Life on the farm is always interesting, and I so need
to tell you about this hen we have (one of many) .She is small, petite and is a
mix of silver, brown feathers and the caretakers call her Chinese murgi. She
just has a mind of her own, is a vagabond and refuses to toe the line. She
caused uproar last week by not coming to roost in her coop. In the twilight zone,
she just managed to escape her warden and spent a night out! The entire farm
was looking for her; you see we have brought up her to be a free- range,
organic type of chick.
She roams around all day long, pecking, and having a
great time, stress-free and voila her eggs are stress free!
So, it was a cause of great concern when she went
missing and after a while when we had looked at all her roosting places, she
was found busy eating her insects under the fruit tree.
She just wants to be free and not be tied up to anything,
I guess it’s the flavor of the season. The change that
we seek in our lives is so apparent in even the birds that live around us.
Maybe she just doesn’t want to lay eggs, which knows what’s cooking in her
mind.
Do we ever let go of the control that rules every
moment of our lives and just keeps us guarded and under scrutiny? There are
certain rules and regulations that control and dictate our every move we make. Sometimes,
I feel we are under pressure to perform and to be in a certain manner to make
not oneself happy but the world.
There are unwritten dictates that govern how we dress, talk, speak and project one. It’s all an image projection to make and fit in this world. So many times, we do things just because we worry what people will say. In fact, the social and mental conditioning is so ingrained in us that we in turn do this to our children and so forth. It starts at an early age, where one is fed images of being this good child, be thin, fair, have a good figure (yes, it starts very young now). Children are subconsciously given an image which they want to measure up to, be fair, be smart, trendy wear all the right designer clothes and not speak one’s mother tongue (that is so desi, verni). Only English and Hindi , mind you , and it’s important for the boys and girls to blend in , no one should have the Sikh joora or long pigtails! Imagine, the bullying a young child goes through over his religious identity. Children can be cruel and they can reduce another to tears and also cause lack of confidence. It changes drastically as one grows older and worsens and spirals to other problems, like depression and stress.
There are unwritten dictates that govern how we dress, talk, speak and project one. It’s all an image projection to make and fit in this world. So many times, we do things just because we worry what people will say. In fact, the social and mental conditioning is so ingrained in us that we in turn do this to our children and so forth. It starts at an early age, where one is fed images of being this good child, be thin, fair, have a good figure (yes, it starts very young now). Children are subconsciously given an image which they want to measure up to, be fair, be smart, trendy wear all the right designer clothes and not speak one’s mother tongue (that is so desi, verni). Only English and Hindi , mind you , and it’s important for the boys and girls to blend in , no one should have the Sikh joora or long pigtails! Imagine, the bullying a young child goes through over his religious identity. Children can be cruel and they can reduce another to tears and also cause lack of confidence. It changes drastically as one grows older and worsens and spirals to other problems, like depression and stress.
Imagine if my hen was controlled and had to lay eggs
like clockwork, all she asks for is freedom to scratch the mud and eat her
insects! And, a night out some times, not asking much, just letting her is as
Mother Nature intended. Some times, all it takes us to do is take a chill pill,
go back to our roots and do some wandering …
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