Do they not look delightful
Perched upon the wire,
Chatting together
Against the sky?
When I see the same birds
Through the twisted wire
Of bird-cages, penned up…
I ask..why?
(Picture of Munias in a bird cage from the FB page of Gopakumar Namboothiri, with his permission)
Why can we not just admire?
The flower set upon the bush
Or smiling from its tree?
Why do we need to cage and tie down beings
That look so much better, when they are free?
The first photo was taken on Bannerghatta Road, near the Police Station; the second in a house nearby, where I persuaded the people to set the birds free (these birds can survive in the wild, not all species can, especially Budgerigars, which have been bred in captivity.)
The third photo is of Erythrina indica or the Coral Flower, taken in Banashankari; I wanted to contrast it with the flowers, like the Hibiscus (taken at Kaikondrahalli Lake) that we pluck from the trees for our use. The caged leopard was clicked in Bannerghatta Zoo.
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