One can witness full-throated discussions among winged creatures everymorning and evening if one passes through an area in our immediateneighbourhood. That little- cared-for patch of land has a large numberof majestic trees having grown up close by.
The subjects the winged deliberate are beyond our comprehension. Wecan only guess what they discuss so intensely everyday without fail,whether it is winter, summer or the rainy season. Perhaps, theirphilosophy is that the dialogue must go on irrespective of thecircumstances that prevail.
It seems they are too upset with the state of affairs in the country.And why not. They cannot speak a language that humans can understand.But they can always discuss it among themselves to release theirpent-up feelings and emotions. They may be worried because the countrythese days remains in the news mostly for wrong reasons. Most of thenews stories, news analyses and commentaries carried by media outletsare based on subjects like vote bank politics, hate speeches, violenceon sacred occasions, misuse of agencies to stifle political dissent,growing unemployment, inadequate focus on economic growth,jeopardising human rights, threats to freedom of speech andexpression, etc.
As I looked up to a tree one fine morning to guess what a crow sittingatop a thin branch was trying to convey to the other members of thewinged community, I could realise that it was not happy with peoplewasting their time on debating what the Prime Minister’squalifications were. Obviously, a person who occupies the PM’s chaircannot be there without having the requisite qualifications. Moreover,he is the people’s choice. The matter should end there, the black birdappeared to point out.
One could see another bird, a myna, speaking in full volume to expressthe view that ours is a wonderful country. If today people arequestioning the PM’s qualifications, only a few years back, we had theworld’s most qualified head of government. It’s a different matterthat he stood nowhere near the present PM so far ashis popularity was concerned. The factors behind the present PM’spopularity are not the concern of the winged population, the mynaasserts.
Another crow, an aged one, tells the talkative myna that man isbasically a fool. The crow, perhaps, had in its mind what formerBritish PM Benjamin Disraeli once said, “As a rule, man is a fool.When it’s hot, he wants it cool. When it’s cool, he wants it hot.Always wanting what is not.”
The myna tries to put across the viewpoint that the humans need to be taught alesson or two. Wisdom does not lie in wasting time on useless issues.It is time the winged community made use of every available opportunity tohighlight the worrying law andorder situation, particularly in the Hindi heartland, the endemiccorruption eating into the very vitals of the system, growing uneaseamong the minorities, threats to freedom of expression, etc.
Soon another bird emerges from somewhere to express its sadness at thefact that people hardly trust each other nowadays. “There are elementstrying to promote hatred among people for achieving their politicalobjectives. The disease ofdistrust is spreading fast. If we remain quiet, we too may be hithard one day. We must do whatever we can to ensure peace in society”, thewinged creature suggests.
Now comes a parrot to quote the golden words of Mahavira, “A man isseated on top of a tree in the midst of a burning forest. He sees allliving beings perishing,but he does not realise that the same fate is soon to overtake him.That man is a fool.”
The crow tries to highlight the painful scenario by saying that peoplewho revere Mahavira refuse to give serious thought to what he had saidfor the betterment of humanity. “But we are not humans, though we toohave two legs. We, thewinged, are better than the two-legged because we have learnt to livetogether in peace in the interest of our own progress and stability.We wish the humans learn from us before it is too late in the day.”
[The writer, former Deputy Editor of The Tribune, is a New Delhi-basedpolitical commentator.]