Aarav and I was roaming on streets after having a fun day in school and was going to pluck some Guavas from Brijesh uncle’s tree. He never allows anyone to touch his Guava tree but as usual we were not going to ask him for permission. Climb on the wall silently, pluck some Guavas and then run as fast as you can, that was our full proof plan. We were executing the plan as we thought but Aarav became little bit greedy and started shaking the branches as he thought that that would be a easy way to get more Guavas with less effort in less time. I was collecting them from ground. But suddenly I found a Guava with blood stains. I found several blood drops on ground. I followed drops which took me to a little hole.
“Aarav look here, hurry!” I shouted. There was pigeon in that hole whose one of the wing was bleeding so hard. We took some pages added some leaves in them which made us comfortable to hold the pigeon. Aarav took the pigeon in his hand and suddenly we both heard Brijesh uncle coughing. “Run, the monster is coming” Aarav shouted taking pigeon in his hands and started running.
After the successful escape, Aarav and I took pigeon to Aarav’s home. “What should we do now grandpa?” Aarav asked to his grandfather. Grandpa helped us to provide proper treatment to the pigeon. The wounds were deep and was much loss of blood. “I think, it was a fight” Grandpa said. “Fight, which type of fight, Grandpa?” Aarav asked curiously. “ Sometimes, birds fight for miscellaneous reasons and usually stronger one wins.” Grandpa answered. He continued “ Look at this pigeon, he is weak and now these wounds are making him weaker and weaker. He need proper nutrition.”
“What pigeons eat, grandpa? Aarav asked.
“Well, I don’t know what pigeons eat. You can use that smart toy which you use complete your homework” Grandpa said.
Grandpa was talking about smartphone.
That day Aarav decided to take the responsibility of that wounded pigeon. He gave him a name. He named him ‘Dragon’. Yes, it was a very weird name for a pigeon. Dragon had became one of the most important part of Aarav’s life. I found his behaviour more responsible to Dragon. The boy who ever used his mobile to play video games was then using mobile to read articles about birds and pigeons. He collected enough knowledge about how to breed a bird? He always used to say that he and Dragon will always be the best friends and will never leave each other.
The point of concern was that the birds belongs to sky not to human shelter. One day Dragon will be able to fly and he will fly. One day Dragon will leave Aarav and fly with flok of pigeons. This was the only fear for me because Aarav was so attached to Dragon.
One day I visited to Aarav’s home. He was still busy with Dragon. There was about twenty days from the day we found Dragon. Dragon was looking healthy, Aarav fed him well. Wounds were filled. Dragon was now able to fly over little height.
I was discussing to Aarav’s grandpa about the relation between Aarav and Dragon. Human can tame a bird but how a human can give this much of love to a bird? This was my curious question to Grandpa.
Grandpa : “Son, love is love, no matter happened to whom with whom and that’s beauty of love.”
“Why have Aarav tied the rope on Dragon’s leg? I think Dragon is not happy with that?” I asked to Grandpa.
“Dragon is not totally well, if we open the rope, Dragon will try to fly and will hurt himself. Sometimes we have to put some restrictions on our loved ones to protect them.” Grandpa replied.
Now, it was one and half month, Aarav was telling me his crazy stories about Dragon. I interrupted him and asked “I think Dragon is now well, you should set him free, let him fly? Aarav went silent for a minute and then blasted on me “No, we are best friends, he loves me, he will never leave me, never ever.” It was difficult to convince him by my own.
We both went to Aarav’s home after the school. I was telling Grandpa about my thoughts to set Dragon free. Aarav interrupted me and said “Dragon is my friend, Grandpa. I can feed him well, I can take of him, our house is big enough for him, he will have a better life here.”
Grandpa in sudden voice “Aarav, your friend is right. Birds belong to sky. You may have a bigger home but not enough for a bird to live the life fullest.
“No, I won’t leave Dragon, I love him” Aarav cried.
Grandpa replied “Love, that’s the reason to leave him. Sometimes we have to leave someone whom we have loved so much because that’s the best for them. Love is not holding someone because we fill better but to leave them if that’s better for them. Aarav open the rope, let him go, let him fly.”
Aarav understood everything, It was hard but he opened the rope. Dragon was free to fly but he didn’t, he was roaming near the window for a minute. Then he flew and sit on a tree which was just beside Aarav’s house. Aarav was continuously observing him as he could leave anytime. It was heartbreaking for me to see Aarav like that.
Dragon have been sitting there from two hours. We were curious about why he was not going? It was then evening and we both saw a flok pigeons flying over the sky and finally Dragon took the flight. He was now really going to fly leaving Aarav behind.
“ Go Dragon, go with your brothers. Live your life and don’t forget me my dearest friend and always remember you are the Dragon.” were the last words of Aarav when Dragon flew.
Dragon flew and left some precious memories for Aarav and me. We can’t forget those memories from the day we got him in blood stains to the day he flew.
Dragon waited on that tree until the flok came because he knew that his friend Aarav will protect him till the flok came.