A love unspoken: Racket-Tailed Drongos

I was once privy to a fascinating dialogue between a pair of Racket-Tailed Drongos in the semi-evergreen forests of Vagamon. I had no idea what they were chirping about. But it looked like a heated debate. One seemed to intimidate the other. There was some dancing. It was theatrical.

The conversation lasted for about three minutes. They made up and flew away together. It was as though they suddenly realized they were late to a gathering of pixies. And that life was too short and difficult, and the universe – too unimaginably magnificent, to be wasted on disagreements.

Arguments between people stretch a lot longer than that. Many of them end on a sour note too. It’s like dealing with auto-corrections while typing on the phone. It doesn’t matter what one wants to say, the other will misinterpret it.

We tend to argue to prove ourselves to be right, instead of encouraging a common pursuit of the closest version of the truth.

I catch myself, at times, arguing with people even after realizing that their theories are more logical than mine. But I persist to either preserve misplaced integrity or protect my sense of pride.

I end up learn nothing; only that I can be a brat who would rather showcase a wealth of borrowed knowledge than share unbiased and purposeful discoveries.

Birds have the same five senses of perception that we do.

Unfortunately, we don’t have half the melodies that they do in place of our ill-advised words.

I want to be
preoccupied,
talking to
slender-billed singers
with wings
for microphones.

(Photographs: Thekkady, Valparai)
(Video: Vagamon)