MR. CROW FOR NATIONAL BIRD?

Let me launch the two main characters of the scene ‘The crow” and ‘The peacock’. Now no Indian needs an introduction to the crow for haven’t we all grown up listening to poetry and songs about the mother crow and her cheerful little family. Day after day we ignore a million crows that happen to cross on our way and shoo them away on every opportunity we get. Then coming to the beautiful peacock which maybe only 5% of Indians have seen face to face, that too caged in the zoos and which today faces a threat of extinction. Now why bring these two drastically different creations of nature together? For we shall just look into the irony of the fact that the peacock is the national bird of India, when the crow is better suited for the title.

Statistically speaking how many of us have seen peacocks. The last time I saw a peacock was in my childhood during those few visits to the zoo that my father thought was necessary to teach me the diversity of nature. But in the end the total number of this beautiful gift of nature that I have seen is no more than a handful. On the other hand, I like many of my fellow countrymen wake up to the call of a crow and every one knows that the great ‘Kaliya’ is more than just an alarm clock.

The crow has done its share in garbage management for free. Thanks to the crow, many generations of Indian housewives dint need to worry about disposing the little food waste of the household. For all they had to do was to toss it into their backyards and trust our very own hero to do the rest of the job. If it wasn’t for the crow I fear to think what would happen with all those piling dead bodies of rats, unattended decaying garbage and casual trash disposed on our streets. Yes, I agree it’s disgusting to watch that bunch of crows fighting over a rotting carcass but in the long run many such bunches of crow have helped avoid many a epidemic from breaking out.

The crow also plays a vital role in a traditional Hindu ceremony performed for the benefit of the dead. Here, food is offered to the crow which represents the dead ancestors and the acceptance of this food by the crow assures that the ancestors souls are in peace. There is no doubt that the peacock is certainly a pretty bird and the elaborate courtship dance of the male, fanning out the tail and preening its feathers, is indeed a gorgeous sight. On the contrary the crow is a very ugly bird and there is no romance attached to watching a crow go on about its daily activities.

Symbolically the peacock represents an egoistic and stubborn bird, aware of its splendid beauty and too proud to include the other birds in its league for this very reason, while the crow represents a humble, hardworking, modest bird that’s got no complaints. The peacock is a delicate bird that needs to be protected and taken care of unlike the ‘rough Indian’ image, whereas the crow is a tough bird that can take care of itself no matter what circumstance it is put into.

So I would like to ask all fellow Indians, isn’t the ‘national bird’ or ‘national animal’ or national anything for that matter supposed to be the best around, the one that has given us enough reasons to be proud of it. Or is it just a beauty pageant crown given to the contestant that literally shines out in the crowd? I mean isn’t that contrary to all Indian teachings of ‘how inner beauty always beats outer beauty’ and ‘what matters is not what your made of but what’s inside and what comes out of it’. Growing up in India I have witnessed the great activities and thereby acquired a particular respect for the crow and think its high time we honored this legendary hero!