Memories about SUMA

It was way back in 1995... when I was in seventh standard, Pa, my father gifted me SUMA.

I was so keen in having a parrot as my pet. We were living in Balekole, a coffee estate in Chickmagalore.

I was on Dusshera holidays. No school, no PT, no maths class.. I was very happy..

On a rainy day.. I was enjoying the smell of blossoms in the frontyard of our quarters, when pa came back from work. A worker followed Pa, holding something strange in his hands. It was covered with a black cloth.

I was surprised and happy when pa said that he had got a parrot for me. But I was disappointed the next moment to see a small black colored bird with hardly any feathers on it. Its beak was in a pale orange color that made me very slightly believe that ..it may be a parrot. But NO! It did not speak like a parrot! It made a very strange sound.. like that of a calling bell!!

When pa realised that I am very much disappointed, he told me that it was just two days old (!!)
and that it would get beautiful green feathers and a red beak, by and by, when it grows.

Fine!! How long will it take? two weeks??

Pa said, NO.. two months.

Oops!! OK... so what.. I took it from the worker and placed it on the ground. Poor thing .. it was shivering out of cold.. and of course.. it was hardly two days old.. It was in need of mother's warmth.

I named her SUMA without even knowing whether it is a girl or a boy. For me she was a girl and her name was suma. thats it..

I placed her in a bamboo basket. I fixed two wooden sticks, criss-cross, within the basket, and covered the basket with a thick black cotton cloth. I made the basket like a nest. I had left a small opening as an entrance cum exit. I thought the cloth nest, being in black color, would keep suma warm (Physics class lessons helped me).

I fed her banana. Suma's throat was so tender and long that I could see all her nerves.

Her throat was like a spring, which would spring up every moment when she cried. It was very difficult to feed her, as the sides of her beak were very tender which would make me think that it would tear at any time. I used to feed her very small pieces of banana, squashing it, and she used to peck at them some times.

I was waking up in the middle of the night, only to make sure that SUMA is sleeping peacefully and that she is comfortable and not troubled by the cold and rainy weather. I kept the basket near the fire place thinking that it would keep her warm, and stayed by her, guarding her, so that she should not come out near the fire and hurt herself.

I played songs for SUMA and combed her very few feathers with my fingers. I was checking her time and again, hoping to find some green feathers on her. But no! I was feeling that she is growing very slowly and started feeding her more squashed bananas., hoping that she will get her feathers soon. May be within a month!!

Frankly I still do not know how long it takes for a parrot to get her feathers green. For SUMA, it took exactly one and a half months. patches of green began to show on her and I was so happy that I took Suma for a ride, exhibiting her so called GREEN FEATHERS to all of my neighbors.

Well! It gives you such a joy and pride. Is it not?

Suma wasso brilliant that she picked up words like RAM RAM, Kesari, Vadi, Podi, Venum, Venam, Po, Che, Yei, Suma, varen,.... within three months.

Ma, Pa, and I, used to feed her green chillies every night and teach her lessons. She was very sharp. At times Suma would not listen to us, when she gets really bored and frustrated by the lessons.

Every Sunday I gave bath to Suma. There was a tap outside, in the frontyard of our house. I opened the tap and got her wet. Suma loved it very much, especially when it was a sunny day and the tap gushes the water with a great force. Then when she realises that the force is beyond her power to withstand she would flutter her drenched feathers and cry loudly.

Suma's favorite song is "Mukkala, Muqabula" from the film "Kadhalan". She would shake her neck vigorously and ryhthmically to it. She used to sit on the tape and replay it again and again.

Ma used to chop vegetables every night for the next day's menu. Suma would come flying from her portico(We had a separate portico for her in front of the hall, with a tiny swing and walking bar, for her), to the bedroom. She would look at everyone as if she is inspecting whether everyone is doing their daily chores properly or not, be it whether we are just watching tv or sleeping or talking.

If we were munching something then she would fly upto us, walk on the bed, climb over us and peck at our plates. Otherwise she would walk upto kitchen. Ma used to sit on the floor and chop vegetables. Suma would climb on Ma's lap then jump down and peck at the vegetables, or simply play by climbing on Ma's lap and then jumping down. Sometimes suma would fly upto Ma's shoulder and bite her earring..Suma loves that very much. Ma would then shoo Suma away.

