This was something that really happened 10 days ago and I posted it on G+ the same day, which happened to be World Poetry Day!
Today happens to be one of the happiest days of my life. I came to know
about a girl, 16-17 years old, who was begging on the street because she
was a run away from home and she knew she wasn't going to be accepted
back in her home even when her life might be in danger.
I came to
know about her from a lady who works as a domestic help, she wanted to
help her but didn't know how. Most of my day was spent today, coordinating
between the child help line members and the domestic helper lady who
knew where the girl could be found. I received a call this afternoon
from a child help line member informing me that she was finally rescued
and was safe and sound.
Thank god she wasn't begging far away from
where she was spotted initially so they could find her, although with
some difficulty!
I am celebrating world poetry day, here is my attempt, based on the life of this girl:
"The Beggar Girl"
The outside world looked so beautiful
From the confines of my home
And my home, was such a drag
Dull, monotonous and gloomy..
My life had just school with tons of homework that I hated..
So,
One fine day,
I decided to fulfill my sweetheart's wish...
To run away with him to an exciting place he promised...
And I did;
To my horror, I realized that my sweet heart was,
After all not so sweet,
Instead, was getting bitter over every other thing, until..
One fine day I found only darkness around me,
There was neither sweet nor bitter to be found anywhere!
Nowhere to go, nothing to look forward to..
I cried so much until my tears lost all energy to come out,
My stomach churned with hunger, I couldn’t bear it anymore…
So, here I am, the beggar girl..
I extend my arm out to anyone on the street,
Asking for food or money or even clothes.
I sleep in the day so I could be awake at night..
And guard myself against the vultures that roamed the streets,
Once a nice old man who gave me some food,
Brought me to this big temple.
Told me I would be safer here..
Here I am, the beggar girl,
I beg here, I live here, I exist with all of you
On this big space called planet earth.
Sunday, 31 March 2013
Sunday, 3 March 2013
The Laughing Dove/Bird
When I saw this bird for the first time,
I just stood there gazing at it for a long time and didn’t want to move away at
all. More than the soft colors painting its body, it was the peace in its eyes
that had me rooted to the ground.
It has a beautiful face and the way it looked
back at me made me almost feel as though it was thinking about me. You can
instantly feel the friendly vibes radiating from this bird, because it doesn’t
immediately fly away as soon as a slight noise is raised.
I see this bird only occasionally. There
was this specific happening one morning when I was taking a walk. This bird was
perched so beautifully on a lamp post almost at my eye level.
Again, it was
looking back at me. It didn’t move even as I went really close to it ! It kept
sitting there making me feel as if these were events unfolding in a beautiful
dream!
I smiled at the bird and continued
standing there while the bird was still sitting there. We stayed like this for
quite a while! Finally I broke away and continued
on my walk wondering why I didn’t carry my camera that morning!
After that day, I kept thinking why
I wasn’t being granted more sights of this bird while I had been photographing
so many other birds in the neighborhood. I always had this thought in the back
of my mind that, I had that one-on-one moment with the bird which I lost, and I
deeply regretted the loss of that amazing shot.
And then, it happened one day… That
was yesterday when the real story began..
I was on Google+ drooling over some
nice photographs which some real photographers had taken, when all of a sudden
I saw something coming towards my backyard walk-out door. I opened the wire
mesh with great caution, gently walked out and there it was! The Laughing Dove
that probably was perched on my Mulberry tree, flew a bit and comfortably
placed itself on my garden fence.
I could hardly believe that the bird could
read my thoughts and it came looking for me!
I came running in and got my camera
and got a couple of pictures and like all those other times, it stayed there!
I
managed to get a few pictures when it flew away to my neighbor’s window and
perched there for a few minutes. I kept clicking it, each and every time going
one step closer to it. Finally it flew away but I was still inexplicably happy
that I got to photograph this bird! But then, I realized that the grill didn’t
match with the serenity of the bird’s face, making me wonder if I should post
the photos online.
It was sometime back today just
about noon time that I saw something on my Mulberry tree from inside the house!
Lo and behold, my bird was back!
Look at the way it is saying hello to me!! |
I gently opened the wire mesh door
again and pointed my camera at whatever angle the bird was sitting … It slowly
turned and looked at me (or my camera) while I shot it for a while.
And then it turned little by little
towards me and completed a 3150 angle to give me beautiful pictures
of itself ! ! This Beauty made my day today and I am still in a trance like
state; it feels like I was/am in a beautiful dream; I feel light headed now..
He he he… It feels so nice to be in this state.
Elegance Birdsonified! |
I hope to hear this bird laugh some
time (it’s call sounds like a human’s laughter which is why the bird is called
so) ; it was so funny to hear it’s laughter on clips over the internet and to
read the discussion about what people had to say about their domesticated
doves. I must say that God sometimes works in weird ways; this bird was given
such an elegant face but with a funny call (unlike the Hyena)!
Just for your information, the
scientific name of the laughing dove is “Spilopelia senegalensis”. It has beautiful mauve-pink, state blue
brownish red colors on its body as you can see from the photographs. The most
interesting aspect is its beautiful collar of black and golden feathers on the
sides of its neck which my younger one found scary!
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