I noticed
some activity at one of my bedroom window and when I went to check, I found out
that a pigeon was trying to settle down in the gap between the window pan and
iron grill, perhaps to assemble a next and lay eggs. I made sound to scare it
away. The bird was back after a few minutes and hence I scared it away once again.
This went for 4-5 times in next 10 minutes.
After a
while, I felt a bit guilty for scaring away the pigeon. I noticed that I was
not feeling bad about what I was doing, i.e. scaring away the pigeon at the
time of its need. In my subconscious mind, I tried to find out why was not
feeling sympathy of kindness for the bird. I realized that it was mainly
because of the articles I have read which have convinced me that pigeons are
bad for cities, are not real birds, these do not live on trees like other
birds, produce lots of waste and spread several disease. In short, the knowledge
acquired from reading had taught me to feel indifferent towards pigeons, if not
outright hate those.
Although
I understood where my behaviour was coming from, I could also recall the past
incidents where I was sensitive towards pigeons, and I had even written few
blog posts about those episodes. I wondered if remaining a bit naïve makes us
enjoy life better. Knowing objective information about all things sometimes
kills the fun which comes from a bit of lack of knowledge.
Well, one
of the tragedies of growing up is loss of innocence.
- Rahul
