Nest of Love

Since few days , a bird was frequenting my home , and soon followed its mate . Throughout the day the couple would chatter and make lovely sounds . The male bird was dark black in color with beautiful dark red collar . The female was slightly smaller in size , but fully dark . They selected a corner in verandah of our house . Soon they started building a nest .

Throughout day and night , they brought shreds of paper , grass , tiny branches of shrubs and twined these in to a tiny but beautiful nest . We eagerly observed the growth of the nest . Soon the nest was ready . It took about 5 days for them to build the nest . All of a sudden , chattering stopped . We wondered as to what had happened . Soon we discovered that the female had laid eggs - off white eggs with brownish tinge . Throughout the day , she sat on the eggs and incubated . She would sit still for hours together. Her size was larger than the size of the nest . Her wings would remain outside the nest while she sat there patiently . It became a routine for me to see the bird before going out for my work . The first thing I used to do after coming back was to have a look at the nest and see whether there was any sign of new born . The days passed by and every day appeared very long for me . I was not able to hide my eagerness to see the new comers .

There was enthusiasm in our home , my kids were very excited .
“ Papa , what are they doing ?”, asked my youngest daughter .
“ They have built a home , and now they have laid the eggs , and soon tiny kids will be born ,” replied my wife .
“ The way we were born ?” asked the tiny tot . My wife smiled .

The birds remained silent throughout the period of incubation . There was no chattering . Soon the tiny little ones were born . These were featherless bundle of muscle mass with closed eyes and tiny beaks . We all congratulated each other as if there was a new born in our own family .

The mother bird brought eatables and fed the new born , the father bird was hanging around nearby keeping a close watch on the kids .

Often we found the kids were alone and protruding their beaks out as if they were very hungry . Soon the mother would arrive carrying some insects to feed the young ones . The kids started growing . They started making noise and soon chattering restarted . The hungry kids would shout as if they were demanding food and the mother bird would chatter as if to assure that soon the food would be available . The moment , mother bird would arrive with food , the chattering and eagerness of the kids increased . They would jostle among each other to get their share of food .

Once early morning there was a call from my hospital to attend an emergency . I got ready in a huff and rushed to the hospital . As I was nearing the gate , a frail voice called me back . I looked back - my mother was calling me back.

My mother is about to complete her ninth decade . She has tremors involving her hands and tongue . She is lean and thin . Her face is full of wrinkles of wisdom and experience . She is an abode of love , affection and strength for me . I have always remained a tiny kid for her . She was calling me back .

“ Why don’t you have some food and then go to hospital to see patients . After all your return is unpredictable .” said my mother with a trembling voice . She had slowly come out of her room , walked with shaky steps up to the door and called me . Even in most urgent situations , I could never say no to her . I turned back to the dining table . She served breakfast for me . I gulped my breakfast in a hurry . She felt relieved once I finished eating .

As I started back for my work , I heard the chattering of the birds again – I looked at the nest - mother bird was feeding her kids .

All mothers are same , so I thought .