We were not inching along the traffic on Powai link road, as usual, we were rock steady.
I was silently looking out to see any more animal plays being enacted to a blind, worrying crowd. Notice the word silent. When I asked my husband to look yonder at that crow somersaulting in mid-flight, he was moved to wonder whether I had sinister designs on his civilian freedom.
Maybe the yonder had an exclamatory tone to it. Maybe it distracted him from the interesting view of the back of the bus. I sat silently stricken while he growled out yet one reason why I should NEVER drive a car.
After a while, he had cooled down and I was silent, I looked out just in time to see a calf and crow making a pact.
Standing silently, at the corner where road meets dust, they stood in silent communion.
The calf eyed the crow for a moment, bent its head close to the crow and gave it a playful shove. The crow was eyeing the traffic as it stood there, unmoving. It was quite unprepared for the calf's antic. It steadied itself for a moment and looked around just to be sure that no one had seen this embarrassment.
The calf liked this sort of play and decided it was time for round 2. This time though, the crow was ready for it. It hopped away just in time. The calf, thinking this was part of the play, kept its head ready to deposit another shove. The crow decided to nip things in the bud without further ado. It moved close to that large baby head and gave it a slight peck near its eye.
The calf withdrew its head. It looked at the crow with a calculating look as it weighed its options.
It was time to see if the crow meant business. It slowly lowered its head, keeping a respectable distance from the bird and feinted. The crow’s reflexes were amazing. Eyes fixed on the traffic, it hopped away , just in time to avoid contact.
The calf raised its head, now viewing the crow with new eyes. A compromise was reached.
Now the traffic started mock inching its way ahead. Mock inching is the state when sounds of traffic reverberate all around but the surroundings that the passenger views remain unchanged.
When I last checked the situation, the calf was trying to salvage its hurt pride with small jabbing threats to the enemy, who had managed to conjure up an air of unconcern about himself.
Meanwhile, the ponderous, cud-chewing elders of the calf's joint family continued their morning discussion - in the middle of the traffic.
