Halt for a moment!

Mondays can be dreaded for many reasons. Weekend ends. Work begins. Deadlines appear. Hustle begins. On one such Monday morning, where I was routinely running late, I got the red light for 180 seconds. After shooing off the beggar, my mind started to wander. Looking outside I noticed a flock of crows. They were speeding right above my head, and all I could do was just envy them. Envy them for surpassing the traffic, without any hassle, without waiting for fucking 180 seconds. In my mind, I wished I had wings, wings which would let me fly so that I needn’t crawl.

To my right was a small 3 storeyed vintage building with cracks filled by fungii. It’s colour must have been yellow, which now looks like a pale cream after decades. Yet, on the second floor, what I found peculiarly beautiful was a small birdhouse vividly painted with a coat of bright yellow and blue. The walls of the birdhouse had small square windows to it, the front wall had a typical hole and a small stick attached to it’s front.

While noticing it, I wondered how long till sparrows become extinct too? Would there be any sparrow residing inside? And at that very moment, a sparrow flies with sticks of hay in her beak. A sparrow so tiny that she’d fit in my hand if she came flying to me. The sparrow keeps the twigs inside and comes out of the house,  chirping. Chirping incessantly as if celebrating what all she got.  After observing her for a while, I start enjoying her twitter-y chirping, her song. The petite little sparrow seemed so much at ease on this very hustling Monday. Her carefree singing gave a happy-go-lucky and a feel good vibe. Just staring at her, made me forget everything else for that moment. I’m sure, she must be having her own set of problems yet she was there enjoying like she doesn’t care who’s looking - treating the morning as a blessing.

I swiftly moved ahead as the signal turned green, with a smile on my face and unknowingly started humming. That’s when I realized how caught up we get in our day to day chaos. I quickly made a mental note to myself - to observe things around, and to not rush. Afterall these moments are the ones, which make us smile, which make up life.