed, the content little birdies have taught me a valuable lesson in the virtues of charity which begins at home, in your heart that has immense potential to save not just the individual soul but that of others as well.