THE PARROT AND HER WINGS

"A 27 years old married woman harassed by in-laws kills herself." The anchor roared in the newsroom, "She also wrote a letter stating the inhumanity of her in-laws which was unendurable," It caught the attention of a six-year-old girl who was reading a comic book with her grandfather. The girl left the book and started asking him, "why did she kill herself, Grandpa? Please tell me!" Grandpa did not know what to say. He was silent for a moment but the girl did not stop. At last, Grandpa changed the topic and said, "It's time for stories, let me tell you a story and she forgot everything instantly and jumped in grandpa's lap with excitement to listen to a story with all ears. Grandpa switched off the TV, looked at her and started the story.

"She loved flying sky-high, discovering new places. She was the most notorious of all her siblings, never stayed at one place. Sometimes she flew off alone in the sky to know the unknown. She looked dazzling when she used to spread her colourful wings to fly towards the sky. Her small cute black eyes were sharp and her body was as green as a new leaf of a tree. She was the quickest among all the parrots to learn how to fly. Her dream was to travel around the world and taste the fruits grown in different regions through her strong red beak. Her parents loved her and that's why gave her the freedom to fly freely wherever she wanted to. But she was not free from scoldings when she used to make any mistake.

One day she saw a beautiful garden created by humans, with different trees of different fruits. The mesmerizing smell of the flower attracted her and she was not able to stop herself from going towards that garden. The fruits were amazing and she ate to her fill and then started hovering from one tree to another. She enjoyed till the dusk and then went back to her nest worried about the scoldings. She loved that place so much that she started going there every day. One afternoon she landed on a mango tree to enjoy mangoes. She again ate to her fill first and then started exploring. She got attracted to a guava tree and when she landed on the branch, she found a rope around her strong legs. She tried to get rid of it, but unfortunately the more she tried the stronger the grip got. In the end, she did not have a choice and started screaming for her life. Soon someone threw a blanket on her and there was darkness everywhere. The voice stopped for a moment and only fear remained. She did not know what would happen to her. She lay there screaming until she heard someone saying, "It screams a lot, tie her beak first." Suddenly a pair of hands came towards her and grabbed her ruthlessly without any empathy and tied her beak so that she can't shout. The rope was still there on her leg. They attached a long rope along with it to tie her to a table in a closed room. She lay there for hours without any clue what would happen next. After sometimes she saw a small kid approaching towards her with a great joy. He tried to touch her but his parents scolded him and said, "let us first cut her wings and then you can play with her, or else she would fly away. Wings are dangerous." The next day, one person grabbed her wings and the other ran scissors on it. The ropes were removed from her feet and beak but the wings were no more. The tears did not stop. She felt the dreams are over now.

The kid liked her a lot so he kept on feeding different kinds of fruits to her. She knew her wings are gone, she will not be able to fly but she is alive and hoped someday her wings would grow back and she can fly again. But things were getting worse. One day they forced her into a small cage where she was hardly able to move. A cat was brought into the family hence she was caged. The cat was pretty eerie, he used to keep on staring at her every night. He used to sit near the cage and whenever got chance pounced on the cage. Slowly she understood his intentions are not good. But in front of him, she was very weak, without wings, and she knew if someday she confronts him, it will be the end of her life.

After few months and a lot of patience her wings grew back, she started flapping in the cage and every night she started trying to cut the cage with her beak but the endeavour was of no avail. After trying for the whole night she used to stare at the rising sun with eyes full of hope that someday she would fly again. Days passed but she did not stop trying. Her determination was rock solid and she knew that she would fly again. By now she also understood why the cat keeps on staring at her cage all the time. She understood that the cat actually wants to eat her alive and satisfy his hunger.

One night no one was there at home and she was busy breaking the cage, as usual. Unfortunately, that day the cage was kept on the floor instead of a tree where it was hung usually. It was an opportunity for the cat which he did not want to miss. Cat told himself the long wait is over, now it's time to satisfy my hunger. He pounced on the cage with a mouth full of water. He tried to pull her out of the cage. She screamed but no one was there to listen. She now lost all her hopes and thought this is the last day of her life, meanwhile, the cat kept on tossing and turning the cage until the notch of the cage was unlocked. He got excited and said, "now who will save you." He tried to pull her out through the gate but he was not able to. The gate was too small for a cat to enter. Now the cage was wide open and the cat was in front of the gate sitting and waiting for her to come out. She somehow crouched herself into a corner of the cage where he was not able to reach. Both kept on looking in each other's eyes until the kid with his parents arrived. Seeing them the cat ran away. They were shocked to see this and the kid picked up the cage, closed the gate and hung it on the tree. The parrot took a sigh of relief. The whole night she kept on sobbing with fear.

Next morning it was a bright sun but now she felt devastated. She saw the rising sun and the negativity started creeping into her mind. She started thinking that she would never be able to get out of this cage. She thought her life will end in the cage like a slave. She said to herself, "It would be better if they cut my wings again because there is no use of the wings if I can't fly and accomplish my dreams." Amidst her destructive thoughts, the kid arrived to give her green chillies to eat which she loved. The kid, as usual, tried to talk to her and then threw the chilli inside and left, She was not willing to eat, but the tiredness and hunger were not able to stop her. While eating she saw something which she never expected. For a moment she was shocked and not able to believe her eyes. No one notched the gate the whole night. She dropped the chilli and forced the door open, took a flight like never before. The flight of a lifetime. The flight of freedom towards the sky. The world looked amazing and fresh. She felt she is born again, with new wings and new dreams.

"The story is over" Grandpa said and asked, "What did you understand my little Miss Sunshine?" There was no reply. She kept on pondering.