What the HELL!

When they first brought me here, I was excited. I liked my new cage, my new home. I would get biryani almost every alternate day. The kids would come and play with me. Their mom would clean up my cage. Their granny, that fat woman who shouts at everyone, never shouted at me. They were happy. I was happy.

I am the parrot that spends its days and nights in a cage that Poorva's landlords have kept. 

One day they took me to the terrace in my cage to play with, but after five minutes, they lost interest and got busy with themselves. It was then that I met someone.

A pigeon was perched somewhere over there on the top. I could see she was about to lay eggs. She looked hungry. She had to build a nest as well as search for food. I felt good. I had a better home, I did not have to hunt for food, the winter was not going to kill me. 

My owners were nice initially but I had no clue that they would forget me so soon. That they would throw food and water in my cage like a daily routine, without even looking at me once. They would stop cleaning my cage, playing with me. My new cage became old in just two weeks. The excitement died down. Biryani was no longer tasty.

After about one-and-a-half or two months, my owners showed some sympathy and took me to the terrace again. I had almost forgotten about the pigeon, but recognised her as soon as I saw her. Her egg had hatched.

That day too, she was hungry. She had to arrange for food not just for herself, but the baby pigeon too. She would keep flying short distances to find some food for the little one but in vain. She did not have the option of going to a faraway place because she feared for the baby.

After concentrating at her for sometime I realised that she still looked the same she did when I saw her last. But I looked sad even though I ate better food and had no tension. So what was lacking?

My mother had once told me the story of heaven and hell. In hell, they give you everything you can wish for... good food, clothes, lavish life and to top it all, there's no work! In heaven, they give you all that, but only after you work. I had laughed at that story then. I thought if this is the case, I better go to hell. Only after God fulfilled my wish, I realised why hell is called hell.