Birds and Children
The other day looking out of her window Kanaka saw the Mulberry bush out side her gate being shaken violently and Indran shouting, “Aye don’t break the branch”. She saw two small legs scuttling away, the mission fulfilled. She felt happy. This was what she had wanted. When she had planted the bush outside her gate in the no man’s land - a tiny space outside her wall she had answered Indran’s quizzical gaze, “This is for birds and children”. The bush had grown and started bearing lots of fruits. She had hardly seen any child picking it. Sometimes she would pick them for herself and kunjatta her neighbours eight year old, almost a chocolate baby, who would eat the purple berries fearfully as if it were poison. Today she felt fulfilled her wish had come true. Children are picking the fruits.
Her mind wafted to those good old days when she had trailed behind her Appa eating fruits she picked from the trees. She had once asked him why he left so many fruits unpicked in the trees - mango, guava, chikkoo, Njara, butter fruit, jack fruit, to list only a few. He would answer that it’s for the birds and the children. That if he did not leave fruits for the birds and the squirrels how could they survive and of course, for some children like her who are satisfied only when they pick directly from trees. She had been carrying this in her heart. And when she bought a bit of land she too planted trees that bore fruits for birds and children. By the time they started bearing fruits her child had flown far away As the present children led a closeted life and her only one far away from home she planted the mulberry bush for strange children who passed by her gate. They had found the mulberry bush and were picking fruits and she was surprised to see almost all the slender branches heavy with fruits. And her Appa’s words echoed in her mind “killikalkkum, Kuzhanthaikkallukum kuduthal than marathille nirayya pazham Kaikkum” (Only if you give to birds and children, trees will bear plenty of fruits).
Her mind wafted to those good old days when she had trailed behind her Appa eating fruits she picked from the trees. She had once asked him why he left so many fruits unpicked in the trees - mango, guava, chikkoo, Njara, butter fruit, jack fruit, to list only a few. He would answer that it’s for the birds and the children. That if he did not leave fruits for the birds and the squirrels how could they survive and of course, for some children like her who are satisfied only when they pick directly from trees. She had been carrying this in her heart. And when she bought a bit of land she too planted trees that bore fruits for birds and children. By the time they started bearing fruits her child had flown far away As the present children led a closeted life and her only one far away from home she planted the mulberry bush for strange children who passed by her gate. They had found the mulberry bush and were picking fruits and she was surprised to see almost all the slender branches heavy with fruits. And her Appa’s words echoed in her mind “killikalkkum, Kuzhanthaikkallukum kuduthal than marathille nirayya pazham Kaikkum” (Only if you give to birds and children, trees will bear plenty of fruits).
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