A May Day

It's the second day of May of 2021. The cloudy atmosphere since morning is an indication of rainfall in the afternoon. You don't need weather forecast from the meteorological department to predict that. Grey hair makes the guess work easy. The clouds become dense after every passing hour. They get busy lighting up the sky and playing some not-so-soothing musical notes. Around mid-noon, heavy rain and thunderstorm wash away all the dust gathered on the leaves of a variety of trees in the locality, making them look greener and darker. The clouds travel further East after showering this part of the city.

A sudden drop in the temperature makes the evening cooler than usual. As I go to the terrace of my apartment, a rainbow greets me from behind the coconut tree. This is definitely not the first time I am watching a rainbow. I still watch the phenomena like a small child for a few minutes till it slowly fades away. On the western horizon, the sun is trying to overpower the clouds. The game of hide and seek goes on for some time till the sun makes one final appearance before going down.

Hundreds of parrots are on their way home, somewhere in the eastern part of the city. Their chatter while in flight grabs the attention of the onlookers. A few of them land on the nearby tree to taste the red berries. The green parrots with a red beak are perfectly camouflaged, making it difficult to spot them. A pair of cuckoos - male (black) and female (dotted) - are also having their supper on another branch of the tree. I can hear a lot of cuckoo "calls" from the neighbourhood.  A couple of bats who feed on these berries have just had an aerial survey of the tree. They will enjoy the berries once it gets dark and will rule the tree till few hours before the sun rises.

The kites fly high in the sky, calmly with their wings spread, carefree and uninterested about what is happening on the ground.

Magpie robins, weaver birds, fantails, crows, babblers, mynhas, bulbuls and other birds are in a hurry to make it to their nests in the nearby bushes or on the numerous trees around. Amidst all, I miss the sparrows - a bird that was a part of our everyday life, a little over thirty years back. But as the city grew, they silently relocated to more natural and friendly environs on the outskirts.

The sun now goes down completely and as usual, the lapwing starts its frantic calls. It is very annoying at times. It has probably laid its eggs on the ground below and it is its way of keeping the predators away.

It's dark and time to climb down to my apartment and be with the family.

Good night....

......Nishad Umranikar