The Reading Column

Akhila Seshadri
One day, I was browsing the showroom of the Publications Department (which,
incidentally, is in Rajaji Bhavan, dyar! and I came upon a boo" ridiculously priced at
Rs# $%&# I 'ipped through the pages and as I read, it felt li"e I had stumbled upon a
gem( an unnoticed gem# )he foreword by rvind *upta starts out by saying+ ,-ew
Indians would have heard the name of this truly e.ceptional writer/0 nd, further
reading the small bio1note on the author strengthened this notion, for it said that he
was ,the only Indian to have won the 2ewbery 3edal for outstanding children0s
literature#0
nd so, here it is+
Boo"+ *ay12ec" the story of a Pigeon
uthor+ Dhan *opal 3u"herjee
Illustrations+ Boris rt4ybashe5#
I wish I could draw and represent the illustrations in the boo"# But I thin", instead, I
will use technology that was probably created for the li"es of me who have two left
hands6
)his is a moving story of a young boy who rears
pigeons, and writes about one pigeon who was called+
7hitra1griva+ ,7hitra meaning 8painted in gay colours,9
and *riva, 8nec"9 : in one phrase, pigeon *ay12ec"#
;ometimes he was called, 8Iridescence1throated9#0 ;o,
begins the author as he introduces the pigeon to us#
<hen he wrote the story in the =>?%0s he never would
have imagined what a taboo word the name of the
pigeon would become (and so many such words, sigh6!
and I believe that British reprints have renamed the
boo" as 7hitra+ )he ;tory of a Pigeon#
Pigeons are often associated with minimal 'ight, easy
urban life and greed#
In fact, a poem by @illian 3oore emphasises this+
Pigeons are city folk
Content
to live with concrete
and cement.
They seldom
Spy
the sky.
A pigeon never sings
of dell
and fowering hedge,
but busily commutes
from sidewalk
to his ledge.
h pigeon, what a waste of
wings!
But, 3u"herjee0s boo" is about the pigeon0s innate intelligence, a sentient being
that understands love and enjoys life# One of the most intriguing aspects of pigeon
intelligence has always been the homing instinct# )he boo" dwells a little on how the
pigeon is given some basic training to best use that instinct#
)he story is an adventure tale that moves between the streets and lanes of
7alcutta, the Aimalayan forests and war1ridden Burope (<orld <ar I!# It spea"s of
many ideas+ of birds, the nature of 'ora and fauna in India, the war itself and the
destruction, hatred and fear that it causes# )his does not leave even a tiny pigeon
alone# )he story has three narrators+ the young boy, the pigeon and *hond, a hunter,
who is wise in the ways of the jungle, and therefore, life itself#
)he style has within it simplicity and a subtle humour that laces the narrative# -or
instance, when he describes the birth of the pigeon, he says+
"ay#$eck%s birth happened e&actly as ' have described. About the
twentieth day after the laying of the egg, ' noticed that the mother was not
sitting on it any more. She pecked the father and
drove him away every time he few down from the
roof of the house and volunteered to sit on the
egg. Then he cooed, which meant, ()hy do you
send me away*(
She, the mother, +ust pecked him the more,
meaning, (Please go. The business on hand is
very serious(.
At that, the father few away. That worried me,
for ' was an&ious for the egg to hatch, and was
feeling suspicious about its doing it at all. )ith
increased interest and an&iety ' watched the
pigeon#hole. An hour passed. $othing happened.
't was about the third ,uarter of the ne&t hour
that the mother turned her head one way and
listened to something ## probably a stirring inside
that egg. Then she gave a slight start. ' felt as if a
tremor were running through her whole body.
)ith it a great resolution came into her. $ow she raised her head, and took
aim. 'n two strokes she cracked the egg open, revealing a wee bird, all
beak and tiny shivering body! $ow watch the mother. She is surprised. )as
it this that she was e&pecting all these long days* h, how small, how
helpless! The moment she reali-es her child%s helplessness, she covers him
up with the soft blue feathers of her breast.
*ay 2ec"0s adventures ta"es him to narrow escapes from the hated haw"s and
Indian Bu44ards through the forests of the Aimalayas, where he is healed by a wise
old @ama in @amassery in the high mountains of ;i""im# @ater, <hen <orld <ar I
brea"s out, the young master trains *ay12ec" as a messenger for the Indian army in
Burope# )here, an injured *ay12ec" delivers a critical message, saving many lives#
)his is where the story intersects with fact#
I read recently on a wordpress blog by Rrishi Raote about the use of pigeons in war
and especially a pigeon who had earned fame in the war, called 7her mi( and I
Cuote him here+
.ew now remember Cher Ami, but in the /012s and /032s this heroic
pigeon was a household name in America. 'n ctober /0/4, a battalion of
the 55th 6ivision was cornered on a hillside, taking heavy friendly 7re.
