A dialogue with the kingfisher

Suparna-Saraswati Puri

The forenoon of a day that marked festivities for many left me, once again, stumped at nature's bountiful ways of imparting a thing or two about life.  While sitting on the balcony, my aimless gaze suddenly discovered a medium-sized, brightly coloured bird that perched on the tree in front. Its unmistakably long coloured beak and distinguishing plumage revealed its identity, rather blatantly. It was a handsome Kingfisher. As it happened, I had been experiencing strangeness of temperament all morning. The inability to figure what was causing it made matters worse, in terms of getting drawn into a melancholic mood. My efforts to 'deal' with whatever it was that had engulfed my cognitive senses did not yield any kind of constructive or worthwhile outcome. 

With failed attempts to sit at my desk and attend to my work, I was unable to distract myself with just about any other activity like reading, listening to music, or watching television. To add to it, my endeavours at culinary experimentation also left me exasperated with anything and everything that I seemed to engage with in the kitchen.  

Curiously, the option to talk to a friend on the phone seemed futile. So, having combated with a reasonable degree of stubbornness, I decided to just sit out and do nothing until such time that I felt and behaved better. With undivided attention towards the magnificent guest on the tree, I began with the kingfisher a mental conversation, consciously, with a remarkable sense of confidence that the latter will be a complying participant.   The opening line of the proposed chat went, “Come here on an agenda, have you?” Quite remarkably and with promptness, ‘his magnificence’ replied by slowly changing his posture as if saying, “If that’s what you choose to think!”

Charged with the new-found excitement of this impromptu goings-on, I threw in my next question, “Master of Theology, are we?” The subsequent action by the winged acquaintance yet again took me by surprise. The kingfisher, who was seated sideways till now, turned and faced me upfront as if saying, “Ah! You do have the ability to look beyond”. 

The pace at which the unusual and incredible dialogue was moving made me surrender to the moment, effortlessly. Also, I realised just then that nothing was happening merely by chance or as sheer coincidence. I was now prepared to receive my lesson for the day, with anticipated enthusiasm. Delivered in consonance with nature's brilliance, the kingfisher fluttered giving full view of his wings open and hovered for a few seconds on the spot he was seated, before finally taking flight.  

The manner in which the visual wonder manifested itself  in silence, it left me recalling the 19th century famed revolutionary and poet, Jose Marti's prophetic words, “Man needs to go outside himself in order to find repose and reveal himself”.  To those who may view inexplicable behaviour of the self as right or wrong, “if you are not failing every now and again, it's a sign that you are not doing anything very innovative"!