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Teetiri needed a good plan
What could Bater and his family do?
How could they help? They could not even frighten Darzi or Phoolchuki. How
could they fight Billi? Teetiri thought angrily to herself. She needed a plan,
a perfect plan and Bater had to somehow figure in it. Whatever it may be, Billi
had to be chased out of the marsh. Kotwal asked Teetiri, well, you seem to be
the leader now, my good friend. Do we have a plan that includes Bater? Are all
of us going to figure in it? We could have all the mynas, sparrows and drongos
just fly in together and dive to hit Billi in the marsh. He may get frightened
and run away if we did that suddenly, screeching and screaming.
Even as he was speaking, Kotwal’s
father was shaking his head in disagreement. No, No, that would not do. Where
do you come up with a plan like this? That is not a plan. That is disaster. No
doubt you would alarm Billi, but even a single swipe of his paws could kill
three or four sparrows or at least two mynas. What if your own brother or
sister were to be killed? Did you think about that? You cannot go to war
without being sure that you would not loose one of your own. A leader does not
send in his warriors without being sure of winning the battle. Without being
sure that he would not loose his warriors. A leader has to be in the war,
leading from the front. Not hiding in a crowd.
Phoolchuki, Darzi and Bulbul nodded
together in agreement. Salonki and Chimini also nodded and said, yes, we cannot
risk any of our brothers, sisters or cousins being killed in the attack. We
thought that the purpose of chasing Billi away from the marsh was to prevent
our family members from being killed. We need a plan, Kotwal’s sister said,
that does not place us in danger from Billi. Hearing his own sister turn on him
in this manner, Kotwal turned to Teetiri and said, my good friend, there you
have it. Now you are also part of the action. The plan requires only you and
Bater. And you have to be ahead of Bater. So how are you going to go about it?
Teetiri - the redwattled lapwing was now the leader
of the birds of the grassland according to Kotwal
[Photograph by Saleel Tambe]
Teetiri was now completely confused.
So she was to also figure in the plan. When did she become the leader? She
certainly did not recollect any sort of consensus before this day indicating
that she was the leader of the birds of the grassland. And now, in this time of
crisis, when she felt she had to take the initiative, every bird turns around
and makes her the leader. How could she be certain that any action against
Billi would not put other birds at danger of loosing their lives? How did she
end up with this problem? It was Salonki who had brought this idea of getting
Bater to be part of the plan. Did Guturgu do this to tease Salonki?
