Skip to main content

SOME CONVERSATIONS

 

SOME CONVERSATIONS

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

04/III/2023

 

Some days are lucky but some are the luckiest, like today. Fish had taken about three days to adjust to their new tank and were happy to surface more often. However, sensing the slightest of danger they would dive to the bottom of the tank.

 

A flicker of a light, shutting of the door a little hard, twisting of a leaf with the wind or a shadow of a bird visiting the birdbath would alert them to dive to the bottom. After all they had taken a beating of shifting to a new home, in new surroundings which was cooler, shadier, safer, and above all a good summer home stay.

 

As I walked to feed them when Ms  Black Butterfly came visiting. The flap of its wings over the tank scared the fish again. I asked Ms B, how come to our house. She said, this is the best garden in town. I smiled and asked her for the gossip in town. She said, she was busy collecting nectar, but if I followed her, she would be able to give me some inputs. I latched on.

 

How’s your photography going, asked Ms B? I smiled and said, very well. Do you know the Green Pigeons have returned? Oh yes! I met a pair yesterday. You scared them, they were complaining. I apologised and told Ms B that I didn’t mean to. I mean no harm. I extend an invitation to come to our bird feeder. In case they can specify any particular grain, it would be on the menu with pleasure. Ms B promised to convey it to them.

 

In between a pair of humming birds appeared. Ms B got scared and didn’t want to become an ‘early worm’ for them. She paused for a moment and sat on a flower. Blackie and Brownie the sunbirds were in no mood to trouble Ms B. However, they would not spare Mr Moth or Mr Grasshopper esquire for breakfast. True to their nature, they picked up a few and shot into the bushes.

 

Then Mr and Mrs House Sparrow arrived on the scene. They too had a complaint. How can I help you, I asked? Do something about Ms Dove, they said. Once she gets into the feeder, it is very difficult to even come close. She shoos us away. I understand, I said. Why can’t you defer your timings, I said? Good idea and they flew away.

 

Suddenly, the car indicators started blinking. The safety alarm went up. Thank God, we have set it only to flickering lights, otherwise the whole town would have come to complain. I caught the culprit red handed. Ms Bulbul it was. She just couldn’t allow anyone else to sit on my car. Ms B would see her own reflection and attack it making the front windscreen a ‘slide’ of sorts. From the roof she would slide to the wipers attacking imaginary demons.

 

Ms B felt offended as she felt ignored. I apologised. By then Mr Butterfly joined with fresh news of the colony. He said, that down the lane a pair of Green Pigeons are roosting. I took the clue.

 

I tip toed down the lane. Keeping my feet softly while scanning the trees to catch a glimpse of my friends. It was like going on a patrol in enemy territory, cautious as I could be. A crunch of a dry leaf or twig could startle them. Morning walkers frowned and giggled; I didn’t care.

 

The tree they were sitting on was bare with hardly any leaves. Actually, there was a party on. Ms Bulbul, Ms Dove and a pair of Green Pigeons were conversing intensely. That is how I could locate them. A quick snap and I stood still shading my eyes to watch them.

 

By then there were many morning walkers rushing to see what I was photographing. One of the passers by asked me in sign language about my mission. I called him close and pointed towards the top of the tree and whispered, do you see a pair of green pigeons. He shook his head. Na. I pointed and whispered again, he kept shaking his head to say no.

 

The birds got agitated and alerted. They took off and vanished. Arey, ye to chiriya hai. I said, haan inhi ko Hariyal bolte hain. Ye ud kyon gayi. Good question, I said and walked back home laughing to myself.

 

I promise not to trouble them again. Will they return? I wonder!!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND

© ® NOEL ELLIS










 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FINGER ON YOUR LIPS

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   29/IV/2025   What has happened to Pakistan? While India is doing Fauji Exercises, Pakistan has mobilised for what! I agree that the people of India want revenge. But, from whom? Our PM has only said that “we will not leave the terrorists and their supporters till the end of the Earth”. He has never said he will sort out Pakistan, or has he?   It has been hilarious watching discussions on Paki social media channels. They seem to have already given up. Our RM meets the PM and Pakistan starts shitting bricks. They talk about jazba and gazwa, and start telling us about their nuclear arsenal. 160 I suppose. By the way we will send across one equivalent to your 160 if need be.   There is a saying, ‘Chor ki Dari main tinka” literal meaning is, a straw in a thief’s beard. However, the deep meaning is that a guilty person reveals his guilt through his behaviour, even unintentionally. Clearly, “a guilty conscious needs no accuser”...
14 comments
Read more

SCENE AT ELLIS’ RESTAURANT

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   04/XI/2024   Every morning the scene in the Ellis’ restaurant is so refreshing. The notes birds sing sounds like ‘reveille’ being sounded by the buglers. The ‘scenario’ keeps varying with arrival of different birds at different timings.   It is like being a restaurant owner, working solo with minimum help. Yours truly is the waiter, housekeeper, cook, receptionist, barman, purchase manager, accountant, and storekeeper of this shack. Imagine!   Foremost thing in the morning is housekeeping of the garden area, followed by watering the pots. This gives the plants a nice bath, like kids being readied for school.   The first set of ‘clients’ called the ‘Tailor Birds’ appear. They love to hunt for insects which get disturbed by the watering ritual. They sing and dance, hop and skip and carry on chasing moths and worms, without bothering about my presence.   By then the Bulbuls and the Sparrows start lini...
17 comments
Read more

IF THERE IS A WAR…...

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   28/IV/2025   I remember the 1971 war as a small child. We were in Kapurthala Punjab, very close to the Pakistan border. It was an evening in December, I do not remember the exact date. While returning from a friends house, the declaration of war was done as I skipped along the ‘Thandi Sarak’ of Kapurthala.   The gist was that a vehicle with loud speakers was telling people to head home as an "emergency" had been declared and war had started. I ran as fast as I could, shivering with fear and my heart beating unusually fast. Though I was a lap baby when the 1965 war had taken place, it appeared serious business now.   Overnight, Dad and other Uncles started digging trenches infront of our homes. Carbon paper was no dearth in a teachers house, so mom got into an overdrive to stick them to the glass windows. Though the glass had been painted during the 1965 war, some broken panes had been replaced. Mom told ...
2 comments
Read more