Usually it never happens. But that day I left the fan running in my room. I ran away in a hurry for the afternoon class.When I came back after about 2 hours, I could feel something strange…. everything looked normal, my bed, table, chair, and everything else, except for the windows…I’d forgotten to close it. Its not a big mistake, but sometimes some bird got into the room and made good use of my bed as a toilet.But still, something was wrong. What is it?Then I heard it…a low booming sound…my ceiling fan. It was making a bizarre sound and I was surprised to see it running very slow. I never ran it other than on full speed. My technical part of brain told me something was wrong with the windings………I looked at the slowly rotating blades, as if I could judge the he problem by looking at it. It was then that I saw……the edge of a blade bent upwards! How on earth could that happen??I switched off the fan and had a closer look. It was like someone had hit the end of the blade with some heavy object. Suddenly I could see why the fan was running very slow…. the bent part of the blade was acting as a restriction, preventing the blade to cut through air. like applying a brake on itself.I climbed on my bed and bend the blade back to its normal position. To my satisfaction, the fan slowly gained speed n was running again at full speed when I switched it on.But the question was still there. What could have happened? Who would have done that and why?Then it occurred to me as I gazed around and saw the open window…damn it! Why did I leave it open? Some poor bird had gotten into the room, hit itself on the rotating blades while flying around, probably breaking a leg or a wing, and would have flown out cursing its fate..Or would it have flown out??…rather, could it have??I felt a creepy sensation in my body…the way in which the steel blades were bent…. only a severe blow could have done that. No bird could survive that, at least not without some serious injury.I looked around…now I saw, small feathers at the edges of the floor; the fan had blown it to the bottom of the walls. I sat down and picked one. it took me no time to see that it was a pigeon’s .Now everything was clear as daylight. Some poor soul of a pigeon came through the open window, hit right on to the high-speed fan blades, fell down flapping its wings in utter agony, throwing away its loose feathers…then where is the pigeon?My bed was almost directly beneath the fan, its side laid alongside the wall. I scanned the bed…nothing….. Wait! At the extreme corner of my bedsheet, I saw it…a small red circle…blood!!Next instant I was sitting down on the floor searching the underside of the cot. Then I saw it…..a pigeon, lying still on the floor, dead!The sight sent a shiver through my body. Now what? I didn’t feel like going near it, let alone touch it.
I sat there almost a couple of minutes, thinking what to do. I pulled the bed back. Now I could see it clearly....the blood, which flowed out from its beak, had formed a small pool beneath its head on the floor. There were other red spots on the floor nearbyI couldn’t look at that sight for long. I could feel a swell of emotions about to erupt from within….. sadness, anger, frustration! I cursed myself for leaving the fan on, at the same time keeping the windows wide-open…..i killed that bird!!I sat on the chair, but for a while I couldn’t think clearly. I felt guilty. Its me who was responsible for its death. Murderer!!I’d heard people shooting down pigeons, but hadn’t given it much thought. But when I saw that motionless body a yard away from my feet, I couldn’t imagine how anyone can do this to it…the feeling I had was beyond words to express. What do I do now?I had to somehow bury it somewhere. Bury?.. I cant do that around here…At last I made my mind to give it a watery grave. After searching for sometime, I found a plastic cover in my cupboard. I took an old newspaper, covered it over the body, wrapped around it, took it and placed it inside the plastic cover and closed its opening. God! It was as light as a cotton ball….the lightness of the dead body further heaved my heart.Slowly I walked out of the room, climbed down the stairs out into the porch and towards the seaside. Band team was practising their daily lessons, playing something, which I couldn’t quite figure out.,…..They barely noticed me walking past them towards the concreted seaside. I untied the plastic cover and threw it into the water…and stood there as the waves carried away poor bird.As I walked back to my room, I stopped at the bottom of my hostel and looked towards my room on the third floor. There, on the open window sill of my room, I saw a lone pigeon sitting, peeping inside…..could be the soul mate of the gone one, still waiting for it to come back..I wished I could tell it that I was sorry….
The time has arrived
