Our families have known each other for the last two
decades. They live close by. But we don't understand
their language and they don't understand ours. Our
food habits are different. Their children do not attend
any school. They have stolen things from our house.
Now they are trying to encroach on our property and
I am resisting. But we still have a lot of goodwill between us !
These bulbuls have always been around us. It is now
more than twenty years since one of them entered our
kitchen for the first time to steal bananas. I understand
that their life span is about 11 years. It is possible that
what we see presently are the offsprings of the ones
that started the relationship.
It began with the birds flying into our kitchen and helping
themselves to the bananas hung in a bunch on a hook
in our kitchen. They were seen in the kitchen window
every morning making a loud noise and they flew in
when we went out of sight and helped themselves to
the bananas. So we always kept a couple of fruits
reserved for them.
They kept constant company with my mother. She used
to sit next to the open window reading the whole day.
They flew in and out of the window and amused her
with their antics.
When the construction of our house was going on, my
younger son made a request asking us to keep a
permanent opening on top of one of the windows.
He wanted the birds to get in and out of the house as
they pleased. His wish was accommodated and a
circular opening of about a foot in diameter was made
in the kitchen wall. We call it ‘Akshay’s bird window’.
It has not been used by any bird till this day. All of them
use the balcony door or the other windows. But probably
the ‘bird window’ expressed our goodwill towards them
and they appreciate the goodwill gesture !
I think that is the reason for our living room being the first
choice for these pair of birds, when they feel the necessity
to build a nest. Soon after the mating season I notice
them flying in and out of our living room carrying bits of
twigs, wire, grass etc etc and attempting to build a nest.
But unfortunately they always choose the most vulnerable
places for their nest. Like the hook in the ceiling on which
our swing is hung or the back of the wall mounted fan
which is in constant motion the entire summer.
I am forced to prevent these attempts but they persist
for a long time before they give up and settle for
another place. This year I have been removing their
building material from the back of our fan every day
for the last ten days and they have not given up yet.
Last year they changed the site after trying our fan for t
wo weeks. They found a cluster of electric wiring outside
the ground floor window, used it, and they were
successful in raising a family. I wish them similar luck
this year too.
