Letter from Shabnam Minwalla

Letter from author Harshikaa Udasi

Dear young readers,

Guess how I woke up this morning?

Fii fii fii fii fii fiyum fiyum…

Two weeks ago, when I was sitting in the rush city of Mumbai, if I had heard that sound, I would have surely thought it was my phone ringing with someone on the other side waiting to ask me about work. Mumbai is the sort of city that doesn’t let anybody walk or take a stroll. We are forever running. You know, right, how everyone keeps running from one place to another – moms, dads, uncles, aunts, teachers, even you?

But since March 16, my phone is pushed away to one corner of my house. So peculiar sounds mean only few things to me – either my son is calling out my name, or my tummy is making noises and asking for food, or there is a new bird whose lovely voice is echoing through my house. So when I woke up today, I rushed, not to work but to our backyard!

I am writing to you from a small town called Deolali which is in Nasik, about 4 hours from Mumbai if you drive to it. When I look at my house in Mumbai and then at the one in Deolali, I feel I am currently in a queen’s palace. We have a small backyard with several plants and trees (you see, my mom loves gardening!) We have a verandah too but that space is covered with clotheslines zigzagging through. Also, you can’t walk without tumbling over Whitey, the Resident King of the Verandah. He is our society dog who comes and stays with us whenever we are in Deolali. Why we decided to call him Whitey is something I can’t quite remember. He is a strange shade of brown with streaks of grey. Moreover the rest of the society calls him Rocky.

But wasn’t I saying something else? Well, that’s typical me. I always forget to complete what I begin. If all the different things in my mind were like letters of the English alphabet then this would be my state. See, I begin at point A and decide to go to point B. On the way, I stroll across to point L and then someone from point S calls out and I promptly jump there. Finally, I remember that point B was my actual destination and run back. Did you understand? No? Well, don’t bother. Let me just tell you what that Fii fii fii fii fii fiyum fiyum sound was.

A little bird was in my backyard. I am a small-time birder thanks to my son, and realized she was a Fantail. I could see her trying to fly between the low branches of the prajakta tree and the madhumalti creeper. The strange part was that she wasn’t making great progress. She sang a bit, then flew a bit, and nearly dashed into the mango tree every single time. But she tried again and again and again. I watched her for at least 15 minutes in amazement till I realized I have tea to prepare and clothes to wash. I would’ve forgotten all about her but in the silence of the afternoon I heard her sing. There she was. Doing the same thing over and over again. I am not a great photographer else I would’ve recorded her for you. I mean, even though she was ‘trying’ to fly she was too fast for me.

As I write this, I can hear her once more. It’s a good place to learn flying, our backyard, lined with short trees and dense shrubs of fragrant flowers. There is a small area to the left where the tiles have sunk a little so water gets collected there and my little friend takes a lovely bath too!

But here is what I really want to tell you. You know what this whole stay at home exercise has taught me? I hate to call it lockdown – it feels like I am in a prison. It has taught me to try out different things and not get annoyed. Just like my fantailed friend out there. I am sure one day she will fly much higher but now it is time for her to stay in and practice what she is going to be best at. So guess what I am trying to do? I am trying to find out what I may be good at. I am practicing rolling out round chapatis, learning to play the guitar (my son’s my teacher!), rediscovering my carrom skills, recycling water since most of the housework is being done by house members and more. On my to-learn list is cutting my hair – I wish my hairdresser had an online class!

I would love to hear your stories – who is inspiring you? Do you have tiny friends like mine? How are you keeping yourself happy? And what new things are you up to?

Forever trying (and 99 ¾ times doing an okay enough job),

Harshikaa 

Harshikaa Udasi is a children's author who is currently spending her time looking out of the window in the hope that interesting ideas blow straight into her head. She's written Kittu's Very Mad Day and several short stories in anthologies. Her upcoming book, Friends Behind Walls, is staying behind walls for now just as the rest of us. You can be sure she's sending express prayers everyday to whoever-is-out-there for Covid to pass.