you dont reach anywhere with questions; keep flying

As she was flying with her four children, one of them asked her, " Mamma o Mamma !! We are tired and you are telling us to fly on these frail wings from Siberia to Sukhna!" Mother was quiet for sometime but when the child, the youngest of the four, persisted, she said, " Shut up, and keep flying. You don't reach anywhere with questions. And as for your wings, if these were really so weak, I wouldn't have asked you to accompany me. And I m taking u where food is. " Having said that the mother straightened her neck to stream-line against the wind. The weather was beautiful, the sky a clear blue, and although she felt like singing, she realized that the children may not like it. So she glanced behind her and saw that all four were either quarreling among themselves --- a sign of good health --- or just following their mother.

Suddenly, She saw a hawk approaching, and she took an immediate swirl. She knew her chidren were too weak to face the enemy but she knew she wasn't.

Among animals, and sometime even humans, mothers have to fend for their children. For her, it was either the hawk or her children. She spread her wings a little wider. She was tired coming from a distance while the hawk, young aggressive and fresh having just taken off from the nearest hill, was more than a match for her but she had one thing the hawk didn't have: a mother's instinct.

Before the hawk could decide which one of the four children to attack first, she had decided what to do: attack the hawk. He did not expect to be attacked. My thoughts went back to my brother, Parbodh.

From my brother's experience as a hunter I had learnt one thing; all predators either try to scare or are scared. He had told me that all hawks are like bullies: if you don't resist them, they will attack you. But the moment a bird stands up against him, he simply flies away.

As I saw the mother get after the hawk, I remembered an incident my brother had faced.

On a hunt for a leopard and not finding one, my brother felt the urge of nature at midnight and went to the nearest Tobha (pond) in a village Mallhi near jaijon. The pond was known as Jallani da Tobha and it was rumored that flames flew up from water at midnight there..

There, as he was about to use the water for cleaning his hands, he saw a leopard, face to face, just a few a feet away.

And this is how my brother described it to my mother, " Maan, sohna taan oh bhi bahut si par sohna taan tera putt bhi ghatt nahin( The leopard was also very handsome but your son is no less handsome) I had my gun lying by my side but he wouldn't have given me the time to pick it up... So I kept looking into his eyes and he into mine.... Then suddenly it struck me "Je eh pio da put hunda taan hun tak main jeonda he na hunda" (If he were a brave son of his faher, I wwould have been a dead man by now) I snatched my gun in a second and fired point black at him, taking care that I don't spoilt his skin." Main sochia hun do sheraan di ladaai hai... .. par thaapi de maan apne put nu... oh baahr piya....jeeona taan sadde dona vichon ik ne hi si ... mainu maan tere utte taras aa gya ... tu meri laash nu kivein dekhengi.... so sad as it is, he had to go..." (I knew it was battle of two lions but then i had a feeling of pity for you.. u would not have been able to bear the sight of my dead body ... so in an instant, i thought, its your mother or mine) I did not go near him even after he was dead... sher maria bhi maann nahin hunda( A tiger is not weak even when dead)

Mother told my brother to stop it all....but he didn't listen ....

A few days before he left us, he was in great pain, and was shouting in anguish .. I went and asked him "Veerji, koi davai liavaan(Should I bring some medicine?) and he said " Kaka, koi khaas gall nahi , tu chup kar ke parre beh ja....eh mere andar oh sherni bol rahi jisda jawan putt main maria si" (Kaka, nothing so big as to worry. You keep quiet and go to sleep ... in my stomach, that mother tigress is howling whose young son i had killed...atte ahna gallaan baare enee nahin sochida ) ......{One should never worry so much about these things..}. as he said this he was in great pain, but he wouldn't care.... ( Lot of my frnds, including Rajiv Mudgil, Dev K and a thousand others know hoe my brother dared death.... even in the London Hammersmith hospital, where i arrived a day too late, he was telling doctors " whats going to happen is gong to happen Are you kids and as if anyone among st you can stop it.... please don't spoil my last few minutes with frowns .. u know whats going to happ ( as if you can help) Please smile

So I saw the mother bird battle against the hawk, I was immediately carried back to the courage of my brother..." Will this hawk have the same courage as my brother had to own up and suffer?" But when I saw him disappearing in the face of a challenge from a mother, I felt prouder of my brother who till his last days of pain kept saying, Kaka jehde keete aa oh bhugtne taan painge hi but given another chance, I would do the same thing again and suffer the same pain.... in nature, everything is give and take.. i was ready for the fun and i am ready for punishment... no regrets.....the day he died, these were his last words " O Yaar manu ik sher taan hor maran dio....hisaab taan poora ho jaaye... main koi siraf ik sher no maran jammia si..." By that time our mother had already left us....but he said, "Maan di gall taan theek si...jo karaange oh bharaange.... par main taan bharan nu tiar bethaan.... koi ik sher taan hor sahmne aave....saale saare dar ke khuddaan vich badi bethe aa."( t least kill me one more lion... let at leat the balance be restored ... was i born to ill just one lion .even the lions are hiding in their holes.. let at leat one more lion come forward and face me....

and the the way the mother bird had scared the hawk away, I was reminded of my brother again