)hen 822 men had become 122, the commanding o9cer dispatched carrier
pigeons to tell the artillery to stop shelling. The 7rst two pigeons were
immediately shot down, but the third and last, Cher Ami, struggled through
the 7restorm to deliver the message. :e took a bullet in the chest, lost an
eye, and arrived with one leg dangling by a tendon. ;ecause he was a hero
to the 55th, army medics stitched him together with the greatest care and
also carved him a wooden leg. Cher Ami died the following year and today
can be seen stu<ed in the Smithsonian.
3u"herjee probably drew on this story in narrating *ay12ec"0s brushes with 3en0s
war and its ugly scenes# It ma"es an even greater impact when we read the narrative
in *ay12ec"0s perspective#
)he imagery is star" when the pigeon tal"s of+ $ow and then they unmu--led a
metal dog that barked =spitting out 7re for a long stretch of time. Then
came the laughter of a hyena. :undreds of men goaded those little pups to
an awful coughing = puck pu<, puck pu<, puck pu<. That sound was
drowned in the deep#toned cry of the eagles above who few in focks and
barked as well as screeched like mad, slaying each other like so many
sparrows>.
<ith many grave dangers, loss of Aira, his pigeon pal, and barely surviving the war,
*hond and *ay 2ec" return to India# But 3u"erjee had a Dnal message to give+
)hen they reached Calcutta in ?arch, ' could not believe my eyes when '
saw them. "hond looked as frightened as "ay#neck, and both of them
appeared very sick. "hond, after he had delivered my pigeon to me,
e&plained a few matters before he departed to the :imalayas. @' need to be
healed of fear and hate. ' saw too much killing of man by man>A
nd later, the boy ta"es his pigeon to the lamasery in ;i""im and cures him of fear#
bout the author+
Dhan *opal 3u"herjee was born in a village in Bengal to a family of Brahmin
priests# Ae was disillusioned with the regressive thin"ing of caste based Ainduism
and gave up the ascetic life he was leading to study in 7alcutta# @ater, he joined his
brother, Eadugopal, who was member of the nushilan Party, a revolutionary party in
Bengal that was committed to Dghting the British colonial rule in India# Ais brother
was jailed for his political activities and to escape a similar fate, his parents sent him
to Eapan# Ae then sailed to ;an -ransisco and was at F7 Ber"eley and later graduated
from ;tanford Fniversity, where he also taught 7omparative @iterature as a course#
-ollowing <orld <ar I, 3u"herjee returned to India, where he dedicated himself to
promoting greater awareness of his countryGs many di5erent cultures# Politically he
was a member of the Indian independence movement# Ae wrote his Drst boo", Kari,
the Elephant, for children in =>??# Promoting the notion that people should live in
harmony with nature( the story is set in the jungle 3u"herjee grew up in# )he author
vividly describes the jungleGs wildlife, something he did in many of his other wor"s, as
well as lin"ing together incidents from his own early childhood# 3u"herjee published
his autobiography, Caste and Outcast, in =>?$#
In =>?H 3u"herjee published his most famous boo", Gay-Neck: The Story of a
Pigeon, which won the =>?I 2ewbery 3edal# In an interview in Ne!ery "edal
#ooks: $%&&-$%'', 3u"herjee e.plained that much of the boo" Jis a record of my
e.perience with about forty pigeons and their leader# # # # I had to go beyond my
e.periences, and had to draw upon those of the trainers of army pigeons# nyway,
the message implicit in the boo" is that man and the winged animals are brothers#J
7alling Gay-Neck Jthe heart warming and sometimes almost heartbrea"ing story of
the training and care of a carrier pigeon,J Bli4abeth ;eeger noted in her review for
(orn #ook that J*ay12ec" is truly a carrier pigeon, a bearer of messages, and his
messages are words of courage and love#J 3u"herje closes Gay-Neck by saying+ ($o
labour would be in vain if it could heal a single soul of Bfear and hateC. . . .
)hatever we think and feel will colour what we say or do. :e who fears,
even unconsciously, or has his least little dream tainted with hate, will
inevitably, sooner or later, translate those two ,ualities into his action.
Therefore, my brothers, live courage, breathe courage and give courage.
Think and feel love so that you will be able to pour out of yourselves peace
and serenity as naturally as a fower gives forth fragrance. Peace be unto
all.(
-inally, a word about the illustrations by Boris rt4ybashe5, with just blac" and
white, the essence of the story of the bac"ground is so beautifully conceived that you
must read the boo" to enjoy it# 2o description will bring out its beauty through to
you# (;ee the sample on the previous page!#
*ay 2ec" is something all boo" lovers, and therefore wisdom lovers, human lovers
must loo" for#