SHARON AND THE BIRDS

(The enchanting sounds of a tiny tot and some flying musicians)




One day I was standing on a sidewalk talking to a friend when we were jolted out of our skins by the ear-piercing air horn of a minibus that went past us belching out raucous music. And I noticed that almost every vehicle on the road was horning loudly for no particular reason. Motorcyclists zigzagged past pedestrians and vehicles sounding loud horns. Autorickshaws honked incessantly in their off-key manner, and even cyclists rang their bells with frantic haste.



Noises Aplenty

One never could tell what made all this horning necessary. Anyway it was noisy pandemonium everywhere. Excessive noise has become part of the atmosphere we have to live in.



Another day I saw a car parked near Apollo Hospital. The driver was pressing a finger on the horn, causing a continuous noise. No one knew why he did that. Perhaps it was his hobby. Even the auto drivers were irritated.



And then there were those who clung to their cell-phones and yelled into them at the top of their voices. Some have small earphones and when they carry on a loud conversation people turn to look at them wondering whether they are madmen talking to themselves. And of course there were strident loudspeakers in every private or public function.



So it is noise, noise, noise everywhere. Getting tired of all this noise one goes home and turns on the TV, hoping to listen to some soothing music. And there is the jumping jack of a hero gyrating like mad and leaping about like a wounded deer and thirty or forty men bouncing about along with him as “music” blares forth setting one’s teeth on edge. Or it is the heroine and her friends jerking their hips about in time to screeching music.



Goo-goos and Giggles

And as one starts feeling that the world has become an unpleasantly noisy place, some sounds come from the neighbouring apartment that soothes one and brings a smile to one’s lips. These are the gurgling and burbling sounds made by Sharon, a six-month old baby girl. She is in form in the mornings and we have made it a point to sit and listen to her. It is a pleasant change from the noises that beset us everywhere. She is particularly enthusiastic in her dove-like cooing when her father comes home from work. The zest with which she greets him can warm the cockles of one’s heart. And as the proud parents take turns petting her, the babyish music continues. What a change from the noises elsewhere !



After she finishes her concert, we go to the balcony on the western side of our flat from where we can hear the birds. There are a lot of trees there and lots of birds. I usually sit at the balcony reading the newspaper. And this is accompanied by tweeting choruses of a host of birds. There are parrots, mynahs, seven sisters, kingfishers and some other unidentifiable birds. Some birds like the parrots make their twittering sound like a conversation conducted in cooing tremolos. So we enjoyed some of the pleasantest sounds in the mornings. Sharon and the birds kept us enthralled.



And then a policeman living in a nearby building decided to rear and train some dogs. Came the dogs, barking and yelping at all odd hours of the day and night. The policeman kept yelling at them “Yey!”, which was his idea of training. This was worse than the dog noises. The four dogs had different kinds of barking, making one think of bass, baritone, tenor and alto. Fortunately he has not acquired a soprano so far. And together the dogs and their trainer succeeded in bringing the noise levels up in a residential area making it worse than the most congested traffic junction. So we were disturbed right in our apartment at all hours of the day and night.



All this has made us feel that in this noisy place the only pleasant sounds worth hearing are those made by Sharon and the birds.