Birds-the symbol of love
Most of us hear that there are thousand and one ways of loving in the world while some others feel there are as many ways of love as count of people in this world. But majority of people think the love is not limited words but love symbols are as important too. People have created many symbols for expressing their love. In fact love symbols in a way assist lovers describing their feelings which often elude them when it comes to show their feelings or emotions whatever you call it and the time thus saved is an important factor in the life of lovers.
Talk of the love and symbols like Cupid, Apple, Harp, heart, maple leaf, rose, shell, triangle etc come to your mind immediately but if we talk in terms of Indian lovers the chances are you will think of Moon, stars, bees, a large black bee (bhramar, bhounra) pair of birds, flowers and thousands more. But if we look at the most used symbols by writers, poets and photographers the pair of birds seems to be the first choice. Watch a pair of birds sitting close together on a branch of tree you will notice they really look like a pair of lovers. So, if some of the poets and writers call them love-birds sounds perfect in their context.
Sometimes when I see a pair of birds sitting together touching each other tenderly makes me feel the matter is not limited to symbols only but they really live the life of true lovers which we expect from human couples as well but it is strange to see that the pair of birds live as true lovers especially the adult couples always live with each other in complete togetherness, totally dedicated to each other. The important fact is that in case of death of their partner the other one never couples with another bird but lives a lonely life forever. Most of us may not find it true but the love for these birds is priority for which they can leave everything else.
The Great Tits
Recently a British university conducted a research on great Tits birds, a bird which resembles to our own Muniya also called Minias (the scientific name Lonchura). But the bird the ‘great tit’ is in fact is a passerine bird from Tit family “The Paridae” to be precise. The Great Tit is found in Europe, Middle East, in Central and Northern Asia, and some of the North African parts. The bird Great Tits generally do not go to other places like some migratory birds barring the extreme winters but in nearby areas. These birds cannot be petted as they love their freedom more than anything else.
Great Tits with black colored tails, heads and multicolored wings lives openly in woods in pairs showing great love for each other. This might sound strange but this bird uses different sounds to communicate with their partners and scientists have so far recorded almost 40 different sounds which they used to send their message to each other. There is much more to their habits apart from living always together and the important part is that each of the partner bird forgets all about their past life once they stay in together and even forget the places they used to visit for food before.
After the pair begins to live together they chose the place for food of one of the partners and totally forget their own place. These birds spend more time sitting together than going out in search of food etc. It will be more fascinating to know that these birds avoid other birds of their own specie or other species but prefer to spend most of their time in the company of their partner bird. In fact, once in relationship they change most of their habits and dedicate themselves to their partners in totality.
The bonding
All this sounds strange but the fact of bonding that these birds show to the human species is something worth following which the human has started to forget lately. There is no doubt that human has spent far greater time together, have better cultural and social history but at the same time we have been facing several social problems emerging due to complications developed in our relations. I remember the story of a young couple both of whom came from rich and affluent families, and strangely they wanted to test their love for each other and whether they will be suited for a long term relationship and finally to test their relationship they both begun to live together. However, a few months into their agreement the boy dies in an accident.
The girl became so upset that she started to see her boy friend in every male. That is a long story how the girl went to a foreign land and meets a look alike and falls in love with him. The rest is suspense and drama which is possible in movies and TV shows only but that is kind of love we see in birds. For sure, we the humans cannot compare ourselves with these birds since their way of living is not only altogether different from us and far more simple but a question often comes to mind- Can’t we learn something from the birds and live a more stable life. Can’t we avoid the trending system of separation of partners at the drop of a hat which is increasing by the day? I am sure there is lot more to learn from Love Birds which will make us happier and healthier.
Conclusion
As the saying goes the LOVE is only a four lettered word but we all find and experience it at some point or the other. We all remember the time we first fell for it and the fragrance of it still looms large in our minds. Most of us have experienced the beautiful emotion which the love brought for us but the true love has remained one of the greatest choices of every human being but the problem is we are continually losing the true feeling of love and finding physical attraction taking over. The true love seems to have been limited to storybooks in most cases.
Image source- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_tit