There are many things that as a child you imbibe and no
matter what the mental make up many years hence, some things wont go.
My first tryst with a birds nest was in my granny house. In the
good old days the deck up around the house consisted of having simple sofas and
a panel that ran around the wall, around six inches from the ceiling. I think
it was called the pelmet. In my granny’s house this pelmet ran all around the wall
and not just near the curtains. It was on this pelmet that the pigeons and
sparrows made their nest. They are irritating birds. The pigeons especially go
coo coo through the morning and irritate you through the day. Pigeons like to
make their nest inside homes as I guess they offer the best protection from the
outside predators. It used to be made of hay and grass. My granny would try to
keep the place clean and rid the house of the nests as they are being made. In variably
one might just get made and before we realize it – an egg would be placed. Now
we are Jains, we like to keep our house really really clean. The idea being that
if you keep it clean, you won’t have the insects and birds coming in and then
you won’t have to have the burden of removing them. The rule was simple – you keep
clearing the nests so that they don’t lay the eggs. But once the eggs are laid,
they you are done for. You have no option but to bear the dam thing. You don’t remove
a nest in which the egg is laid. Once when my aunt was removing the nests from
the pelmets one nest came out with the eggs and the eggs fell and broke. That time
I saw repent on her face and she exclaimed, only if she had known. That was my
imprint on how and when to remove nests. You have to keep removing them beforehand
itself. Afterwards as a Jain you have no option.
I remember once the eggs were laid and the chicks came out.
They were all scrawny looking ugly things. My mom woke me up early to see the
nest and the babies inside. We would come in from Dubai not having seeing any
animal life except the humble Camel. Even a crow, a pigeon or a sparrow was
exciting and pigeon chicks…. Wow that was national geographic epic.
In our current house, we have three places where the nesting
happens. One we managed to stop this year by putting a bird wire as that window
was largely shut in any case. And now we have two places to manage. One near
the bathroom window was where we had to let go last year as the eggs were
placed. This year some determined work ensured the crows got wiser. The one
under the big hall window is now the place where the some dour work is
happening by the crows. It’s Jasmine versus the crows now. She keeps removing the
nest and they keep building it. It’s an epic battle. They use metal wires to
build the nest. They have adapted to all the construction activity happening in
Mumbai to build tough metal nests which they later put soft feathers and
material in the center cavity. They weave
the nest through the grill outside and make it very difficult to dislodge. Jasmine
keeps removing the nest. She has to tug away and pull hard to get it out. while
she does it, the crows (around eight she says) take turns to attack her. They fly
away to the opposite building and then fly in crowing menacingly… kaw kaw kaw.
Its an all out attack on Jasmine is pretty scared that they will peck her, so
she gets her maid to remove the nest and she stands guard shooing the crows
away. Over the weekend, Jispa was on guard. This week end they were especially
prolific. They kept building the nest and we kept removing it. I think we
removed the wires around 6 times in a day. Their season was really approaching.
It was a fun battle. At eth endof eth weekend the pile of wire was three feet
high. I also think the crows know whom to attack. They seem to attack less ferociously
if I am around. I can remove the nest without external help. It’s crazy how
fast the animals adapt. These crows know male from female and they have started
using construction material. It’s like the militant monkeys at Matheran. They know
whom to attack and when to attack. They go for the right foodstuff inside the bags,
they like their colas and chips and candy!
It’s a fun thing!
