Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Mr.&Mrs.Finch.


My most frequent visitors. Mr. And Mrs. Finch.
Every morning as I enter the lab, they wait for me outside the sun-filmed window. They wait for me, in a world that does not need to maintain its temperature to a meager 21oC.
Mr. Finch is an enterprising young man, for he keeps pecking at the window till his beak hurts and his wife scoffs at him. Both of them cannot see me through the filmed glass so they assume that they are staring at some other couple just like them.
Mr. Finch wants to prove to Mrs. Finch that he is better than the guy across the window. So he flies up and down furiously, just to realize that the other one is a perfect match.
Mrs. Finch is one of those pragmatic, overweight women. She does not jump up and down and exhaust herself nor does she mind her husband’s weird antics. Like a seasoned wife, she bypasses everything he wants her to take notice of.

Like those ugly birds you find outside large worship places, ever ready to snatch that half-eaten sandwich or swoop at low altitudes scaring your children they will never pry on your food.
They are not crows. They don’t turn you deaf first thing in the morning. They are not swans either, narcissistic and full of themselves!
They are like those typical middle class birds. Content with who they are but fantasizing about defeating their own image, their own reflection!
They don’t ask for bread, but they are not too proud not to have it either.
They hop around and eat the crumbs if you leave some on the sill, but they wont knock on the window and make you get bread for them.
Like a middle-aged couple they sit staring at me. Never too busy flirting. They are two independent people staying together because they like to. Not making a big deal about love or even companionship, they look at me with watery eyes and turn their necks around like the hands on a clock. Sudden but expected.

Hard as he can, Mr. Finch tries to defeat his opponent but Mrs. Finch knows that he is not an Eagle or an Albatross. He is Mr. Finch who will always sit beside her on the windowsill and try to reach the parapet. He cannot brag about his wingspan but she knows that she would never like an Eagle to sit next to her and stare at the sun-filmed window!

4 comments:

RagingMars said...

Awesome! I think this is the best ever! khupach surekh ahe... So much from a pair of birds... the last sentence is amazing!!

Mandar Gadre said...

sweet [:)]
"Like a seasoned wife, she bypasses everything he wants her to take notice of." [:P]
"Sudden but expected." nice!

Neha Taksale said...

amazing!!!!.....while reading the blog i kept on thinking why a blog on two birds ....BUT
the last sentence is soo true...HATS OFF !!

jay said...

hii saee!! comment straight from a cyber cafe in DHARMSALA! :) that pic is great :) keep up.