When we were small,birds of variety were common in our courtyards. The most common one, which I believe will make all of you to agree perhaps was the sparrow. They were even more homely than even the pigeons or the martin(common Myna, as they are sometimes called) or even the crows. Then most of us were used to their chirps early in the morning as they preferred to make their nests very close to ours: in fact they used to have it very much on the rafter of wooden beams under the roof, only a mess of wire seperating them from ours. But gradually those beautiful sloping-roofed houses had vanished from the scenerio, specially from urban areas, replaced with concrete flat-roofed houses. So has gradually vanished the sparrows, perhaps not finding suitable places to make their nests, and perhaps also because of the closeness they derived from having their nests close to humans'. Only when they were gone, we started missing them,_ where were those little chirps that wake you up in the morning? There seemed to be some_ but distant from us and not sharing the same cosiness of feelings anymore. I really missed them.

But then, now reaching the middleness of my age and sitting on the veranda of my home, I noticed there were quite a few of the sparrows,_ they were chirping in fullest throat, jumping and talking to one another on the branches of trees and bushes and flocking away when I neared them,_ only to return after sometime later , chirping and talking to one another at the same time.I was feeling very elated, so happy: it meant that they have returned to their old fold, adjusting to the reality, the new atmosphere. I did not know where they made their nests,_ perhaps in the bushes or the bigger trees near my house, but they seemed to be happy as ever. I just wondered what it is,_ is it survival instict as is mentioned in theory of evolution, as it has spoken of 'survival of the fittest' or in accordance with theory of adaptation as mentioned in Darwin's 'natural selection'.

What I concluded is_ perhaps when they lived in the sloping roofed houses, even then they adjusted with us human beings from being in thatched houses in earlier times. and now they are adjusting themselves again by making their nests around our homes, _ being happy as ever. I wish they could be more nearer to us!

I salute their spirit. But what about other species, birds or other insects or mammals or even trees, which were never near us but getting even more further distant from us? I wish we can be near them too.

rdeebee