Mumbai Animals!

Mumbai does have animals. Its a fact and its true. What with regular reports of leopards and such like encroaching on decent urban jungles and creating havoc amongst poor innocent mumbaites.

My experience with these strange inhabitants of this great city thankfully has been better. Detailed below are just a few:

Ravens:

Ravens. The messenger of death and destruction. Or as our great culture has, harbringer of more deadly news, guests. Ravens have always been an eternal visitor at our residence. When we used to live in Ghatkopar, a suburb in central mumbai, these medium sized black birds would constantly sit on the door of our garden amidst the city, the little 6 x 2 balcony we had assidously grown fragrant plants on. (Ok, so mom had done all the work, but I supported her, should count, right?). This bird would actually caw away to glory at each sight of Mum and she would respond to it in kannada, and it would caw right back. This would usually happen at unearthly morning hours like eight or nine o' clock. Then it would visit my window to wake me up and ready me for college. I always had this sneaky suspicion that ravens must have an innate ability to learn the Kannadiga's mother tongue, because the raven would usually be followed by my mom who would also try to wake me up. (with considerable less success, I might add. The raven was so much more ugly sounding.)

Then my belief was strengthened. We moved to a new flat in South Mumbai. I felt, finally freedom from ugly alarms in the morning. It lasted precisely one month. Soon, there was a familiar sounding caw each morning in my ears. How in earth did this raven come to know of its heavenly duties, I can only conjecture.I just think, he must have met his Gkopar friend at the weekly convention of the Ravens at the Parsi Tower of silence and gotten the message.

Suddenly one day, the cawing stopped. Relief and suprise were my main emotions in the morning. The reason was soon known in stark black and white. Crows in mumbai were a dying breed. This great survivor of the great Mumba's city, was being killed in murders. Due to some strange kind of bird disease.

Now I miss my feathered friend. His ungainly walk, his no nonsense flight plan. Now I rely on my mobile phone to wake me up. Can someone send me a raven tone, please?