Aishani Majumdar
One day I was thinking of pets. ‘Oh, I wish I could have a pet!’ I told Mummy and Daddy. They told me that I first need to grow up so that I can take care of my pet and then only I can have one. Nobody gave me a pet. So I was very sad. Suddenly, one day I saw two eggs lying in our veranda but I did not know how they landed up there. I showed it to my mother, father, grandmother and grandfather. We started discussing about the eggs and then one of them told that it could be the pigeon’s eggs. We have lots of pigeons coming every day to our balcony. Many days went by and I saw the mother pigeon (I named her Beauty) sitting on the eggs, day and night. She did not get up even for once. I wondered how she could survive in this hot summer without any food or water. We gave her grains to eat and water to drink. The eggs finally hatched after a week. From it came out two chicks and they were really ugly. They were pinkish yellow in colour in the beginning and after a few weeks, they grew up and became big beautiful pigeons. I named them Cutie and Fruity. They became my friends. I had lots of fun. Finally they learned to fly and one morning I saw that they have flown away. I am again left with no pets but lots of pleasant memories.
Illustration by Saswati De