There was a girl named Mary,who was really fond of birds , different types of birds ; sparrows,pigeons,parrots,Robin , nightingale, gold finch , canary & yellow Warbler etc . So,one day , it occurs to her that she should pet one . She goes to the pet market & she looks at so many of them ,in different colours and varieties . Small, big , yellow,purple,golden or colourful, singing,non – singing,so on and on. She decides on getting a green canary with yellow underparts . Its feather had black patches on it & there was black hood around its neck , it chirped very sweetly. She buys it and move on to get its home that is , ‘ a cage’. She checks & looks at many ,so as to get the best & most beautiful one. There it was,lying in the centre, in the midst of hundreds of other cages, which caught Mary’s eyes. Silvery in colour and super strong in structure, with 2 stands on it ; one to rest and the other to swing. So, she buys the cage , place the bird inside it and goes back home . In her heart ,she decides to take the best care of the bird and names it ‘Chiku’ . Mary would feed Chiku,clean its cage , talk to her ,shove her soft feather lightly & play with her . In return, Chiku would sing for her , a nice melodious song , a song of liberation. Initially, Chiku used to sing for Mary & later on to entertain herself and to keep herself from going insane .Â
She would sing in the day , and dream at night , dream of the freedom, of how she is flying high in the sky , fluttering and chirping; at one time she is among the clouds & at the other near a lake ,then in a beautiful valley or above a mountain high ; but ,Alas! It all indeed was a dream. As soon as, the day would start to break , a fear would seize her nerves leaving her despondent,just like the bars of cage had seized her body . So,she would again start to sing ; sing & sing , sing loudly , sing beautifully, as best as she could to hide her restlessness.Â
Several days passed on like that and one day , on losing all the hopes Chiku stopped singing . She would eat , walk and jump inside the cage , stay silent and sleep ( no more dreams) . Mary feels that Chiku has taken ill ,so she decides to take Chiku out for a while in fresh air , but that didn’t do much to the good of Chiku. So , finally Mary thinks of releasing her ,that is, setting her free. It was too late to do the latter as when the door of cage is opened , Chiku comes out and starts to walk around instead of flying . Mary takes her in her palm and place her on the window pane ; Chiku starts to squeak loudly in fear as if crying for help. Chiku knew no more that she could fly , that she had feather which could open up and make her reach up in the sky ; either that or she was aware of it but was too afraid to spread her wings and even try . She slowly walks around and enters into the cage with the open door and starts picking on the rice and pulses dry. Mary shuts the cage and praises her bird’s loyalty, feeling proud on the manners & morals Chiku has learnt in her company.
This doesn’t end here. One night , Chiku dreams again ; the dreams of mountains and valleys , lakes and lilies. Next morning, she wakes up all chirping and singing after days. Mary was really surprised and overjoyed . There was still a little hope left . She starts to take Chiku to the garden with her . As she would sit around,she would leave the door of cage opened. On some days , Chiku would come out , walk around; flutter her wings , chirp in a low but soothing voice & on some she wouldn’t leave her cage at all. This goes on for days ,when one day she flutters her wings & make an attempt to fly. This suddenly seizes Mary’s attentions. She seems scared & insecure as well as happy at the same time.Â
So, Chiku had started to make low and brief flights. She wouldn’t go too far or too high. This was supposed to alert Mary, but instead it thrills her to see her little bird playing & enjoying her time of freedom with nature, in surrounding of her actual home. One fine day , when the breeze was touching Mary’s cheeks softly and sun was shining bright, Chiku made a long , high flight & disappeared into the sky . Mary was smiling sweetly with her eyes filled with tears . She wasn’t sad , wasn’t remorseful or disappointed, rather she was just happy , really, heartily and deeply. She didn’t expect Chiku to return back ever but to live the fullest of what was left in a world where she belonged. All the words ,that came out of her mouth was – ” my little Chiku did grow up indeed.”
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