Lovebirds and their nakhras

Welcoming pets into the family starts off with a lot of takaluf, politeness, extra care and attention. But it wears off. 

I'll explain. 

Kavita has been doing so many chores for Aboo in exchange for pocket money and, also collected piles of Eidee so I promised to get her 'approved pets.' This means, pets my father won't chuck out of the house. 

Now, the main reason she actually wants them is she is direly jealous of her friend who has many pets, including a cat and parakeets and I think some goats.  Aboo threatened to throw out any feline straight out of the house. So, that was a no no.  

To make matters worse, my brother in London has not one, but 2 Persian Cats who seem to be some kind of clones of Snarf from Thundercats. They are very cute. 

So, Kavita has really been pining for pets. I also keep reminding her that she never really cared much for our Bijlee back in Monrovia and, used to smack her on the head with her a pillow when Bijlee was only a few months old. This makes her cry.  And, wants to get pets. 

For all this, when we were at the Bird Shop (which also sold mountain bikes, bikes and, cycling gear in this cramped shop with screeching exotic parrots and budgies in F-10/4), we set our hearts on lovebirds instead of the generic budgie. Kavita nearly fainted because she couldn't believe she was finally getting a pet, or rather a couple of pets. 

She kept saying I was the best mother in the world. 

When we brought the beautiful green peach - faced lovebirds home, my father approved right away because they weren't dogs or cats. 

We picked a pair which had already laid eggs but somehow the fellow at the shop didn't want to give us the eggs. He said in this heat, the birds wouldn't sit on the eggs but I am not so sure. He said we should keep our birds out of the heat and in a month's time he would come and install a 'ghonsla' in our cage. 

The birds live with us in the very cool and well-lit basement, where we ourselves retreat in the hot summer months. It's practically another climate down here. I think the birds could have easily hatched the eggs given how cool it is down here. Also, all they do is hide in the 'ghonsla' when we go too near the cage or , when they get sick of our conversations. 

The beginning was very polite and careful. Kavita dutifully changed the water and fed the lovebirds their bajra. We have learned they are crazy about sunflower seeds so we bought extra and give it to them as a treat. Kavita talks to them at length. I have a specific, musical "Hello" I use for them and they turn their head sideways when they hear it. 

Oh, I nearly forgot. We named them Laila Majnu and, Kavita thinks the one with a white mark is Majnu. 

The early days were fun. To encourage them to chirp, we played YouTube videos of lovebirds chirping. And, you will not believe what song Laila Majnu sing when they hear those videos.  If it rains or even for a change of scenery we take them to the porch upstairs which they love. 

Now, the novelty has worn off and, Kavita doesn't spend as much time as before and I have to remind her that these are her pets. If I joke to Laila Majnu that Kavita has forgotten all about them, she bursts into tears. Even if I tease her and, tell stories about her to Laila Majnu, she takes me aside, bursts into tears and says I hurt her feelings. 

Similarly, I use the birds to tease Aboo. I once left them with him while he was watching TV and loudly asked them "Make sure Aboo doesn't watch fazool Urdu dramas". Then he retorts and says, that he in fact has trained them to spy on me. 

He loves talking about the 50 budgies that he once had in the garage and then, he just gave them away. He told Kavita a story of bravery where he smacked a cat who was terrorising his budgies with a walking stick. 

He shushed them once when we were all sitting on the porch, drinking tea, during a monsoon rain, and Kavita stomped her feet "Why is Aboo shushing my birds?" I told her, he was just making amiable sounds. 

Kavita consoles herself that she doesn't have a cat because otherwise they would eat her lovebirds. In fact, she herself shooed away Bilquis who was banging on Laila Majnu's cage when we brought them for a change of scenery in the balcony. Kavita had hardly looked away for 1 minute and there was our beloved neighbourhood cat who we often leave chicken bones for trying to eat our lovebirds. 

Laila Majnu must have been traumatised but I think they have forgotten about it. What really annoys me is that they are still so scared of us. They still show fear and flap about if we come too close. 

When we first got them, they wouldn't go near the food dish. I looked it up and read that feeding makes animals feel vulnerable so it could take a few days until they felt comfortable enough to start feeding. Thankfully, it took them about a day. Even then, they kept watching their back. So, we put one cage against side of a sofa and, let them face the light well in the basement. 

I recently tied up a clay ghonsla in the cage myself and they are so happy with it. But they just hide in it if they don't want to see our faces. 

I've noticed they chirp louder once we leave the room. That really annoys me. Like they are happy we left the room.

But maybe they are annoyed with us because we keep checking every 2 minutes whether they have laid any eggs or not. 

For now, we have to wait. And enjoy their birdsong from another room.