Bon appétit*

I have always been fond of good food, like everybody is. Little did I realize until recently that the biggest boon of life is having food in your plate, whenever you want. Something this big was taught to me by a small bird, which is, believe me, not larger than my fist.

One day, my dad broke some leftover biscuits and put them on our home’s compound wall pillar. I thought he should be crazy and that how would birds or anything for that matter, know that there’s food here, under the trees. But to my surprise, that evening all the biscuits were gone. I didn’t want to believe that they were eaten. Next day too, my dad did the same thing. I was waiting till evening, only to find it empty. Then I decided to find out the real reason myself.

The third day, I volunteered, broke few biscuits into tiny bits and was waiting in our porch, reading a newspaper. I had waited for close to an hour and there was no sign of any bird or anything. When I decided to give up and go inside, I heard the chirp of few birds. The sight was magical. They all lined up, as though they wanted to dine together. Then taking turns they paired up and pecked at the biscuits on the pillar. Once they were done, they flew away, first hopping like little rabbits all over our courtyard.

Before I could start believing what had just happened, a squirrel jumped from within a tree over the pillar. Took a biscuit bit and mumbled at it as though a little kid would bite on his favourite cookie. It was amazing. And by the end of the day, the pillar was empty again, like clockwork.

After that day on, I started liking this small routine of ours. My dad and I then kept more biscuits and also some water in a basin. More birds came. More squirrels came and also did more ants. When there was a time the pillar was empty during the course of the day, we could hear loud chirping all around our home. We would put some more biscuits then. We sometimes had to refill thrice a day. :P

                                        

                                                     

                                        

Finally, this is what I learnt from this small ordeal I went through! To respect the food that I have, understanding that the food that I waste would cause some other living thing remain hungry! To make it a point to eat when I was very hungry and take as much as I could eat. And also, spend more on giving food to helpless homes during my big days and not only on bashes and dresses.

So, let us enjoy what we eat and just pass on the happiness, cos food is best enjoyed when we have it together!! :)

Bon appétit* ! :D

*French word. Meaning – wishing a hearty appetite. Pronounced ˌbɒn apɛˈtiː