Friendship beyond Barriers

"God loved the birds and invented trees.  Man loved the birds and invented cages."  ~Jacques Deval

A neighbour has two bird cages - one for budgerigars and one for rose ringed parakeet. The cages are placed in their balcony, around early morning and evening hours. These caged birds or rather their feed attracts pigeons, mynas and sparrows to the neighbor's balcony.

In a way, the caged birds enjoy the  company of others from Avian world during their stay in the balcony. All birds are at their chirpiest behaviour at these times, probably enjoying the refreshing open air and view of the blue sky, which is near yet so far.  
One November morning a pair of wild rose ringed parakeets visited the balcony. They were perhaps summoned by the plaintive cries of the caged parakeet, who longed to be free like its wild friends. What followed was a surreptitious interaction between caged and free birds; they exchanged food and probably news updates.  

The budgerigars were the perfect conspirators who kept a watch on the human activities inside the house and gave alarm calls to parakeets if anyone approached the balcony door. The wild parakeets would leave at the slightest hint of human presence, to return later when all was clear. 
The caged parakeet would become restless after its friend left, shunning the food it's jailers offered, pacing within cage frantically. These interactions between the wild & caged world continued for few days till the winter chill forced our neighbour to keep the birds inside house for over a month.

Caged Juvenile Plum-headed Parakeet
rescued and set free from a project site

The peak winter chill is over and caged birds are back in balcony to enjoy the warm winter sunlight . The caged rose ringed parakeet however is missing in action, and so are its visitors. Perhaps the bird was sent away, or perhaps it died of a broken heart; unable to join its friends in the free world.

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