Many pigeons were sitting around watching. I thought, the ‘performer’ was ‘showing off’ its acrobatic skills - a rather strange behaviour for a bird. I reached for my spectacles and on closer inspection, I realised that the poor creature was entangled in a kite string which was hanging from the terrace of the school building, opposite my balcony, where I was exercising. The string was thin and invisible to my short-sighted naked eyes.
My heart sank. It soon reached my mouth, at the realisation that the poor pigeon was struggling to free itself of the string. But in vain. In its desperate attempt to unentangle itself, it was twisting and turning and doing all kinds of acrobatics. This only resulted in further knotting it up. A group from its brethren too watched helplessly. The crows were not to be left behind. They also gathered around and watched; not to do much, but to create a racket with their excited caw-cawing. Soon, the birds of prey arrived. Some cruel ones even tried pecking at the helpless one, increasing its despair. I wished they would realise that it could well have been one of them. However, the concept of karma obviously doesn’t figure in their scheme of thinking. After all it was only nature at play. It sure can be cruel at times.
Within minutes, a drip-drip of blood started onto the floor of the school. The ‘manjha’(kite strings coated with glass, mainly sourced from China) had begun to cut into the hapless bird’s body. The smell of blood attracted the cats around the compound. They sat up from their lazy slumber. They sat, looking hungrily at the wounded bird, eagerly waiting for their prey to fall into their laps, sans a hunt. Who doesn’t like a free meal without having to lift a finger, or a paw, for that matter!.
I couldn’t be a silent spectator anymore. Grabbing a pair of scissors and slipping into my bedroom slippers which were lying near the yoga mat, I went down. I was sure I wouldn’t be able to get to the bird on my own. It would need a minor circus-like act to reach the ledge where the kite string was stuck. So I needed to find somebody young and athletic to help.
The first person I encountered was the car cleaner. I had known him to have a kind heart. He had once helped me with a wounded stray dog. But then it had been much later in the day. I pointed out the bird to him and asked if he could come with me to release it of its misery. To my dismay, he declined. He needed to finish cleaning the cars before the owners (his employers) came and drove them to get to work. They could not be delayed. Next, I saw the garbage collector coming towards our building. I was sure he wouldn’t have any time constraints. Alas, I was wrong. He needed to finish collecting the garbage from all the households and consolidate them before the garbage truck arrived.
I realised it was too soon in the day to find anybody ready to take a break in their early morning routines. I feared that I might have to somehow tackle the problem by myself. I walked across to the school building; almost ran. In my anxiety, I was oblivious of the stares from many passersby.
I reached the school which was yet to commence. There was no one in sight but for a lone guard at the gate. He couldn’t leave his post, for the sake of a pigeon, even if he took up my offer to ‘man’ the school’s gate till he returned. Couldn’t blame him, really. How could he risk his job by entrusting his responsibility onto a complete stranger, one with disheveled hair and in night pajamas! For the same reason, I knew I couldn’t have expected him to let me go into the premises alone.
Luckily for me, or rather the pigeon, the day guard arrived to start his shift. After giving up his guard and before leaving for home, the night guard now agreed to do my bidding. I gave him the pair of scissors which I had carried. After racing up three flights of steps, we reached the terrace. We located the ledge on which the kite string was stuck. The guard was tall and so, with a bit of a stretch, he managed to reach the edge of the ledge and cut off the string, but only after holding the pigeon in his hands, lest the poor creature was too wounded to be able to fly. That would then have landed it straight into the laps of the waiting predators below.
The poor bird was shivering with fright and exhaustion. With the sun beating down on it throughout its ordeal, it was completely parched, its beaks open with its tongue almost hanging out.
The guard, first of all, unentangled the kite string off the pigeon’s legs and body. Then I took the bird from the guard and sent him to get a bowl of water. I held the bird against my chest. It warmed my heart to see that the shivering had stopped. Maybe it was wishful thinking or just my imagination, but the bird too seemed to sense the warmth, for it rested his tired head against my chest!
It lapped up the water which the guard brought. Only after its thirst was quenched, its natural instinct seemed to kick in, for it started to free itself from out of my hand. Fortunately, its wound was fairly small and had already started to dry up.
I released my grip and my heart soared as we watched the pigeon fly away to freedom.
Kite flying in India is mainly done on the 15th of August, the Independence day of India. It symbolises freedom. Kite flying is also indulged in on the harvest festival of Makar Sankranti. It is done to pay homage to the Gods in heaven who are supposed to have awakened from their slumber after six months! The sport is also considered to be good for the neck and shoulder muscles.
Kite strings are dangerous- even to humans. Kite flying should be done responsibly. But how I’ve always wondered. How can you help it if your kite gets cut mid-air and descends too far from where you were flying it? The least one can do is to avoid using ‘manjha’.These are, thankfully, banned now.
In India, Kite flying is illegal according to the Indian Aircraft Act of 1934, which was amended in 2008. Section 11 allows for perpetrators to be imprisoned for two years, pay a fine of ten lakh rupees, or face prison and a fine.