Free as a bird

The quail farm is a stone's throw from our house compound located in a peri-urban area. 

For now, let's not talk about whether our competent and responsible authorities should allow the establishment of poultry farms and aviaries at dense settlements, in view of repeated outbreaks of bird flu in the Kathmandu Valley. Talking about cruelty against captive animals and birds will also be an exercise in futility, most probably, because there are more pressing matters demanding the attention of authorities. Equally futile will be any effort to convince the owners of such farms and these competent authorities to invest more on the welfare of captive birds and animals. Advising owners of such farms to switch to, say, herb/vegetable farming may not yield desired results. And don't even dare to explain Einsteinian pain waves to these parties if you have not ‘lost your mind’. 

Nonetheless, let's hope and pray that it won't take another bird flu outbreak for our 'competent' authorities to realise the risks associated with poultry farming in densely populated urban areas. 

Back to the quail farm. In rarest of the rare cases, quails fly to our house compound from that farm -- perhaps during feeding/cleaning time. On one such occasion, I happened to find a beautiful quail struggling to liberate itself from the confines of our compound. Apparently, this confinement was no better for the bird that wanted to test limitless freedom once again. Without much thought, I informed the farm owner and the bird again landed in captivity. There, like other birds, it must have been forced to kept breeding and breeding throughout its productive life. In the end, I think, it was sold and slaughtered for meat. 

To this date, I regret informing the farm owner about that 'rebellious' bird. Instead, I should have caught it somehow and released it into the jungle. The bird wanted freedom and death is what I gave! 

A few days ago, another captive bird took the same course. It flew into our compound from the farm, per my family members. I came to know that this bird was stuck somewhere in the shoe rack and struggling to free itself. To my surprise, the bird was nowhere to be seen when I went about searching for it. 

Perhaps the neighbourhood cat pounced on it, the farm owner got hold of it or some mischievous kid took it away. 

But that is not the end of possible 'fates' for the bird. Perhaps the bird managed to overcome the obstacles to the boundless freedom it had always aspired for. After several desperate attempts and bodily injuries, the bird may have managed to free itself from the confines of our compound marked by high walls and iron railings. 

As per ancient scriptures, liberation from the cycle of birth and death is a long and hard journey. Our deeds determine what form we will be born into from among  84,00, 000 lives! That's a lot of lives to choose from, isn't it? The point to be noted is that not all organisms live for years like humans do. Insects, for example, have a very short lifespan. 

To me, the white bird embodies the soul. Our scriptures point that the body is like a hotel room and the soul is a guest. As you know, the guests keep changing. 

With my mind's eye, I see a white bird soaring higher and higher in its quest for limitless freedom after overcoming human-made walls, railings and trappings. While I feel happy for that particular bird, profound sadness envelopes my heart when I think about the plight of captive birds.

- Devendra Gautam