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7             A Family on the Roof










                    One evening, my mother called me excitedly from the balcony. I went up and
                    looked to where she was pointing. I saw an egg among the entwined creepers on
                    the roof of our patio. I thought it could be a snake’s egg. Sometimes we did spot
                    snakes slithering among the bushes! But, a snake’s egg could not have been this

                    big! Then it occurred to me that it could be a peahen’s egg. There were many in our
                    neighbourhood.

                                                                   The next evening, my mother told me that
                                                                   she had spotted another egg. Wonderful
                                                                   news! This meant we had a regular visitor.
                                                                   I have always longed for a pet, now I was
                                                                   lucky to own one!


                                                                   The next evening I noticed another egg, and
                                                                   I was sure of our friend’s intentions. She had
                                                                   decided to make our roof her home! I was
                                                                   overjoyed. I repeatedly counted the eggs.
                                                                   The following day was the most memorable –
                                                                   there were four eggs. The next morning,
                                                                   I finally saw the peahen. I dropped a few

                                                                   pieces of bread and roti on to the roof.

                                                                   I had to wait for twenty-one days for the
                                                                   eggs to hatch. It had become a daily ritual
                                                                   to watch the mother bird. I didn’t see her
                                                                   moving an inch in spite of the sun. On some
                                                                   days, it rained heavily and I was sure the
                                                                   bird was cold too. Though it’s nice to have

                                                                   some showers especially in the hot season,
                                                                   for the mother hen it was not so.





                     entwined : twisted together                         slithering : movement of a snake

                     patio : an adjoining place outside a                peahen : female of a peacock
                            house for sitting                            longed : wished

                                                                         intentions : plans to do something
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