BAHADUR UNCLE

Bahadur Uncle

You will come across this poor Nepali immigrant labor in most parts of India, either working as a Security Guard in a residential apartment complexes or working as a hired help in some company or a motor garage. They would be appointed without any background check or whatsoever, because these folks, lacked any education at all, and they would have landed in your city because some relative would have just about managed to pay a one-way fare to work for some known family or other. And they get called by some moniker or other as if it was a pass-me-around title to anyone of these poor helpers. They are all around us, and you meet them at the entrance of most buildings. They never retire, it appears, and they just keep plodding on.

The one thing that endears them to you is that they never refuse to take up any job or chore. So, one Sunday morning, the building complex where I stay was as usual bustling with activity, and children were playing around. Some of the residents were walking around, while some of us retired types were seated around the stone benches, watching the hustle and the bustle of a city apartment complex, on a typical Sunday morning.

The housekeeping staff were lugging the garbage bins around, while delivery boys were milling around, either waiting to enter the complex or returning after a delivery. Suddenly, a few kids from the Tower C came running to Bahadur Uncle , and requested him, saying Uncle, Uncle, our pet bird has come out of the cage, and is on the ledge of the terrace. Please rescue it. Bahadur uncle went along with them, picking up a rope on the way, and a longish mopping rod. Some of us, jobless senior citizens, who used to sit at the entrance of the Complex, wondered what it was, and so we also accompanied the kids to the terrace.

Bahadur Uncle spotted the bird, and looked at the bird quizzically, and then smiled, waving at it as if it was someone familiar, though he was seeing it for the first time. One of the families in Tower C had recently brought this from an aviary at the outskirts of Bangalore. As he tied the rope to the mopping rod, Bahadur uncle was giving all of us a mini-lesson on Ornithology, informing us that its name in Nepali was Kaande Bhyakur, and that it sings a lot, and he has seen many in his country. Uncle, hurry, shouted the kids, it is beginning to move.

Bahadur uncle tried the rod and rope approach but the brown little bird was having some ideas of its own. It hopped along from ledge to ledge, and every time, it fluttered its wings, the kids would raise a shout. Bahadur Uncle then decided to use a ladder, and he climbed on the ladder, towards the ledge, wherein he was dangling precariously, as he slowly and patiently approached the bird with an extended hand, and somehow, with a sudden lunge, managed to catch the little bird, and he nestled it affectionately against his heart, and descended down the ladder. The children were delighted, and thanked him profusely and brought the cage to return it to captivity. Bahadur uncle politely whispered to the owner of the bird, if you do not mind me saying so, release this bird, it is not meant for captivity, for then, it shall sing no more, and that is its reason for living. Seeing that his message was not shot down or disagreed with, Bahadur uncle suggested that during Diwali, in the winter month, when he was scheduled to visit his village near Kathmandu, he would willingly take it and release it in Nepal.

By now, many of us were listening to him with rapt attention. But why Nepal, why not release it in the outskirts of the Banerghatta National Park or elsewhere nearby, in Bangalore itself. Bahadur uncle looked at us wistfully, and his furrowed face turned into a gradual reflective smile, as he explained that I do not know why, but this bird is found only in Nepal, and it sings only in Nepal. The whiz kid Prateek in our building made a quick Google search, and confirmed this piece of information, saying yes, Bahadur uncle was right, this bird, known as the Spiny Babbler, was endemic to Nepal only and not found anywhere else.

Meanwhile, Bahadur uncle was on his way to other unfinished chores of the morning, silently humming a song.