Growing up

Spring had cast its charm upon the forest and had made it brighter than ever. Magda, the megapode peeked out of her nest to take in the   beautiful surroundings and she could feel an undeniable excitement in her feathers.  She set off humming a cheery tune as she looked forward to spending the day working in the vegetable garden. “ Good Morning , Mrs Hen “, said Magda as she passed through the little wooden gate and the old Hen smiled warmly at the greeting. Suddenly, they saw what looked like a mini dust storm at the southern end of the garden and a loud voice called out “ Delivery! Hot cross buns ! Just the way you like it.”  “ Oh, that must be the roadrunner . Magda dear, can you please collect the buns for me? They will go nicely with my evening tea” said Mrs Hen. “Sure thing, Mrs Hen.” replied Magda as she was quite used to collecting the delivery and having the occasional chat with the lively Roadrunner. “ How are you on this fine day, Roger? “ she as...

It was another beautiful day in the forest and as the morning dawned bright and early, the megapode was already up and about, humming a cheery tune as she cleaned her feathers energetically. She sighed contentedly as she recalled the past few weeks after she turned her life around with her newfound confidence. She had even been successful in making a new friend and the two were hardly ever seen without each other. As she clambered out of her cosy burrow she expectantly looked around in anticipation for Fred, her ally. Suddenly from nowhere a colourful creature came whizzing near her and went round and round her head till she started feeling faint.     ” Gosh Fred, stop it!”, she screamed trying to swat him away. “ Every single time! “, chuckled Fred, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.  “ Can’t you just sit still for a single minute Fred? “ asked the megapode , who had to clutch a tree stump to steady herself as the dizziness slowly faded away. “ I am ...

Far away in a cosy, secluded   forest , morning dawned silently as it brought forth a hearty promise of another beautiful day. Silence prevailed among the leafy branches as all the creatures snored on peacefully. That was when a young bird was rudely   awakened   from   her   sleep as a rock landed forcefully near the burrow where she had sought refuge.     “There   goes my sleep”, thought   the bird, “ It is the only part of the day which I ever look forward to”. Well, now that sleep was as surely gone as her parents who had abandoned her right after her birth, she slowly got into the tedious task of cleaning her feathers and getting ready for what was surely going to be a long and arduous day. As she scrambled her way out of the burrow, she donned her usual mask of indifference and prayed that she should maintain this attitude throughout the day. The usual sarcastic remarks and taunts from the other birds followed her constantly as s...

A soft wish landed on her eyelashes A slight whisper made her heart flutter in anticipation A sad smile threatened to form on her lips A shake of the head was her perennial fear A sigh of happiness was all she prayed for A sense of belonging had always evaded her  A sea of torment was the life she had A storm raged through her mind as she waited and waited A stern voice made her look up in shock A stunned gasp of relief was all she could manage As she heard the words " You are adopted". Nivedita Dwarak