MY SOULMATE !

It all starts with flat number 1201, Mayur Vihar! It was a lovely evening in a brand new apartment! I settled down a little and opened the beautiful balcony facing the clear skies! There were chocolate brown mountains, silent valley's lush green laps, and a CROW!! Yes! There was a crow by the side of my window. I hated crows! They were of a scary black color with a penetrating piercing shrill voice and it was undoubtedly a totally useless  creature! But this one really made me go for a toss! I used to see this, masterpiece of God's creation I say, everyday! From the time I shifted to this new house, it had been my regular visitor! A unwanted guest though :P

My very first morning in the home started off with a loud 'THUD!'. Yes it was that crow who had dropped a tumbler off the balcony's edge, to make that loud noise, enough to wake me out of sleep at 6.00 in the morning! You could question me as to how can I be so sure that it was the same crow I saw yesterday? Well it was, cuz I could see a gleam of mischief and mystery in its eyes! Off course 6' O clock was the start of midnight for a nocturnal animal like me, so I cursed him enough and shooed him off, until my hands could no more wave in the air. After more curses and blah blahs I finally got up and started to get ready for the office. My reporting time then was not fixed. I had to just sign on a sheet of paper, for which, me and many others were handsomely paid! Life was great and I didn't even have the remotest feeling of guilt, for doing nothing in life! Even if the 'guilt filled thought' could somehow manage to strike me, it would just go away with the guilt of not producing any effect!

Every day I followed the same routine, yes you are right, the routine of chasing away the crow and cursing him over and over again! The Crow however showed no signs of confession, discipline or even fear for me! Everyday I would try to scare it with different faces and ideas, but tough luck! Every next morning it would return to get amused by me! I think the crow was rather enjoying this and had made it as a part of his schedule I can even bet that I was the subject of a common joke in his chirping friends & family!

As few months passed by, I got an ESSAR project in office wherein I was to, to, to monitor the external torque of a mid centered motor from the centre of a turbo engine's controller! In short, I got work! My routine was to now change, my midnight would now have to start at 12.00 am in the night and end by 6 in the morning so that I could report to office at 9.00 am sharp...

The first official work day started off with the same routine as before and I reached office at 1 pm. I was 4 hours late! Then the 3 hours then 2 hours...but never would I be exactly on time! This continued and finally Diwali holidays dawned! I was to take a bus at 8 am sharp and I was already in awe of it, since I could never ever make it on time. I planned to sleep early the night before, so that I could get up early the next morning and would not leave any chance of missing the bus...

But I am I and others are others! Yes I didn't sleep on time the night before, and that's how my whole schedule got disturbed ahead! But something great happened that day! I woke up at 6am sharp! Hurray! How?? Well, the crow had followed its routine of troubling me at 6 am sharp, and to my surprise, I did manage to get up at the exact decided time! Holidays were great as always! I came back from holidays and started off with the regular office routine. Everyday the crow would help me get up at 6 and I would,

ok, I was no more abusing it so much, the swearing had now transferred to my boss btw ;)

Getting up everyday greatly mended my schedule. Previously, people used to wish me 'Good morning' at 1 pm, 'Good afternoon' at 7 pm, 'Good night' at 3 am! Ahh, but all that was changed now... Like Crows return to their nests in the evening and start off their day early morning, I too was a part of the chirping community now!

Days passed by, I started placing grains, water (if not beer), sometimes bread pieces and at times the crow would enjoy a slumber party with some chicken pieces and wine! We became good friends. Now when I used to enter the balcony, the crow wouldn't fly off. Guess it was accustomed to me now and was sure that I wouldn't scare him off (atleast try to i.e.). As months passed by, he (I think it was a male, since it had made me chase him so much ;) ) even visited me in the evening and cheered up my mood when I was down. It behaved well than a dog and also unlike a dog, I never had to take it out for a potty session. It shooed off lizards for me (which btw are the number one nightmares for me), ate insects on my plants (though I don't know if crows do that, but this one did and loved it) and also acted as a watch dog during the day.

There were many occasions when I got a opportunity to change my house and move into a better place but somehow I was reluctant, may be somewhere in the corner of my heart it had made a little place for itself and I was happy for it.

Days passed by and so did months and few years. I grew up and so did the crow. Guess it had started shedding off few of its feathers and went bald. It was showing all the signs of old age. Its loud pitchy noises had also slowed down in the years and it had rather gone silent. But still it had remained loyal to me, by visiting my balcony every day in spring, autumm, rains and winds! We had almost lived a decade together or so I feel. It had

participated in every good and bad news I received...

This was it! It was the biggest day of my life! I was going to get married! I wanted to share this happiness with everyone down the block! But the one who had always been there, was not seen around from many days and even I forgot about him. Its funny, but I never named my crow like people name their pets. But was it even my pet??

So the "D" day dawned! The winters had come and people were wrapped up into shawls and sweaters. The whole place was lit up. The whole week went into celebrations, ushering guests, catching up with old friends and welcoming relatives... After the week's functions got over, I visited my home again to collect my bags. I had to leave this place and settle into a new town now. I bid good-bye to my guitar, the house walls, doors, windows and everything that sounds equally funny. I went in the balcony to bid good bye

to my plants and there it was! Yes it was back! My crow! But it was pale this time, with dull eye sight and shivering with cold.

In a sudden flash of moment, all my memories with him rolled in front of my eyes! It had finally come to see off the old master though I had forgotten all about him! It indeed had been a faithful and a loyal animal! I took the crow in my hands and rolled it in a warm blanket. I could feel its ice-cold feathers! I caressed it for a while and comforted it. It was the first time I had felt its touch, touch of my sole soulful pet! Yes it was my pet! And I could answer the question finally! I thought it was hungry so went inside to bring  something for it to eat but guess it was too late. It had gone with the wind! I don't know where it went and how did it go but I know now, it had plans to visit me atleast once before he met his winter. For few people pets are only dogs, cats or birds. But the one I had, didn't stay with me nor did we knew each other's names, the only thing common we had between us, was a 'bond', a bond of love! My heart was touched by his love and in the memory of my best pet ever, I named him as Spiky! I never had a photo of its, but his golden black feathers, fluttering in the glory of the morning rays, will always be the pearl of my eyes and forever!