It all started with a tulsi plant. My niece, who felt giddy at school, was advised by the teacher to eat a tulsi leaf. The little girl pronounced that she felt decidedly better after doing so. From that day on, the tulsi plant became a fixture of the home.With no courtyard or terrace to boast of, there really was no option but to place my potted tulsi plant on the grill outside the kitchen window. I invited everyone in the family to gaze at it with affection. It was like a roll call every morning. The minute I woke up, it was time to open the window, water the plant, look at it with affection and even talk to it.The routine continued and I soon had dreams of a healthy tulsi plant growing on my kitchen window ledge. That was when a family of pigeons decided to pay attention to the plant: by eating it. Shooing them away was only a temporary measure and getting the plant inside was tricky.Returning home after a couple of days out, I confronted the bitter reality. The plant had all but disappeared. Just a small twig remained and that, I later discovered, was used by the pigeon to make a nest in the pot. Anger soon turned to disbelief when we discovered two eggs in the nest. To my amazement, the entire family was soon caught up with the pigeon giving birth to her chicks. Instead of the routine of watering the plant now, we began to check whether the eggs had hatched. The mother was wary of us. One day she flew away and a glance outside the window revealed that the two eggs were cracking, with dark-coloured hairy chicks exposing their beaks to the world.We caught the mother resting on a bar outside, eyeing us with suspicion. She was waiting for us to close the window so that she could go about her task of protecting the young ones. We decided not to open the window for a while so that the chicks could grow up and fly away. Indeed, one took wing soon enough. The other didn’t. It just wasn’t strong enough to survive. Soon the chick and the pot were thrown away. As for the tulsi plant, it was now just a memory.
