Tehni pay kisi shajar kay tanha
bulbul tha koi udaas baytha
kehta tha ki raat honay ko aaye
udnay chugnay may din guzara
pohonchun kis tarah aashiyaan tak
chaarun taraf hay chayaa andhayrah…
There was a poem we learnt at school.. I believe standard two, Urdu ki dusri kitab has this famous poem by Iqbal, which speaks of a bulbul that couldn’t find its way home as it was dark. The poem then speaks of how a jugnu, the firefly comes to rescue with its tiny light.
That poem was filled with a moral lesson that is meant to teach children that however small you might be, Allah, the Creator, has provided each of his creation with something special that can be used to extend help to others… A profound message in the simplest of words and easy to understand analogy….
Anyways… that was the philosophical side of the bulbul story.. but what I wish to narrate is the story of how the Bulbul decided to come to our software development center for an official visit.
The bubul at office….
Nobody knows how the bulbul managed to tresspass the areas that are out of bound for all living creatures (no.. i didnt imply that the ones inside are dead…), but well, somehow from some corner, from some open window, the bulbul came in…
I wonder whether it was curiosity or plain case of lost mind that landed (while still in flight) the bulbul in the office… I wonder what it thought when it saw a world that was so so so very different from the one that he was used to… no trees, no birds.. some boxes and people stuck to the boxes… no colours… shades of gray, white, black…no emotions.. blank faces with an expression of :|….
It must have freaked out!
From one corner to another it flew.. in search for freedom…
A thousand thoughts might have crossed the minds of the bulbul as it flew… it must have felt suffocated in thought and due to the physical limits…reminds me of that couplet
Qayd may hay bulbul, sayyaad muskurayay
Raha bhi na jayay, kuch kaha bhi na jayay…
(I have absolutely no idea where this came from.. but well.. its about the bulbul… )..
but well.. nobody was muskuraying…. most of the people were most uninterested in the fate of the bulbul except for a few people who couldn’t help noticing… the rest of the office was stuck to the computers…
anyways…
the bulbul did get its freedom after untiring efforts by the office boy to show the bulbul the way to freedom…
I wonder what what the bulbul would write, if he could write about his official visit to the office…
or maybe he would sing while he awaits spring
a sad song
with drama and emotion
of lifeless creatures
of those without freedom…
aaah! flight….freedom…..the good things in life.
