To Catch A Singing Bird

In Somewhereland, everyone, from the king to the pauper on the road, secretly desires to keep a singing bird as a pet. The land is bestowed with incredible natural beauty. There is a river that never stops talking, flowers that dance with the breeze, trees that change colors every season, and above all, a variety of beasts and birds that fearlessly wallop, gallop, or hop around.

In spite of the fact that people have to work hard for a living, they are still deeply connected with the nature, intrinsically inclined to keep the beasts and the birds as pets.

If you talked to anyone, after exchanging initial pleasantries, they would inevitably inundate you with the accounts of antics and quirks of their pets just as the parents of young kids do.

A Singing Bird
(image source istockphoto.com)

The natives have all types of pets except for the singing birds—the most beautiful, lovely, and enchanting of all the creatures. The singing birds capture your heart at first sound and sight. The way they swoop, the way they perch and hop, the way they sing, they transcend you to a different level of consciousness. You forget all your pain and worries and feel as if you have become one with divinity. But, alas, when the bird flies away, you suffer acute heartache and melancholy, and pine for its company. You become desperate to own a singing bird.

People say that whenever someone catches a singing bird and puts it in a cage, the bird stops singing and dies after some time.

Everyone in Somewhereland has a story to tell about the singing birds. Some people have never been able to get hold of a single singing bird. Some caught it once and when it died they never tried again. And then there are others who keep capturing the birds again and again, but all in vain.

For past many centuries, the singing birds have held a special place in their culture, spawning many myths and legends. Sculptors and painters try to capture their beauty through their art—simple as well as abstract, poets and writers compose emotional, intellectual, imaginary tales, delightful as well as heartbreaking, musicians and songwriters create melodious, poignant songs, filmmakers make movies, where the protagonists struggle, and are often successful in capturing the singing birds.

And then there are also the gunda-squads or hooligans, and religious fundamentalists who want to kill all the singing birds and harass everyone, who loves their singing or engage in any type of artistic undertakings.

In one community, where arranged marriages are the norm, the parents—who rue their own parental restrictions, and secretly watch the birds sing—don’t allow their adult children to watch or listen to the singing birds, promising them a singing bird of their own on their wedding day, and when the big day arrives, present them with a dead bird. The birds usually die during the horoscope-matching sessions or dowry negotiations.

Many young enthusiasts, as soon as they catch singing birds, post pictures on Facebook, and later when it dies, they are so embarrassed to disclose the truth that they stuff the birds and post their pictures to fool their friends.

This Valentine's Day, the king is going to announce a large fund for scientists and researchers to find a way to keep the singing birds alive even in captivity. Meanwhile, a pauper says that he has given up on capturing a bird as he is too happy, watching and listening to their songs in their natural surroundings. Long live the people of Somewhereland and long live the singing birds!

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