The Dove Story - published on Bloggermom.com

Today I am writing about two Doves that befriended us , came and layed their two eggs on a rope swing in my balcony. It was an amazing experience to see the two bird take turns, first, to build a tiny nest and then once the female bird lay its two small eggs, they once again took turns to keep the eggs warm. It was like a clock work, an unsaid and un documented sense of bonding between the two birds and their future family that was unfolding before my eyes.

Very soon this nest was the most precious object in the household. All visitors were told about it and special ones were allowed to enter the bedroom and look at the nest from behind the glass of the French windows that opened into the balcony.

After a wait of about 20 days, one of the eggs hatched and we had our first baby being born in the house .. the tiny little featherless and very helpless looking baby Dove. The parent birds were very excited.. and having watched them for so long, we detected a distinct difference in their behavior with an unmistakable excitement and heightened sense of responsibility visible in the constant vigil that they maintained from our terrace as well as rooftops of neighboring houses.

This new addition to the Dove family was treated with equal attention from our family and once again like that of a human child, its each and every move was been talked about everyday in the house. It grew in size very fast and everyday it was doing new things like move its head, its first droppings.. etc (that were now dropping on the balcony).. and even that was something we were referring to proudly to visitors. Then its eyes opened and it started moving around a little bit. Slowly its feathers started to grow starting with a soft brown undergrowth that gave way to the larger and darker real feathers. This little bird became the center of all our attention. Any family member returning home after a day at work or school would first visit the balcony and say hello to our little baby bird that had by now been christened Monita by my seven year old son.

Soon it became a very friendly and cute creature that was not afraid of us at all . It started responding to our voices and calls. As its feathers and wings grew in size and strength, it started to take small hops and jumps to hop up to my son’s shoulder or head and was treated to a tour of the house every now and then. The parent birds kept their vigil but a little distant now. They would scare away any crow that dared to approach the balcony and on regular intervals took turns to come and feed the baby. It was a pleasure to watch them communicate with the Monita… their sounds would change completely and in my mind their communication with the baby was all about love, care and reassurance about life. It was so heart warming to see such bonding in a family of birds which , I assume, unlike the human society is run without mandatory rules and institutions that essentially has to sanction all relationships. This bonding appeared divine, ruled by nature and perhaps had more transcending impact on the individuals concerned than the ones we experience under the bindings of societal grants.

This story has a tragic end to which I will refrain from going but through this passage would like to in some way immortalize our little dove bird, - Monita and his / her parents on the balcony. Those few days were something that has touched me and all other members in my family at a level that was never touched before and made us a much more closer family and better human beings.

I wrote this piece for http://www.bloggermoms.com/ so please visit that site and read the comments and other posts there. It is a very intersting website.