In Kanpur little Babu briefly lived in a house near the gate of campus later moved over to a bigger house on the other side with a large Ber Tree in front of the house. Here there was a large Gular tree in front of the house. In season it bore tasteless fruits similar to Timla in Shri Badolgaon. Whereas a good Timla fruit will have honey like sap inside, Gular fruit was dry, salty and tasteless nevertheless he along with other kids ate a lot of them after which his mouth will become dry, dull and lose any sense of taste. There were other trees nearby; lots of birds making nests in those trees in particular crows. Now crows are nasty birds, you cannot take “punga” with them.
In the center away from the dwellings there was a cemented ground with semicircular pavilion where army band came for practice. Next to it was probably junior officer’s mess. Little Babu with other kids would run to that cemented ground and watch with fascination bands practicing. If it was Brass Band, it appealed to him on the other hand if it was Pipe Band, he hated the wailing refrain of the Pipe Band. If the children made ruckus, the supervisor would chase them away.
One evening after watching the Band practice he detached from the gang and drifted away. Wandering aimlessly, he settled down under a leafy but not very tall tree. As the evening light dimmed, he began his languorous walk home. All of a sudden, a crow started hovering over him and then attacked him with his talons. Little Babu ran furiously towards home in the mean timer crow managed to hit him on his head a couple of times. It was a nightmare, a bewildering senseless attack. The funny thing is little fellows do not have a sense of reasoning, sense of causality therefore no victimhood lament. Surely somebody must have done something to that crow’s nest and it must have mistaken little Babu for the culprit.
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