Tweety's Flight

sundarusha · Jan 20, 2009

A US Airways plane with 155 people on board ditched into a chilly Hudson River last Thursday, apparently after striking at least one bird upon takeoff from New York's LaGuardia Airport, according to officials and passengers.

This was in the news a few days ago and the pilot was lauded for skillfully bringing down the airbus in the river's frigid waters and more than 150 passengers safely escaped, with the help of boats and divers.

"The huge aircraft was brought down by a small bird", said my DH.

My mind started rewinding to a scene that happened years ago. We had moved recently into the neighborhood. I came to know a few people in the neighborhood because their kids were playmates of my kids.

One day, my kid came running inside the house and said,"amma, Martha pati wants to talk to you."

Martha pati was the elderly lady next door who was living all by herself and was pretty much a recluse. I had seen her driving in and out, but she never struck conversation with anyone.

"Why? Did you throw a ball in her yard?", I asked.

He looked at me with his big brown eyes and shook his head.

As it turned out, a baby sparrow had fallen from my tree into Martha's yard and she wanted to know if I might be interested in taking care of it. If not, she was happy to do it. I looked at the baby sparrow with a fuzzy body and a wobbly head inside Martha's rough, callused and cupped hands. With its opened beak, it was beckoning for food. Though it had baby feathers, it had a long way to go before taking flight.

Seeing me hesitiate, Martha brought a shoebox, cut some holes on the lid and kept the baby bird inside. The baby sparrow had been christened by now as "Tweety".

"Wait a minute! I just remembered! There is an old birdcage in my garage", said Martha and rushed to fetch it. After clearing the cage of the dust that had accumulated over time, Martha placed tweety gently inside the cage.

For the next few hours, Martha and I poured over books to check the foods to be fed to Tweety. Whenever Tweety was hungry, he would chirp loudly and she fed him with the utmost care.

"Guess what! I opened the cage door today. Tweety took short trips from the floor to the top of my dresser", Martha beamed one day with the same pride of a mother on seeing her young child taking the first step.

After two weeks, we decided it was time to let Tweety free to roam in her backyard. He made it to the purple plum tree, that was the closest to the house during his first flight. Then he quickly came back to Martha's hands to feel the warmth. The next time, he ventured a little farther. But he did return and settle on her hands.

Then one day Tweety disappeared without a wave or a whistle.

We knew he would eventually fly away.We were, after all, preparing him for this day, yet we missed him. We missed hearing his sweet songs.

By then, we had formed a good bond with Martha and to realize a tiny sparrow was the reason for that!

"O well", said Martha. "He is exactly like my son. At first, after moving, he would visit every other day and slowly his visits started becoming less and less frequent until I have learnt to be completely on my own."

That's when I knew the reason why Martha was living all by herself.

I remembered a few lines of Emily Dickinson's poem, To hear an oriole sing

The "Tune is in the Tree-"
The Skeptic-showeth me-
"NO sir! It is in Thee!"

Anandchitra · Jan 20, 2009

Very well written Usha. I too have heard many such incidents of people especially kids rescuing birds and then leaving them to go back to nature.
Your narration brought out the characteristics of the elderly lady too.
Also am reminded of that You tube video of the Lion which gave that huge hug for his savior even though the lady came to see the Lion after 6 years. That was stunning to watch that big animal giving that much love to its rescuer.
Very good blog.. as always from you

Adding the Link here for the Youtube video. This is a thread created in the Pet and Animals Forum by Saras titled

Hug of the Century

http://www.indusladies.com/forums/pets-and-animal-lovers/45179-hug-of-the-century.html

Hope everyone sees this and enjoys the Big Hug.

Cutepavi · Jan 20, 2009

Dear Usha,
A real good story and you have written it extremely well.. when i was a kid.. i used to ask my mom for a parrot.. but my parents never agreed to keep a pet :bowdown .. Then finally one of my friends got a Mynae and we used to feed it...and we had this same pleasure when it used to chirp.. Finally we were very sad because it died when a stray cat tried to eat it.. i guess it got scared .. poor thing Rant

thanks for reminding me of those good old memories!

Jpatma · Jan 20, 2009

Dear,
They say don't judge book by its cover. Same goes to Marth too, she kept aloof, but her soul was full of love and compassion. A bird's plight churned the love that was buried within her and it floated up.
I like the comparison of bird and human leaving the nest. It is very true, when children leave the nest, after parents take all efforts to nurse & nourish them , a sort of vacuum is felt and more so if the children don't keep in touch. This is more so in western society,slowly creeping into indian society too.
Lovely post, May God bless you.
Jaya

ojaantrik · Jan 20, 2009

sundarusha said: ↑

A US Airways plane with 155 people on board ditched into a chilly Hudson River last Thursday, apparently after striking at least one bird upon takeoff from New York's LaGuardia Airport, according to officials and passengers.

This was in the news a few days ago and the pilot was lauded for skillfully bringing down the airbus in the river's frigid waters and more than 150 passengers safely escaped, with the help of boats and divers.

"The huge aircraft was brought down by a small bird", said my DH.

My mind started rewinding to a scene that happened years ago. We had moved recently into the neighborhood. I came to know a few people in the neighborhood because their kids were playmates of my kids.

One day, my kid came running inside the house and said,"amma, Martha pati wants to talk to you."

Martha pati was the elderly lady next door who was living all by herself and was pretty much a recluse. I had seen her driving in and out, but she never struck conversation with anyone.

"Why? Did you throw a ball in her yard?", I asked.

