An absolute sacrifice

Rabin Prasad Kalita *

To be in your children’s memories tomorrow
You have to be in their lives today: - “Barbara Johnson”

Since the creation of this Globe the happiness of being parents is considered as highest amongst all creatures. Each of them find and feel their stages of childhood and beyond through their children and enjoy being parents.

While I was a child my parents were focused entirely on my wellbeing, education and to impart knowledge to me. If I cried, they tried to entertain me through some deals they chalked out at once. My cheerfulness made them filled with immense contentment as if the remote control of their happiness kept with me.

Parents play a colossal role in the life of their children to shape up physical, mental, emotional, social and overall personality development.

I didn’t know that I shall grow up to this extent like my father and was going to take the charge of my home one day. It’s a never ending tradition since the start of the civilisation. Marriage is a social sanction, an irrevocable union between a man and a woman.

The customs of getting married as and when one attains the marriageable age, pleasure of having one’s own kids also their upbringing are in continuation. Not getting married and not having one’s own child contemplates unpleasant in Indian societal customs.

Blessed with a child brings everlasting joy to the parents and becomes a festive cause of celebrations amongst kith and kin. Parents give up many necessities for their children sacrificing even minimum comfort to make them happy.

Sacrifices, self beliefs, morale values are implanted by parents into their children so that they grow up to be a unique, sensitive and better human beings. Birds and other animals also may have same sentiments as human beings while they bring up their young ones.

Here is a true story about a pair of dove which I experienced over a period of time. Very frequently, I had been noticing them met up with worst quarrels, whipping physically by their wings on each other. After the squabble, so often they sat on our electrical extension wire maintaining sufficient gap between them without mingling for hours due to the subtle complex emotions and behaviour.

Mismatch of moods were reciprocated and negotiated gradually by closing themselves inch by inch. After sometime, I saw them compromise and found them loving and itching their beaks at one another. We human beings too do the same by revealing our strong resentment out of our anguish. It happens between two people who truly love and feel for one another intensely.

Last two days, I saw them flying with whit and hays under their beautiful clutch of the beaks to our Gooseberry (Amlaki or Amla) tree. Fixing them in a protected branch and coming back for carrying another one was their day long work. As a result of their hard work, a beautiful nest was ready after a couple days.

Seeing them doing such a hard labour I felt pity for them, hence, I threw a fistful of lentils at a distant so that they feel safe to pick them up. My habit of throwing lentils went on further. It was amazing which accomplished my peace of mind seeing them pecking one by one.

For last three-four days, one of them was not in my sight, may be planning for laying eggs very soon I thought! The other one goes out to collect food grains and comes back, feeds its counterpart transferring through beaks. What an eye-catching vista to watch, which filled my heart with ecstasy!

Suddenly I could notice from the veranda that there were eggs in the nest, while I was sipping tea with a morning news paper in my hand! The female dove was hatching, sitting gently over her eggs. Though, I was happy but worried a little about the fate of their eggs due to their late planning. Rainy season was on its door step and the weather was not very amiable to keep their young ones out of risk.

My prophecy proved right. In the same night, there was a heavy downpour along with moderate wind for a considerable period. It was like never ending threads of rain which touched the ground and sparked all over.

I was greatly concerned and prayed for their eggs to keep them safe and secured. Thinking about their safety, my entire night was poised from sleeping. I got up time and again, went near to the windowpane, unveiled the curtain and peeped outside. Helplessly after sometime, I used to come back to my bed with pain in my heart. What else I could do except to feel their pain?

The nest was pretty bright and apparent from the light that came from the main gate. Both of them spread their wings over their eggs and the nest from getting wet to maintain necessary warmth for incubation.

They had to bear the complete lashing rain for a sizeable period of time and they themselves got soaked to save their young ones inside eggs crust. This is the way all the parents also give up their lots of own hope and dreams for their children.

By the time in the morning, rain stopped and the mighty sun brightly flashed all over. That was the end of a bizarre night suffered by the unfortunate pair of dove, pitiably witnessed by me. A couple of minutes later, one of them flew down and unfolded her moist wings to get dry under sunshine.

After a few processes of swelling-up and shrinking of her wings and manipulating feathers with its beak, somehow it could dry-up her wings. She went back again to the nest and substituted the other one straight away.

I was astonished to see their act of thoughtfulness which filled my heart with a divine pleasure. Thank God, their eggs were safe and before one’s eyes, a few days later, chicks were out of the eggs safely.

Here in after, a massive role is played to bring up their chicks, to protect them from all hazards until they become independent to secure themselves. This is the way we all parents use to shoulder our immeasurable pain to bring up our kids too.