The Bird

by Amar Jalil

My mother woke me up in the middle of the night from deep sleep and whispered, "There is a terrible
bird sitting on a branch of the Neem tree in the compound outside."
Turning over, I said, "It must be an owl, Amma, go back to sleep."
"It is not an owl," she insisted.
"If it's not an owl, it must be one of its relatives." Since I had been fast asleep when she woke me,
I could barely keep my eyes open. I mumbled, "Let me sleep, Amma.
" She shook me violently, and shout back, "How can I let you sleep when there is a terrible bird sitting on
the neem tree outside?"
For the first time in my life, after many recommendations, I had recently secured an officer's post in the
Department of population planning, the original and generic name of the Department of family
planning. To celebrate my newly acquired status, I had bought myself a large tin of Romeo and Juliet
luxury talcum powder. I would dust my body liberally with it before retiring for the night and dropping
off to sleep thinking about a beautiful and charming lady health visitor.
When Amma woke me up in the middle of that night to tell me about the fearsome bird sitting on a
branch of the neem tree in our front compound, I had been dreaming of a beautiful lady health visitor
called Gazal, gadding about with an executive officer, while I played a folk tune on my flute. Amma
shattered this dream and I was really upset by a great loss of disconnection with beauty. It fleetingly
crossed my mind to upbraid her and make her understand clearly that it was absolutely wrong to wake
up a Sindhi officer from his sleep, even if I happened to be her son, but I am an officer too, the post, I
have got after many big recommendations. I did not voice my thoughts, however, I turned my face
opposite to my amma,to go back to sleep again.
Seeing this, Amma caught me by the arm and shouted, "You are a strange Human! I have just told you
there is a terrible and dangerous bird sitting on a branch of the neem tree outside, and even after
hearing this, you turn over and try to go to sleep!"
"Oh! For heaven's sake, Amma! You're troubling me for nothing," I said, feeling very annoyed. "It must
be an owl, or a bat, or some such bird or the soul of Khalifa Haroon-ul-Rashid, disguised as one."

"No, no," she insisted, "It is neither an owl nor a bat - it is a very fearsome bird."

"Is it standing on one leg?" I asked, hoping to divert her.

"No."

"Is it delivering a speech ?"

"No."

"Then, O…My dear amma, be assured that the bird sitting on the branch of the neem tree outside is
definitely not dangerous," I said, thinking I had set her mind at rest. "Please calm down and go back to
sleep."

However, Amma’s sleep has gone far away from her. She was feeling a fish out of water. She went to
the window and stood staring fixedly at the neem tree in the compound.

I suggested that you should turn off the light in the compound, explaining, "The compound will be dark
then, and you will neither see the tree nor the branch on which you have seen that dangerous bird."
I have seen a fearsome bird, amma said, while coming back from window to my cot. She didn’t speak for
sometime and she started gazing at me. I started feeling uneasy by her gaze. The fight of consciousness
and unconsciousness started inside me .

For hiding my curiosity ,I asked amma “what should I do to the fearsome bird”

Amma didn’t reply.

Suddenly, she started looking like a stranger woman to me. The darkness of outside and silence of night
started showing her a strange soul for me and it seemed like an unknown fear pierced into my body and
then amma said “go and kill the bird”

What …. to kill a bird. It puzzled me. I stood up from my cot and started looking to amma with
astonishing sight.

“This bird has deceived you in every era” amma said and it is last chance to save yourself from great
destruction go and kill the bird.

Amma became pale by anger and started gazing at me without blinking the eyes.

And said O..My insane son .. “History hasn’t spoken lies, it shows great lessons from past and it is clear
mirror of future”

“what connection this bird has with history” I asked

“As , you and I ” Amma replied

I can understand you amma , let me sleep please and you too take rest

said, adding, "this is the last confrontation and you have to kill the bird, or it will kill you."

Her words made me wonder if she was talking to herself incoherently... because she was eighty years
old and had finally gone senile.

"You must kill the bird," she repeated. Going to the cupboard, she took out the double barreled gun,
loaded it, and handing it to me, said again, "Go kill the bird."

I took the gun and looking at her, asked, "If I kill the bird, will my job not be in danger? You know that I
have got this job after many recommendations!"

Amma became livid. She snatched the gun from me with shaking hands and spat out in a withering tone,
"In the past, you were never the inattentive idiot and fool you seem to have become now, and although
I know you are my son, your strange behavior is making me doubt even that."

Sleep had deserted me by this time and all I could do was to stare at her uncomprehendingly! Amma
proceeded towards the compound and said, "I am going to kill the bird myself and I think from now on,
you should wear the bangles."

She marched out of the room and took position in the middle of the compound. I ran out after her and
stood behind her. She had raised the gun to her shoulder and was in the process of taking aim at the
branch on which she had seen the dangerous bird. I too caught Sight of it then, and I was shocked to see
that the bird my mother had declared dangerous was just a brown dove! Grabbing the gun barrel, I told
her, "Amma, the bird sitting on the neem branch is a dove, a bird which represents peace."

"That is the bird that is most dangerous to us, it is the enemy of our very existence," she said, roughly
brushing my hand aside. "I have to kill it."

But before she could pull the trigger, I reached out and turned off the light. The compound was plunged
into darkness. "Oh, what have you done, you fool?" Amma yelled.

I heard the whirr of the bird's wings as it flew away. I turned the light on. Amma wailed, in a voice filled
with pain, anger, and sorrow, "What did you do? ... Oh, what did you do?"

In an attempt to pacify her I said, "Amma, this is a cantonment area. The noise of the gunshot would
have woken up the army personnel and I might have lost my job. After all, I have become an officer after
many recommendations!"

Removing the cartridges from the gun, she threw them aside and handing the empty gun to me said,
"Son, I am not putting a curse on you, but I fear that after some time you will lose the use of your arms
and legs and become a cripple. You can then use this gun for support in place of a walking stick."

I looked at the branch of the neem tree and felt happy that the bird had flown away unharmed and
unhurt.