Every evening, sharp at six o clock, Suma must have Kesari. Yes!! that was a daily routine that Ma had practised her out of ignorance. Just like that! It so happened that we had guests for four days and our house was full of children. My cousins had come for summer holidays. Ma prepared Kesaribath for us. And we had kept part of that for two days and fed Suma with kesari. She loved it so much that Ma prepared Kesari only for SUMA, the next day. This became a routine somehow and if Ma delays in serving Kesari, she would yell "Kesari, Kesari" at the top of her voice till Ma serves it on the plate.

Our neighbors liked Suma a lot. Every evening was like a mela for us.

As my school days began, we had another parrot, and named her Roja. We did this because Suma was alone. Roja became a big head ache for us. She was adamant, dumb, and stubborn.She was so aggressive that no one liked to go near her or play with her. She was very moody.
As Suma was slowly picking these qualities from Roja, we gave Roja to our neighbors. And got Suja, a yellow-beaked parrot to accompany Suma.

One day, (our neighbors were careless in taking care of Roja) a cat ate her up. We all felt very bad at this mishap.

Well! Suja and Suma became very good friends. But Suja could not speak that brilliantly like our SUMA.

As Pa got transferred, we had to leave Suma and Suja back. Suma was so upset at this. She was so sharp that she realised that we were moving away from Balekole and that we were making arrangements for Suma and Suja. She refused to eat and discarded fruits and chillies. Even Kesari!!

She was not at all happy with this decision. Neither were we but that we had no other go.

We all still feel very bad. Perhaps, one should never try to keep pets at all if one is not capable of maintaining the pet oneself till the end, come what may. But I could not defend for Suma like this that day. And I am still feeling guilt for that.

One day, she flew over a silver tree and never came back for the whole day. I was crying a lot for her. Ma and Pa felt very bad. And at night 8 o clock Suma came back. Ma told that she could hear Suma's cry. And I went to the door to see Suma sitting over the threshold of the door. I brought her back to the portico. She refused to eat anything and remained silent for the next day as well.

Meanwhile I contacted my friend Ganesh, a bird lover, who had lots of birds at his home. His collection of birds include love birds, multicolored parrots, and pigeons. He loved Suma very much and came forward to take care of her. I was so relieved to see that our Suma is going to somebody who will love her as much as we do and will take good care of her. I gave all the details of Suma such as her likes and dislikes, favorite recipes, songs, when she gets pissed off, what would flatter her, and how to control her when she becomes a real tantrum.

That evening was so heavy for all of us. No one talked as usual to the other. All of us were packing things quietly. Suma never came out of her place till noon. Ma fed her forcefully. I could no more bear the silence that was prevailing, nor could I refrain myself from going to Suma. When I went near Suma, she moved away from me and when I took her in my hands, she remained so still and rigid that I was deeply hurt. I could sense what she was going through but I could do nothing. I was combing her feathers with my fingers. It so happened that a feather fell from her right wing. I took it and kept it safely in my album.

We cannot forget her ever. But whenever we miss Suma very much and would like to see her, then this feather would satisfy and convince us. We can rely on this feather remembering our sweet memories of Suma and feel for sometime that WE ARE WITH SUMA. I gave out a long sigh.

Ganesh was coming to our house so that Suma gets acquainted with him and feel safe and comfortable. It did help her. And we were happy about it.

Well! All good things have to come to an end and so did our days spent with Suma.

Today, when I see parrots flying in the sky, I would wonder, how is Suma doing, has she become a mother by now, how many kids does she has, .... her feathers would have become very beautiful and greener by now, beak -- very red and attractive..her wings would look gorgeous and she would speak a lot..
Does she hear to "Muqala, Muqabula" song with the same enthu and passion even to this day (I had given that cassette to Ganesh, so that he can play the song for Suma)

I miss her kiss very much : ( Sometimes I strangely feel that would this be Suma, or would this be her child or great grand child..

Suma.. I miss you very much.. I know .. I have hurt you by leaving you.. I am sorry for that.. Please forgive me.. I still hope Ganesh is taking good care of you.. Somehow .. I could never gather the courage to come and see you again, or enquire about you with Ganesh.. Wish I could know what was going in your thoughts..

Even Pa remembers you a lot...You are so dear to all of us.. You have given so much of happiness and enjoyment to each of us.. and are close to each of our heart and memories in a unique manner..