Hornbill - it's all about loving your family.

Amidst all that’s happening in the world there are stories which make you believe that goodness still prevails and the sharp edges of the world can be molded by the moistness of love.  

A close friend who is a passionate birder, over gin and tonic, once shared a beautiful story, which left me mushy in the vacuum of my cerebral.

I learnt from him, a story about compassion between two different species which led to saving lives.

A male Malabar Grey Hornbill died when it was hit by a vehicle in the Puliyilappara region in Athirappilly. Now if this was a part of an Ekta Kapoor series, we all know, there’s not much to worry about, cause the Hornbill will be reborn in another part of the country, he will avenge his death, then find his kids and live happily ever after with their mother.

But this particular Hornbill had no such luck.

Hornbills build their nest in tree cavities or rock crevasses that are sealed shut except for a narrow, vertical slit. After the female has made herself comfortable in a good nesting site the male brings lumps of soil moistened with his saliva and sometimes augmented with droppings, chewed wood, bark and other detritus. Together they build a wall of mud: he from the outside and she from the inside. The soil is applied with the side of the mouth. Once the wall is complete, the female is sealed inside the nest with only a small hole to the outside through which to get food and communicate.

The slit is about a half inch wide: wide enough to pass food through but narrow enough to seal out potential predators.

The male Hornbill constantly makes feeding trips to and fro, carrying geckos, seeds, insects, frogs, slugs, berries and occasionally snakes in it his bill, to provide enough nourishment to the female all through her incubation period which could last from 25 to 45 days. The males of some large forest species swallow fruits and regurgitate them one at a time to feed the female.

This feeding trip can increase up to 70 times a day, when the chicks are born.

During their time in the nesting, the female and her young are totally dependent on the male for food. If something happens to him, or he doesn’t return, the female doesn’t break out. Initially believing that he’s in hiding due to a looming danger, she stays put to protect her little ones.

Eventually without nourishment for days, she and the chicks are now too weak to break the mud wall and often the whole family perishes.

                              

Now imagine what happened when the Male Malabar Grey Hornbill was hit by the car while finding food for his birdlings?

Read the moving story here on - Mathrubhumi news

Let's start with cleaning our house.

Found this article, and I don’t think it could’ve been worded better. 

The cleaning needs to start from within our household. 

It's sad that many are trying to shade the current situation with religion, politics or feminism. Humanity seems to be missing from the palette. But we all hope, that when we stop being blinded by these colours, mankind emerges in a different shade.

The daughter of Sanji Ram was shocked that how could her father, an old man, be accused of such a heinous crime. 

The wife of the Unnao rape case accused, Sangeeta Sengar, met with Uttar Pradesh’s DGP on Wednesday and demanded a narco-analysis test on her husband as well as on the woman who has accused him of rape. She said nothing about the victim’s father who was beaten to death.

There are people who got upset about a holy ‘Devsthan’ being dragged into a controversy.

Many those that posted articles in retaliation - Muslim men gang-raping a Hindu woman.

We have all known of that friend who is forever forwarding sexual jokes, cause sex is the funniest thing.

We have friends who say 90 percent of women get sexually molested as kids, it’s normal.

But it has to stop being normal.

She was flirting with him, leading him on and then backed out. She had it coming.

As we’ve seen in Pink, a woman, even after accepting cash, to complete a sexual service has the right to change her mind. The fight if at all, should be about returning the money for incomplete services and not on her right of refusal. Because no matter where you are, who you are or what you’ve done to come this far, there is always a right of refusal.

Most protests against sexual assault on women turn into nothing but that. Should we stop mass protesting?

Is sex education the answer? Apparently not, as we’ve seen in the west.

Beta bachao so that beti bachegi.

The Juvenile in the Kathua case will walk free, as did the one in Nirbhaya’s case.

Did Kathua rape case become a bigger and more intolerable one because the girl was brutally murdered as against the ones who survive?

