Lessons delivered in my balcony! by Gargi Mishra
"What I learnt from you has changed my perception towards life. You taught me to live life to its fullest even with extreme limitations. You challenged me to stay positive and joyful at worst of time"
I got these lessons delivered in my balcony by a one-legged COMMON MYNA (Acridotheres tristis). One day I spotted this myna quenching its thirst in a small water pot.
Known for their strong survival instincts, this one really stunned me. I don't know whether the myna had a birth defect or met an accident, but for the period I observed the bird with just one leg led a perfect life. I celebrated its endurance level.
Common Myna or Indian Mynah is a member of 'starling'; family. It is one of the most familiar birds of Indian Subcontinent. It is an energetic, confident, curious, noisy but adorable and helpful neighbor of us. They prefer to stay near human habitation as if pledged to be our neighbor. Readily identified by its well-groomed dark brown body, black hooded head, bare yellow eye patch behind the eye and bright yellow legs and bill. Displays large white wing patches while in flight.
May be to attain gender equality both the lady and the gentleman choose to order identical dresses and hence look similar. Often seen in pairs and believed to be paired for life. This exceptionally talented one can mimic human voices apart from croaking, squawking, chirping, clicking, whistling and growling. It can learn more than 100 words. Maximum it can learn with in the age of 3 to 9 months under human supervision (though the learning continues till the age of two). Being bestowed with a good memory it can bond with a member who feeds it or remember mistreatment and can hold grudges.
In India Common Myna is considered as a symbol of everlasting love. The word 'Mynah'; has been derived from the Sanskrit word 'Madana' means 'extreme happiness or joy'. But simultaneously the irrational belief prevails in India that spotting a single Myna is inauspicious whereas spotting two is auspicious. I am too feeble to understand the logic. How come the meaning of 'Madana' changes based on their numbers! As kids before going for exams, we used to scramble for sightings of Mynas. And if unfortunately, we spotted a single one, then that would be like the doomsday for the little beast; s/he had to carry the burden of our failure till the end of his/her life.
As an omnivorous, eats almost everything. But they love to feed on grasshoppers for which got the generic name 'Acridotheres' means' grasshopper hunter'. They are highly adaptive to their new environments. So, when introduced in Australia to eradicate pest species of insects the Common Mynas turned into an invasive species. There they earned the nickname 'flying rats' due to their scavenging resemblance with rats. Hence considered one of the 100 worst invaders in the world.
Photo By: Athiya Mahapatra
Place: Delhi