He looked at me with his big brown eyes and shook his head.

As it turned out, a baby sparrow had fallen from my tree into Martha's yard and she wanted to know if I might be interested in taking care of it. If not, she was happy to do it. I looked at the baby sparrow with a fuzzy body and a wobbly head inside Martha's rough, callused and cupped hands. With its opened beak, it was beckoning for food. Though it had baby feathers, it had a long way to go before taking flight.

Seeing me hesitiate, Martha brought a shoebox, cut some holes on the lid and kept the baby bird inside. The baby sparrow had been christened by now as "Tweety".

"Wait a minute! I just remembered! There is an old birdcage in my garage", said Martha and rushed to fetch it. After clearing the cage of the dust that had accumulated over time, Martha placed tweety gently inside the cage.

For the next few hours, Martha and I poured over books to check the foods to be fed to Tweety. Whenever Tweety was hungry, he would chirp loudly and she fed him with the utmost care.

"Guess what! I opened the cage door today. Tweety took short trips from the floor to the top of my dresser", Martha beamed one day with the same pride of a mother on seeing her young child taking the first step.

After two weeks, we decided it was time to let Tweety free to roam in her backyard. He made it to the purple plum tree, that was the closest to the house during his first flight. Then he quickly came back to Martha's hands to feel the warmth. The next time, he ventured a little farther. But he did return and settle on her hands.

Then one day Tweety disappeared without a wave or a whistle.

We knew he would eventually fly away.We were, after all, preparing him for this day, yet we missed him. We missed hearing his sweet songs.

By then, we had formed a good bond with Martha and to realize a tiny sparrow was the reason for that!

"O well", said Martha. "He is exactly like my son. At first, after moving, he would visit every other day and slowly his visits started becoming less and less frequent until I have learnt to be completely on my own."

That's when I knew the reason why Martha was living all by herself.

I remembered a few lines of Emily Dickinson's poem, To hear an oriole sing

The "Tune is in the Tree-"
The Skeptic-showeth me-
"NO sir! It is in Thee!"
Click to expand...

I am spellbound. One of the best posts I have read on IL for sure. You have told us the story of life, life's affections during childhold and then the inevitable attainment of maturity. Finally, the flight to independence.

This is a charming account of a beautiful experience. It speaks of the great power of LIFE.

I don't know how to nominate a post, but I will now try to find it out and nominate this one.

Excellent.

oj

Kamalji · Jan 20, 2009

Dear Usha,

I agree with OJ, that this is one of the best posts i have read in a long long time.

What a touching story, comparing it with the US flight.So touchiung, the bird making u and Martha good friends, and then leaving u and going away, as do our children.

I wish i had not finished my nominations, this surely does deserve to be nominated.

Wonderful Usha, wonderful.God bless u, and may we have more wonderful posts from u.

Regards

kamal

Bujji · Jan 20, 2009

Dear Usha,

Cute snippet.
It is really amazing that a small bird is a reason for people to be bonded.

Cheeniya · Jan 20, 2009

Dear Usha
What greater accolade can there be for a thread than being added by a writer of such caliber as Ojaantrik to his signature with really heartfelt appreciation as "one of my most favourite posts in IL". I really envy you Usha for this, what I consider as the ultimate recognition in IL.

We all do hear of plane crashes due to a bird strike but how many can weave magic out of such a piece of news as you have done? The journey of Tweety from the warmth of Martha's palm into the great skies yonder is all what life is about. You have indeed brought it out beautifully!

My kudos to you Usha. You are indeed one of the gifted writers of IL
Sri

mithila kannan · Jan 20, 2009

Oh,dear Usha,
What a wonderful narration!My heart is full of ice cream ater reading this blog,somehow there is a mixture of happy and sad feelings.Happy that Tweety could fly and was on his own,sad that Martha would have missed him.Martha would have bfelt the same way when her son developed wings and flew away.Happy that he was on his own,sad that he was not visiting her often.
Now that our daughters are married,running their own homes,we are happy for them.To tell you frankly,at times I feel as if the rope that tied me tightly,preventing me free movements, has loosened, but at times I miss them, the days that we spent together.

My younger daughter is a keen animal lover.In our neighbourhood ,if anyone wanted a piece of advice on what to feed a puppy,how to take care of a bird that had broken its wings,Sangheetha would be called.We used to get calls even in midnights,"My dog is not eating or taking its medicine,what to do?"
She got married and went to Mumbai to live with herhusband and her in laws.I don't know how word spread.On a fine morning someone rang their bell and said that there was cat that broke one leg,it had to be attended to.Sangheetha took the cat to the vet,got proper treatment for him and kept him in their house for a couple of days.Then she found a home for him where injured or handicapped animals are taken care of.Sangheetha took the cat and left him there.Her MIL rang me up in chnnai.She said,"Your daughter is heartless.I told her,let the cat be with us.Let us take care of him.But she left him in a home."I did not know what to say,Sangheetha felt that her elderly in laws would be put to inconvenience with a pet and being a new bahu she was appehnsive.
Later on My daughter used to go to the home for handicapped animals every day to babysit the cat and to see that he mingled with the other animals there.I too went with her once and it was a wonderful experience.
You gave me a chance to remember some nice incidents connected with pets.Thank you,
love
mithila kannan

shvap_786 · Jan 20, 2009

Dear usha...
Great snippet... enjoyed reading... my brother is a pet lover... whatever he he he used bring home and sometimes i used to get scared or get aversion... but always loved little birds which were so cute... you brought back those memories.... very well written...