16
Salonki
and her relatives talk to the stranger. And
talk, and talk and talk.
The mynas flew off together from the
roof of the shed with Salonki leading the way. They were actually flying in
pairs, but looked like a flock when together. Each pair kept talking to each
other even when flying. They would talk to each other until the end of their
lives, thought Bulbul, who was flying by at that time. Salonki lead the flock
of mynas directly to the babool trees. There were probably more than two
hundred mynas together now. They kept talking to each other. That is what
Teetiri had told them to do, did she not? Salonki wondered. What sort of a plan
was this? How would Teetiri confront the animal if the plan was only to keep
all the mynas in the babool trees and to ensure that they kept talking? How
would she get to know who the strange animal was? Did she expect that the
animal would talk to Salonki?
Salonki and her relatives searched for
the mysterious animal in the marsh. From here, perched on one of the low
branches of the babool tree that stretched out into the marsh, she could see
over a large portion of it. Where was it? Where was it? Where was it? If the
animal was indeed out there, then it was probably very smart. She could not
spot it. And, was she not a very intelligent bird? Then how could the animal be
smarter than she could? She called out to Kotwal who was still perched on the
lone babool stem. Teetiri was standing on the ground next to the lone babool
stem. Kotwal flew out to join Salonki at the higher branches of the babool tree
and perched near her. Was the strange animal still hiding out there? Salonki
asked. Sure, he must be out there in the marsh, said Kotwal, for he had not
seen him come out to the grassland.
So, where was he? Salonki wondered.
She could not see him from up here. Could Kotwal spot him? No? Then, where was
he? Salonki peered hard at the grass. It was difficult to concentrate with more
than 150 relatives behind you, chattering away loudly. The mynas could talk
very loudly. They did not stop for the other partner to stop talking. It was
getting to be very difficult to sit still and search for the strange animal.
What could he do? He could not ask his relatives to keep quiet. Teetiri had
especially wanted that all her relatives keep chattering away loudly. That
Teetiri was crazy, Salonki thought. What was this plan anyway? Even Salonki got
tired of hearing all her relatives talking non-stop. So, why would anyone else
love to hear her hundreds of relatives talk non-stop?
Shhhhh, Kotwal said. So, even Kotwal
was tired of Salonki and her relatives? No, it did not seem to be the reason
for Kotwal to be ‘shhhing’ her. He was pointing towards some brown and green
coloured grass. Salonki looked. Yes, there was something all right. It looked
like a brown, or black, or brown, or black coloured fluffy ball, just about the
size of Phoolchuki or Darzi that seemed to suddenly bob up and down in the
grass. The fluffy brown or black ball could not be seen by anyone on the
ground. From up here, Salonki and Kotwal could spot it only when it bobbed up
and down.
It seemed to be irritated, Kotwal
said. Bobbing up like that, almost angrily. It must be angry with all the
chatter that Salonki’s relatives were busy with, Kotwal told Salonki. But what
was it? Salonki asked. Kotwal flew up and tried to look at the fluffy ball from
up closer. He flew back to Salonki and said that he could not see much more
than that. Having said that, Kotwal flew back to Teetiri and his lone standing
babool stem that grew so persistently out there, in the grassland.
