When I was working at Infosys, there was a
mountain (hill, to be precise) right beside the office campus. In fact, this
whole area is hilly, and approx. half of the campus was clearly right up the
hill. While catching office buses from the bus bay (during initial days I used
to take bus for many months), we could be standing right at the bottom of the
hill. The hill changed colour across the seasons. It turned green in rainy
season, brown in the summer, and at one time, perhaps in autumn they used to burn
down all the grass in a controlled manner and I could see the whole mountain
burning right in front of my eyes. All these things I never imagined in my
childhood that I would see, since I was born and brought up in the Himalayan
plains where mountains were not always visible (except some rainy mornings,
when we could see the Himalayas due to perfect air quality).
In my current job at another IT company,
we have a cafeteria which has sitting arrangement in the open on the second
floor, with a clear view of a big mountain. I guess the mountain is at only 3-4
kilometres from our office. While having coffee this morning in the cafeteria,
I could see lot of birds in the sky, but those were coming from the direction
of the mountain towards our office building or general population. There are
lot of trees in the area, perhaps those birds had gone towards the mountain for
gathering food during the day, and in the evening, they were all returning to
the trees near the human habitat.
While having breakfast in the open
cafeteria, sparrows and crows regularly visit and eat poha and other food items
leftover either on the tables or from the discarded plates kept near the bin. I
remember, even at Infosys, we used to have sparrows frequently running in the
foot courts, having easy food. No need to go to the fields to collect grains or
worms; just have cooked delicious (and cholesterol filled) food right from
humans’ plates.
I also noticed that most of the birds
which were returning from the mountains, were couples. We all know how birds
live together as a couple all the time. It must be in their genes.
Finally, this evening, I realized that I
have been living near the hills and the mountains for so many years now. If I
go just half an hour from home, I can see big mountains, along with springs and
rivers. In childhood we used to make drawings of mountains, rivers and springs.
Especially those who live on the plains, we do not see mountains that often.
One interesting thing about life is that
we forget what we got while we keep chasing what we want. Life is a mirage, and
I remind myself very often not to chase it and not be part of the rat race.
It is much better to be content inside
than flashy outside.
I wonder how the birds feel while they are
flying in the sky or having food from humans’ plates in the food court, or
while returning from the mountains along with their spouse, or while sitting
idle on a tree. Is it a mix of happiness, thrill, fear, insecurity, boredom,
like humans do, or is it something which humans have no idea about.
That, perhaps, I shall never come to know.
But I shall try.
- Rahul
