The Amazing World of Snowball & Sunshine!

Just a few short months ago, my little one pestered us into getting him two parakeets as pets. Keeping a pet has always been my pet peeve for various reasons but mainly because I do not have the heart or stamina to watch someone suffer in distress or pain especially when they do not have the ability to talk in human language and communicate their agonies as fluently as humans do. Secondly, because in the fast paced and demanding life that I lead I do not find enough time, company and attention a pet would rightly deserve. However, kids are a giant force and they make you do things you never imagined you will fall for some day. So, while I was taking a nap one Sunday afternoon I woke up to finding that kids and their dad had took off to Petco to bring the parakeet’s home. Suddenly we were a family of 6 from being a family of 4. After a few brainstorming sessions they were fondly named ‘Snowball’ and ‘Sunshine’ going with their colors bluish white and yellowish green.

In an effort to convince myself with this new change, in my mind parakeets were a ‘safe bet’, in terms of their needs and demands. So far didn’t have any trouble catering to them except refilling their food and water supply couple times a day, keeping their cage clean, and giving them a shower once a week. Well, now coming to the point why I started this story, this evening when I came home from work and after following the robotic prompts settled down at the table for dinner, I noticed a constant sound of little bell which is a play toy in the parakeet’s cage and which they both are too fond of playing with. It is usual to hear that sound every now n then but this time it continued for a little longer which made me turn around and watch closely what was going on in there. As I leaned forward with curiosity, I noticed Snowball had one of his feather entangled in the little beaded chain right below the bell. His favorite toy had suddenly became an unexpected trap and he was struggling to escape it with full strength by pushing it down with one of its small fragile leg. As I tried to help it rather fairly quickly jumped out of it and sat on one of the wooden logs inside the cage. While I had totally lost my appetite watching the struggle, snowball sat still on one leg and winded the other one under the feather trying to soothe its wing. I was perplexed what to do, how to help, and before I could think ‘Sunshine’ briskly switched spot and sat right next to him, side by side and instantly started chirping in a very low tone, as if meant only for snowball. I could not believe what I saw next, the two sat body to body touching each other and Sunshine was comforting his buddy in their own dialect constantly chirping and whispering into his ear. I sat next to them and watch this go on for next several minutes.  After about half an hour Snowball courageously tried to pull the other leg down and sat on both legs, intermittently switching positions from one leg to another. Sunshine in the meantime was constantly encouraging and singing praise for his fellow buddy. I was amazed at the level at which this team operated and by the empathy they had for each other. Snowball stayed constantly connected and pulled his friend out of misery, as if chanting some mantras and uplifting his spirits. I was totally dazed!

Besides several other things that I have learnt from these little guys in the last few months, like punctuality with time, fixed time to wake up, fixed time to sleep, not eating between the meals, learning to love your surrounding however big or small it maybe and cheerfully responding to music, meditating in alone time etc. now I learnt that they operate at a totally new level of understanding and empathy for other’s pain & misery. Comforting each other in the difficult times is an art which they so effortless and unpretentiously mastered. As a human it was quite refreshing to see it so alive and so naturally flowing.

Our ability to understand, comprehend, empathize and comfort each other used to be one of the traits that set us apart as human beings still I didn’t see it so closely in the last few years than what I watched happening inside the cage today. The presence or absence of a conscious and sincere effort to sympathize with others troubles and miseries, taking the time to express the feelings and willingness to lend others the courage to pull themselves out of difficult times is something that can make or break relationships. Often I have seen relationships getting cold and distant due to the essential warmth simply lacking. Or sometimes people just seem to lack words. The words that you wish to hear. Yes the words which we so proudly claim to possess and count as one of our superior human skills. The selfishness of putting our interest and gains first and taking the time to feel others pain and agonies second or none has slowly transformed us into a less sensitive breed. We are too busy to hear each other out or to respond to each other’s needs. Busy with things which have hardly any meaning or real significance in your evolution as human being.

It was very comforting to see that birds and animals are still the unadulterated kinds probably because they do not have the ability to communicate in advance language as human beings, where things get complicated and meanings change according to context. They simply follow the cues and act with their might to make things better for one another. They hold on to each other and stick together until the other one is feeling good and back to normalcy. Just watching them filled my heart with so much warmth and love.  I am happy I own two parakeets. I am happy I am learning refreshingly new things and perspective on life everyday just serving these two. I am happy I am able to empathize and connect with my surroundings and things that matter to me.  I am happy & a proud pet owner!