Will there ever be a protest to save the married beti who is constantly savagely raped by her husband?

The cleaning needs to start within. We need to ask ourselves how much are tolerant with?

How much are we willing to shield ourselves versus identifying the father, aunt, uncle, cousin who did this?

We have all grown up in households where the victim is grounded to protect him/her from being molested, while the perverted predators roam free preying on other unsuspecting pawns.

Let’s start by cleaning our house. Let’s start with not being ashamed.

Let’s start with dialogue.

https://medium.com/@sonorajha/dear-india-when-youre-done-marching-for-asifa-clean-up-your-homes-42ed8abb5a04

October

What happens when you are faced with a grave decision of either turning the life support machine off or giving your loved one’s organs a fair chance, to fight it out for themselves?

Every step you take is weighed down by the pressure of a huge block, piling on your already bending back. Life as you know it, becomes slow - And that’s what Shoojit Sircar’s movie October may be – slow, yet beautiful.

Shuili Iyer, played by debutant Banita Sandhu and Dan (Varun Dhawan) are hotel management interns. There is no bond between them initially to write about in the books.

A freak accident finds Dan unexplainably drawn and attached to his bed ridden colleague Shuili, and how a bond with no previous foundation is born, is what October is about.

Varun Dhawan has played eccentric Dan to the hilt. He’s maintained a consistency in his character’s idiosyncrasy and the complexity of a 21 year old, unlike that in Tamasha (In spite of my undying love for Ranbir and Imitiaz) where the character changes as per the demand of the locale and lyrics.

Dan’s aggressive nature set in by boredom and continuously doing the grave yard shift gets him into a lot of trouble. He is that person we all know, who means well, yet can’t please anyone.

While watching the film, at no point did Dan leave me behind in his journey, a superstar never reared his ugly head. That, I think is the most commendable thing any actor can do.

Varun Dhawan, with this performance will prove that while he can climb onchi buildings jab lift teri band hai, he can also hold your hand gently as you patiently wait with him in the hospital room.

When Juhi Chaturvedi the writer of the film was asked "what is so special about Dan?" She said, “If there is something called unconditional love, something called surrender, something called ‘purity of emotions,’ like when you do things knowing that there is nothing you are going to get in return, Dan is the kind of character who will force you to believe in that kind of love.”

Banita Sandhu is a risk taker. Not to choose songs, bikinis, beautiful locals for a debut, but instead, a film with three dialogues, a hospital bed, and prosthetics for a disfigured face, takes guts.  

I believe she’s created enough mystique about herself for people to want to see more of what she’s got. Her stillness and silence speak volumes.

The dry humour in Juhi's writing is situational and the lack of melodrama in any emotional scene, prevents you from falling apart at the seams. This, I think has left many confused. What you feel is a grey space. You feel for the characters, but we’ve been taught that breakdowns are not credible without tears. Gitanjali Rao’s brilliant performance as a confused, loving, grieving mother holds you together. There are no songs, scenes or dialogues reminiscing the good old days, forcing the audience to reflect on the harshness that life has vetted out. It’s all a matter of fact. Shit happens, life steps in it, out of it and then walks on, taking it's stench along. 

The background score is not distracting and Shantanu Moitra’s melody in Theher Ja, has been on a loop in my life for a while.

The one consistent thing written about this film is that, it is mind numbingly slow & pretentious. However, I’d like to point out, the pace picks up every time the scene is not about Shuili or her family but calms back like a receding wave, when it becomes about them. This is the stark difference, between the lives of those directly affected and bystanders – period.

The editor Chandrashekhar Prajapati has done a commendable job editing, letting scenes breathe in silence. Less is more.

But if silence in Udaan and Lootere made you uncomfortably shifty, then I suggest you give this one a miss too and go drink at your local bar instead, there’ll be plenty of action there.

October is true to its tagline – It’s not a love story, it’s a story about love.