Conversations with a Koyel

This afternoon, I sat on my balcony with a book. there are some large trees where I stay. A clump of bamboo in the garden particularly attracts a lot of birds, mostly very small constantly flittering away as if all the fun was in the wagging of a coloured tail. But there is one bird which unfailingly makes its presence felt by its melodious and persistent call. I've tried to trace the Koel, sometimes in the backyard and sometimes in the front and finally found it to be hidden within the bamboo in the front garden part.

The rather persistent call from the bird made me shut my book and look out at the adjacent road and the other neighborhood houses. There has been a small construction work going on for a few days and I idly watched the men going about their work. The call of the Koel went on uninterrupted, if possible even louder this time. 

Suddenly, a worker came near the wall of the house looked at the clump of bamboo and shouted, " ka re itna kahe batiya rahe ho, ab chup bhi ho jao, tanik jirai le" ( Translates to- what happened, why are you talking so much, can't you be quiet for a while so that I can rest a bit?) he stood there, hands in the hips still looking upwards, almost as if he were waiting for an answer. There was complete silence for just about 2 minutes..I held my breath, my eyes almost popping out. The man turned his back to the tree, almost going off and then stopped halfway, scratched his head and came back. He looked at the bamboo, threw up his hands and shouted again, " ab itni bhi kya narazgi, hum sachi muchi thodi bolein hain, chalo batiao aisa sannata acha nahin lage hain". I looked at the bamboo tree hopefully, the leaves shook a bit...a small bird hurried out in a hurry and suddenly the song was back! The ever persistent coo back again, I almost laughed then, but shut my mouth, thinking the worker, might overhear me and feel embarrassed. Meanwhile he looked at the tree, lifted his hand and exited with a smart " Jai ram ji ki"

( Image from the internet)