Parrot-Talk

Bagging window seats had never been a problem during school days. The window-seat bagged by me was in the last row of my class, a vantage point to gaze at the well-maintained garden of our school, watching squirrels at play, clouds taking shape in the distant horizon and the parrot- astrologer at business.

The parrot and its keeper came to squat near the school fence under the shade of a large neem tree, during the latter part of school days. The keeper would call the bird by name and the bird would come out of its cage. When he asked it to pick out a card, it did so with a slant of its head as though it was weighing the future of the person who had come to get a reading of his fortune.

There were times when the parrot walked about, mixing the cards trying to pick the best or the worst (which is possible) and after what seemed an eternity would pick up the card. After cajoling and coaxing by the keeper, it would deposit the card dutifully at his hand and get back to its cage in a resigned manner.

The keeper would then read the prediction on the card, which was generally written beneath the pictures of various gods and goddesses. The astrologer would read in a monotone, while glancing at the parrot (for approval?) and the fortune seeker. Finally the keeper would end with, “If you go to the temple of so and so your woes would disappear,” at which the listener would nod and pay the price for the reading.

School-breaks generally meant parrot watching. Though the parrot and its keeper would be literally free for most part of the day, watching the parrot was a treat. It was almost always busy cracking a nut and made crooning noises when the nut slipped its grip. At times, the keeper would engage the parrot by talking to it.

Though there is no scientific endorsement of parrot astrology, many people approached him, just to watch the parrot catwalk from the cage and back to it. The keeper was also so proud of his bird that he always had a piece of coal and a red chilly outside the cage to ward off evil. He was also proud of the fact that his parrot could never go wrong.

A parrot-watching session always left me wondering that if the man and his parrot could help read people’s fortune, was the man with the parrot destined to a seat on the roadside., earning a meager sum which would be barely enough to get him one square meal a day.

After school the parrot had a lot of young visitors, who would ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ its antics while waiting for the school bus. As a special treat for the children, the parrot would be let out of its cage. A cheeky boy once told the man if he let out the parrot, it would fly off. The man said that his little Raja would never fail him.

Years passed, school led to college and a job later on. Once on a visit home I visited the school. The school had acquired a new building. The neem tree remained, but the familiar sight of the parrot-astrologer was not to be seen.

A few days later at a fruit shop in town, I saw the familiar face of the astrologer. Except for a few grey hairs and a slight stoop, he had not changed much. I came to know that he was the owner of the shop. Surprise writ large on my face I enquired about his parrot. His face clouded when he replied that the parrot had died long ago and he had not gone back to parrot astrology again.

It was then that I asked the question, “Aren’t you better off now?” He said that before dying the parrot had picked a card for him, after which fortune had smiled upon him. I was left speechless! The parrot had brought luck to the astrologer after all.





(This was my first short-story that I wrote after finishing college. It was accepted by a short story monthly named "Galleon", which is defunct now.)