Chapter 4 (Final Chapter)

The adult black kite perched on the thick branch which housed his nest and gazed skyward. Once he spotted the small figure he had been searching for, the black kite whistled loudly. The young chick darted towards the nest and came to rest in front of its father in a flash.

Putting the piece of meat that his tiny beak could carry into the nest, the small bird beckoned its father to eat.

(Narrator: I name the big kite as Osiris and the young one as Benu. We’ll refer to them as such from now on.)

Osiris was the son of one of Feng and Huang’s children. He had left this park, his birthplace many years ago. But two years ago, he had returned with his mate. Osiris was proud and strong and not many raptors would dare to enter his territory.

Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, as he had been scavenging from the bins, a ball had hit his wing and broken it. Somehow, he had managed to fly up to the nest and since then, this fledgeling, Benu had been bringing him food. It was little and the proud raptor was ashamed to be so weak but he partook of the food gratefully.

“Grandad, look! Small kite brought big kite food. I told you that big kite has a broken wing, I did, right?” The kid jumped up and down enthusiastically speaking in broken English.

“Ah, yes,” the old man said as he squinted with his failing eyes. He could only see blurred shapes but he did vaguely recall hearing such a thing.

Anshuman, now 81 years old, was sitting in the park near his son’s house. Yes, his son’s house, not his house anymore. For him, his house was the old-age home that was a fifteen-minute drive away.

Ever since Arni had passed away five years ago, Pran had started treating him like extra baggage. So, one day, he had been moved to the old-age home by Pran because his son had said, “You being there is an extra mouth to feed and you also need a whole room to yourself. How can we show our faces to guests if we cannot even give them a single room?”

How funny that to make space for people not related to him, he can disown his own father. I have failed as a parent.

His only solace was that when Pran had to go for tours he could come to visit his grandson. His daughter-in-law never said anything to him; she was kind, but too timid to confront Pran, unfortunately.

Over the past two-three days, Anshuman had become aware of the acute weakness that had crept up on him. He knew he did not have much time left and it was a stroke of good fortune that Pran had to leave urgently on some work.

As he sat on the metallic bench, running his wrinkled hands through his grandson’s hair, a thought struck him.

How foolish I was back when I was young!! I believed that humans and birds were similar!! Hahaha, how laughable. Even birds take care of their old while among humans; a child discards the one who has helped him climb over all obstacles in life...like he meant nothing at all. Nature teaches us to stick together, but we human beings, we just care about ourselves. Truly, we might share some similarities with the birds, but when it comes to the mind; humans really are unnatural.

Even as he came upon this realization, he felt weakness take hold of him again. But this time, it was mind-numbing. He felt in his bones that his time had come.

Clenching Gir, his grandson’s shoulder with a bony hand, he whispered, “Be like the birds, Gir. Like the birds...”

“Be Birdman?” Gir asked as he turned towards his grandpa. Seeing him reeling backwards, the boy jumped up and ran towards is house.

But Anshuman no longer had the strength to reply. For a minute, his eyes cleared. He saw the family of kites on the tree in stark clarity and thought to himself.

Black Kites have been beside me many times in my important moments in life. One even saved my life once. So fitting that they should be there as I leave this world.

And the last thing he heard was Gir’s voice, shouting at the top of his lungs, “Mamma, Grandad’s...”

And then, he neither saw, nor heard, nor smelt, nor tasted nor felt anything because he was far away, oh so far away...

*****

Narrator: (Heaves a long sigh) Do you understand now, my friend?

Friend 1: (Eyes wide in surprise) It wasn’t a bird’s life we were reading; it was drawing parallels...

Narrator: Yes. How humans really are...people who cannot work together, ones who cannot give anything but try to take everything. As Anshuman said, the human mind is truly “Unnatural”.