The birds

Manoj was reading an old newspaper to kill time in a cell of prison. All of a sudden, he heard the flutters of the wings. He looked up and found a sparrow with straws in its beak. The Sparrow placed the straws on the space in the ventilation hole in the wall. It looked around for a few moments and then got out of the cell through the grill of the vent. After some time, the sparrow appeared again with some straws and began to arrange straws. Manoj began to watch this sparrow. Just then another sparrow came with some straws. Manoj said, "So you birds are going to build a nest here in the prison."

Manoj was a prisoner serving a sentence of three years for smuggling drugs. He was sad and alone and was waiting for the day of release from prison. The sparrows were busy bringing straw and arranging them in a ventilation hole. The cell was sounded with the chirping and sound of fluttering. He was amused by all this.

He murmured, "It's so easy for birds to build a nest anywhere and anytime." A thought came into him and a smile came on his face and he said to himself, "If Asha and I were birds, We would have built a nest."

He still loved Asha but he had a fear of whether she loved him or not. He was a criminal in the eyes of people. He did not know what she thought about him.

And he indulged in memories. Memories of Asha. He remembered the moments he spent with Asha. He remembered the dreams they had dreamed together. Once while they were working as laborers in the construction of a house, he had said to Asha, "One day I will get a big house built for you." Asha replied to him, "And I will make that house a sweet home." she paused for a little while and then said, "But from where will we get money to build the home?"

He replied, "I will work hard to earn the money." Manoj was a laborer living in a slum of a big city. He was hard-working and handsome. He was ready to do any work right from rickshaw pulling to construction work to earn money. Like him, Asha was also a laborer. Asha was an orphan and lived with an old and kind lady who had found her wandering in the streets. In a way, they were birds of the same feather. So they flocked together. Their poverty and plight brought them close to each other and they decided to walk together on the ways of life. There were so many flowers of dreams in the desert of their life.

One day Manoj got a chance to become a chauffeur for a rich person. The salary was good and the job was easy for him. He grabbed the chance. The rich man also offered a quarter to Manoj in his big bungalow. Amit and Asha both were happy at this and began planning to get married. But the ways of life are not so easy for everyone. One day the rich man gave a small box to Amit and ordered him to deliver the box to a man in the other city. The rich man's car was out of order that day and Manoj had to go to that man by hired taxi. Manoj did not know what was inside the box. He set off in a hired taxi. On the way, his taxi was stopped by police. The police searched Manoj and found narcotic drugs in the box and arrested him. Manoj pleaded again and again to the police that the box was of the rich man but the police did not believe him. He was put on trial for possessing and smuggling drugs and sentenced to three years imprisonment. This was his past.

He watched the sparrows building the nest every day. He was happy with the fluttering and chirping of sparrows. One day the ceiling fan in the cell was on and one of the sparrows hit the blade of the fan and fell on the floor. Manoj was at this and ruched to the bird. The bird was dead. The cell was filled with the silence. Another sparrow was shocked and silenced and flew out of the cell after some time. Manoj was silent seeing all this. He began to think about himself. Many questions were coming to him what would happen to him after releasing from jail? What would he do if Asha does not accept him saying he is a criminal? How would he live without Asha?

Manoj was going to be released from jail next week. He was waiting for the moment when he would come out of the jail. He wanted to see Asha whether she accepted him or not. The unfinished nest was still there in the ventilator and whenever he saw it, he got sad.

And finally, the day of his release from jail came. After the paperwork, he got out of jail and looked around with hope and found no one to receive him. He looked at the sky and began to think about where to go. All of a sudden, someone put a hand on his shoulder from behind. He turned around and found Asha with a familiar smile on her face. He was so happy to see her. She took his hand on her hands and said, "Let's go home." Both were happy and going to build a small and sweet home, not a big house.