True Friendship

Lakshmi Narayan

She was born, not very pretty. She was born, not very smart. She was born, not very tactful. In other words, she was an awkward child, who grew up to be an awkward adult.

Even her parents found her an embarrassment. Her so-called friends bitched behind her back. She felt betrayed and alone.

One Saturday morning, she sat all by herself at home, contemplating the dreary weekend ahead. Her eyes wandered to the window, where perched a particularly ugly and puny crow, with half its feathers missing. She’d been busy stuffing her face, as she had nothing better to do. She felt the crow was eyeing her crisp bhavnagari ghaatiya hungrily.

“I guess you too have no friends, right?” she asked the crow softly.

The avian cocked its head, as though listening and understanding. When she tried to get closer, it flew away nervously, but hovered around expectantly. She put a handful of ghaatiya (a fried savoury) on the windowsill and moved away a few steps, observing wryly, “Like me, you too don’t trust anyone, no?”

The crow — whom she named Bantu — became a regular fixture. Soon, he cautiously moved to her dining table and sat there while she ate, cackling away the day’s news. She didn’t understand a word, but felt that she knew what he was cawing about. On the days he didn’t visit, she felt empty.

But her cup was full when Bantu brought her a gift — a gaudy green sponge — and presented it to her with a flourish. “Thank you, darling,” she said, “I’m glad you know I’m vegetarian. I wouldn’t have known what to do with a dead rat!”

Bantu soon lost all fear of her. During the heavy monsoons, he’d sit in the safety of her balcony and have a long snooze. He knew food and water would always be there for him. Under her care, he soon grew back his feathers which he’d lost in a fight. A little later, he brought along and introduced his mate to her.

He built a sturdy nest for his picky partner in the balcony, made of wire, twigs and a clothes hanger and was soon the father of two young chicks. The chicks flew away when the time came, but always returned with their parents for the morning meal.

Her life was now filled with joy and anticipation. At long last she realized she’d been lonely and misunderstood only because she’d made friends with the wrong species.

Those in the animal kingdom accept us as we are. Humans don’t.

(Excerpted from Fables from Beyond, Authors Upront, 2020)

Journalist, author and animal activist Lakshmi Narayan is a former assistant editor of Femina and former editor of Eve’s Weekly & Flair