From Above
By: Sahiti Satti
Tags: Pandemic, Cityscape, Short Story, Fiction, Birds

Credits — Unsplash

After pecking the windowsill for what felt like five hours, Shogy flies out into the open air to go to his favourite park. His daily routine includes pecking a little girl’s window for hours as he likes watching children’s laughter. As a bird, Shogy goes to meet his bird friends at the neighbourhood’s park to be fed by the kind old man who brings delicious breadcrumbs every day. He reaches the park at 5 pm, on the dot, every day. Yes, birds are very punctual too.

On March 23, 2020, however, Shogy could hear his friends singing very clearly. There were no other sounds in the background. Yet, he felt an eerie sense of discomfort that day. As he flew out into the open air, he suddenly realised that humans were nowhere to be seen. He immediately went to his friends, and they decided to inspect the whole city. As the birds flew across the area, they saw the sudden disappearance of people. His favourite old man who feeds him and his friends was nowhere to be seen. Roads were without those unpleasant sounding machines. How could such a mass extinction happen?

Days passed by, and Shogy observed a few people going to grocery stores covering their faces. He didn’t understand what was going on. Where did all the hustle and bustle of the city go? However, he realised that he could breathe with ease. There was a sudden reduction of pollution in the air. The sky was clear as ever.

A year ago, in 2019, Shogy had the best time of his life. He had made good friends when he decided to migrate to a neighbouring city. It was a tough decision for him, but it turned out to be in his favour. He discovered that his favourite pastime was to go to the park and perceive the human life around him. He found solace in children’s innocent happiness. He had thought that life would be beautiful from here on. After all, humans are not as bad as they seem to be.

Back to 2020, Shogy had lost all the excitement and cheerfulness that he had gained last year. A few months had passed by, and he had seen a bit of activity and commotion resume. But, he wasn’t able to do things he loved to do. People’s faces were covered with different coloured cloths that looked vague. He couldn’t see laughter around him. That was it. He had learned about what was going on through his intelligent friends. He got to know about the few people dying. But, he is unable to cope with all of that. He is very empathetic to humans. But, he still wants laughter around him.

None of what was going on affected Shogy and his friends directly. They were perfectly healthy. Unlike popular thought, birds still like humans. They do live in harmony.

When Shogy had thought that he was feeling the lowest as he has ever been, he saw something that made his feathers flutter. When he was sitting at the railing and wallowing in his agony, he had heard the soft notes of a piano. He looked around and saw a small little child playing the piano with the utmost happiness. Then, he saw people play different instruments, sing, and dance on other balconies. Shogy was ecstatic. It was life changing. He realised that the world had been plagued by many atrocities throughout its beginning. But, these humans! These humans have always fought through the catastrophes. They are survivors.

Shogy took inspiration from the humans and did what he does best. He chirped and sang along with them. Not only for that moment, but every day. He and his friends made sure everyone woke up to their beautiful chirping. They tried to make life pleasing to humans. And, they are still singing.

The pandemic had brought about a draconian change in the way humans live. But, it hasn’t shaken their spirits to the core. Life has been incredibly hard for them, but they continue to do one thing that has always proved to be helpful in adversity. And that is hope.

People will keep singing. Birds will chirp their bird hearts out. Life will resume slowly. And most importantly, the old man will feed Shogy and his friends again.