The call of the cuckoo..

I was awakened from my peaceful slumber this morning by the call of a cuckoo. So pleasant was it’s sound that I lay awake a couple of minutes more hoping to hear it once again. It must have been perched on the tree just outside my house. As I stood sipping my tea, I tried to look for it on that tree from the window of my living room. I did not find it anywhere nor did I hear it coo again till I left for my work.

He must have chuckled in glee to indicate the end of the Bangalore winter; ushering in the spring or it must have sung to attract its mate. But those two notes stayed in my mind as I left home to board my bus this morning. I began to notice that the winter was indeed receding.. Fresh green leaves were sprouting on many of the trees that were bald even a week ago. The newly blossomed bougainvilleas stood beautifully in all their myriad colours on people’s house compounds. The early morning wind was less crispy today and I could feel the sun fiercely penetrating through the bus’s window to warm my cheeks.

I was feeling very low since the last few days and today since the time I heard the cuckoo sing, I felt my mood slightly go upbeat. It has made me want to travel to some place else… some place near a brook…away from the everyday din...under the clear blue sky…beneath a canopy of trees.. listening to more country birds sing and lie soaking in the imminent spring. I hope I am able to gather a few of my friends together and travel away atleast for a weekend to some such place soon.

I hoped he was the first cuckoo of the spring that I heard..it gives me hope to look forward to more such wonderful daybreaks.