This joy unraveled itself to me as a pleasant surprise. It was the most pleasant surprise of my life.
I don’t remember the exact year, it must be some time between 2001-2003, a cyclonic weather formed in my hometown, Burdwan. In
During this weather disturbance I first encountered a hungry squirrel, I was drinking tea in our verandah, when that little thing scurried toward me, it was desperate with hunger because it started to eat crumbs hardly a feet away from me, so I did what every human being will do I guess, I slowly placed down a piece of biscuit as far away from myself as I could and it instantly grabbed it and ran away a little distance to eat it. Soon another follwed it and by the end of an hour I was happily feeding atleast a dozen of them and some bulbuls or nightingales. Thus started a strange routine.
I bought a few packets of puffed rice and started to feed the squirrels, the weather cleared after a week but they did not ran away. I fed them till the last day I spent in Burdwan, that is seventh August 2005. We left early in the morning but I scattered the last meal for them in the garden before leaving.
They taught me how pleasing it is to feed a hungry soul. Very rare joys can compete with this specific joy I believe. The trust in their eyes, their childish pranks for food, the memory of those days will be treasured in my heart forever.
