The Silence of the Geese

One of the first concerns we had when we moved to the current apartment complex - aptly called The Nest (as we later discovered) - was the noise the geese made. Geese? The complex shares a wall with the TN veterinary research institute and houses geese, and poultry of other forms. My husband Srikant's concern was that they would make noise and disturb sleep. But, it just became part of our background music since 2006.

In the last two years, we have paid greater attention to this neighbour. We first discovered a crow's nest very close to our balcony. While watching them, we became aware of other birds - parrots, white migratory birds, kingfisher, woodpecker...

Maybe because children need us less, my husband and I stand in the kitchen wash area that overlooks the institute grounds and spend long hours gazing at the varied birds and the animals that we see there. Deer, snakes, mongoose, squirrels, birds of all types (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=1161404038&aid=2043683).

Treepie was a completely new variety for us. Then recently, we saw very tiny green birds that live inside branches. Yesterday, we saw sparrows - which have become a rarity in Chennai. And while clicking what we thought was the smaller variety of sparrows, we found a bird of a new kind! Honeysuckle, maybe.

But last two days, the geese have fallen silent. They are not there anymore. They have been shifted to another location. Because, the ground is now part of Metro Rail project. A station cum office is what we are going to have for neighbours.

My heart bleeds. What will happen to the deer? We see samples of so many bird varieties - will they abandon us? Where will the snakes find ground for cover? Will the eagles hover lower anymore?

I try to tell myself - when Nest was being constructed, maybe these brids had taken fright. But as the dust settled they returned. So will they return once the metro rail construction is over. I hope they have enough trees to return to.