The vision of flight

 The vision of flight

Shambu the eagle heaved a sigh of frustration. The animals of Coonch forest lived in a state of relative peace with themselves and the neighboring men - until the foreigners arrived. Further, he was the only eagle in his troop that hadn’t yet gained flight. Venting out his frustrations to Butho, the elephant, he cried, “Not only are the imperialists after animals, but I am unable to do what is asked of any bird; being an insult to my race, I fear I will be abandoned”. Despite her protracted efforts, to calm him down, Butho was only met with further protestations.

And in Shambu’s mind, the events of the succeeding days were only an affirmation of his own fears. No sooner had his oldest brother caught a large fish before their mother proudly said, “It is time for me to leave you, my children. This is the way of life in our kingdom, and you are capable of taking care of themselves. I shall have a deposit of grain here in care you desire it.” 

With a heavy heart, Shambu watched the image of his mother disappear into the trees, and then the mountains beyond. The sublime flight of his mother, was a representation of all he yearned for – to fly, unbounded; a rite of passage that had been denied to him. But the flight of his mother also presented practical difficulties; What was he to do for sustenance?

In a few weeks, the last of the grain their mother had left for them vanished. His brothers, out of kindness had let him eat a portion of their daily catch. Meanwhile, the march of the foreigners progressed with vigour. Emboldened by the success of their early attempts to tame the forest, they had decided to venture further in.  Responding to the felling of trees and the killing of birds, the animals of Coonch forest, held a meeting under the great Banyan tree.

Kimba the old baboon, presiding over the meeting, brought out the issue of the imperialist. At first, the animals contemplated force. Raju the lion, roared in affirmation, his claws perched out. But Kimba, after consideration, reminded the assembly that men have weapons and can control fire. He then raised the point of settling with the men. But Butho the elephant said that, unlike the tribal population, the foreigners would never opt for peaceful co-existence, he cited the fact that very few among his species remain. The animals nodded in solemn agreement, Shambu included.

And at that point when the wise baboon was going to cry out in agony to the forest Gods, eagles returning from far off flew down. Hardly waiting for their breath to slow down, they cried, “There are forests to the South! The tribals, fleeing from the foreigners are moving there.”

This new, radical piece of information raised quite a commotion in the assembly. The elephants, the deer and the fish were ready to move. But the lions and the rabbits certainly weren’t happy.  Amidst this confusion, Kimba the baboon called the decisions to a vote. Counting the number of paws twice, he gravely announced the verdict, “We shall migrate”.

These sober words rang in the ears of the animals as they returned to their dwellings. But Shambu the eagle had the worst fears of them all. “While brothers will fly away like my mother did, what will I do?”, he wondered.

The following morning, the first batch of animals started migrating, under the leadership of the lions. Paying their obeisances to the forest Gods, they moved in droves, keeping close. Shambu wiped the tears from his eyes as he watched his family join the other eagles in guiding the herd forward. “We must do so for this is our duty”, they said, adding that they wished he would join them soon. 

In his peppered response to this rather blunt farewell, Shambhu walked to the cliff by the side of a nearby clearing, looking at with conviction, the underlying plain, he spread his wings to fall down with a thud. Repeating this process, rather methodically, Shambhu landed up with a sprain and finally decided to call it a day.

And so, the day passed, with Shambu contemplating on what duty actually means. “Does it refer to what one inherits or is it based on one’s capacity? Does it refer to a common moral code, laid down by the forest Gods? Does it refer to…...”, thinking so, he fell asleep.

A few hours later whoosh of the wind ruffling his feathers, Shambhu awoke to see what must surely be a forest fire. A few old elephants were trying to dowse it with their aged trunks; whereas rabbits were raising the alarm bells, asking them about what happened, Shambhu came to know that the foreigners had set fire to the forest in their zeal to build a railway. Betwixt this chaos all the animals who stayed back called an emergency meeting, which devoid of the usual pomp and splendor resulted in a decision to migrate to the new forest.

And so, the animals left southwards following the trial left by the earlier herd. But they were met with a hurdle, the forest was burning, and as they waited wondering what to do, Shambhu tried to take off from a nearby cliff, and as he leapt calling upon the forest gods, he found himself falling at first, then gliding; finally, concentrating all his efforts on spreading his wings, he soared across the skies, competing with the clouds. 

Calling upon the animals from his new arboreal paradise, Shambhu flew across the skies, taking care to avoid dangerous cliffs and burning woods. Watching from above a trial of animals following him, and from below the moon shining like a queen, Shambhu felt like nothing was beyond reach. But to act beyond the seemingly limitless power, and in accordance to the needs of time is duty. Yes! Shambhu, the bird had discovered his flight.