My mother and I were getting ready for a usual working day when we heard a lot of cawing. We stepped out of the house to notice a crow sitting on the veranda of our building and two others positioned on top of the opposite building. And it was staring right at us. Who knew, this crow and two of its buddies were flying down and clawing the ears of people walking by!
Completely ignorant of all this, we just walked past the veranda where it perched itself. It spared us.
Curious to find the reason for the crows’ attack on people, I asked a neighbour. Apparently, one of the crows had laid eggs on a tree, and they had fallen to the ground! So, these three had decided to take revenge. My mother was not spared either. She was “attacked” later in the evening. Doctors were puzzled because not everyday does somebody walk in and say a crow clawed me!
After moving to Chennai, we have had the pleasure of having two clever crows that never fail to come to our kitchen window sill thrice a day, for food. While three-fourths of the human race is not punctual, crows have a biological clock which is never out of batteries. Sharp at 8 a.m., two of them come demanding food. They have a specific menu which they managed to communicate. No oily food first thing in the morning. These crows enjoy groundnuts in the mornings and appalam in the afternoons. They do not like anything white, plain and stale. If it finds the food delicious, it calls out for others in the community.
Sarayu is a III Year B.A. English student at Women’s Christian College.
