an itinerant observer

Ms. Primrose, the possum, had kept us guessing as to her real identity. Noori had thought that she was some mysterious person in her backyard that was digging up the grass in a frenzy, looking for buried treasure. At night time, the movement in the backyard would activate the motion-detector lights. These inexplicable happenings in her own backyard were driving the excitable kindergartener’s imagination wild. One day, while pottering around in her backyard, Noori thought she had finally figured out who this really was. She came up to me excitedly and pointed to the fence and screamed: “ Biloongra !” (Biloongra is a kitten in the Urdu / Punjabi language). I was amazed to see the creature that resembled quite an unusual Biloongra - certainly could have been a mutant one. Unlike a regular cat or kitten this one happened to have a snout and a long hairless tail. While it scaled the fence it occurred to me that this was not a Biloongra at all. It happened to be a possum. And...

Mr. Cisneros’ ‘the extinction of the passenger pigeon’ was a beautifully constructed piece that resonated long after it had been read.  It was interesting to be reminded of one of life's greatest realities: when power is inherited, not earned, it runs the horrible risk of being misused. Mr. Cisneros’ mention of the half-baked-ness of the perpetrator communicates this well: all it took to wipe out a species from Earth was a 10-year-old's falsely inculcated sense of luxury; an attempt to get rid of his boredom, perhaps. But ending life in the blink of an eye is one thing; and forcing someone to spend 29 long, painful years in captivity is another. Sure, Martha has been 'allowed' the luxury to breathe and croon - but little else. She has been cursed with the feeling of 'never knowing'...and that is one of the scariest prospects in life. To be denied innate emotions and abilities - to fly, mate, have a family - is criminal, and I ca...

John James Audubon, the famous ornithologist, first noticed the migrating pigeons in 1813, then estimated to be as many as five billion in the United States. On March the 14 th , 1900, a towheaded boy of 10 proud of his new rifle shot and killed the last male Passenger Pigeon while it ate its last meal as any condemned prisoner. The last authenticated female Passenger Pigeon named “Martha” lived an ordinary life. She lived for twenty-nine years in captivity eating, drinking, sleeping and perching, perhaps listening for the beckoning call of a mate that would never come. On September the 1 st , 1914, while sitting on her naked branch, her head slumped, her body quivered and unbeknownst, fell to the floor lifeless. She was never to know the closeness of mating, raising squabs, or the joy of togetherness in flight. The support of multitudinous wings fanning the winds around her was forever denied, a sensation only the flock can offer. Captivity deprived her of experiencing her true nat...