The Squirrel’s determination

Its been a long time since I penned down something, or blogged. Writing is my favorite stress-buster, and, when I write, I feel a lot lighter in my head. Quite obviously, I mostly write when I’m disturbed, or, when I feel I’m getting de-motivated (As writing motivates me to a great extent). But today, I’m writing because I feel motivated. The source of my motivation is something unusual. It’s a mother squirrel, whom I observed in the near past.

I’ve been living in a rented house for the past 4 years or so. A small room with a computer, my bed, and my books forms an integral part of my living. One day, I realized that there was someone in the room other than me. I could hear squeaking sounds from my window. I pushed the curtain, and I saw a squirrel sitting by some junk stuff. I saw the squirrel almost everyday. Day by day, it collected twigs and hay, and built a nest between the window mesh and the door. It took almost a week for the nest to be ready.

I’m not a great lover of animals. And, quite naturally, I realized that I can’t let the squirrel stay in my room with that huge nest – Mainly, cos someday it would have kids, and the small squirrels would roam around everywhere and dirty the place. So, naturally, the very next morning, I told Valli amma (my maid) to throw the nest outside. When she removed the mesh and took the nest out, the mother squirrel jumped out of it, and ran around the house. This was followed by some squeaks and squeals from me, but, finally, we managed to get the squirrel and the nest out. Woah, what a relief it was.

The next day, I saw the mommy squirrel frantically going up and down the window, regretting the loss of her house. I felt bad for her, and wished she’d chosen some other place to build her house.

I forget about the squirrels, and I carried on with my daily activities after that incident. One day, I again heard some sounds from my window. I pushed aside the curtain, and, to my horror, I saw a nest in formation!! The squirrel was building another nest. Hmmm, I was furious. How dare he do that! So, the very next morning, I again brought Valli amma into action, and got rid of the nest. What a relief again.

The next week I was extremely busy with work, and went out of station to meet my parents. Meanwhile, when I was away, my sister-in law called me, and told, that the squirrel has borne two baby squirrels, and they’re still residing in MY WINDOW SIL!!
Woah, I was taken aback. How dare they! Impulsively, my first reaction was to destroy the nest again. But, later, some thought made me appreciate the mother squirrel for what she’d done. Her firm determination, the never give up attitude and love for her newborns had quite an inspirational story for me to learn from.

We decided not to ruin the squirrel’s family, and to let her lead a happy life till her babies grow up. I’ve not heard noises off-late, so, I believe, the kids are grown up, and they’ve left their homes to start a living.

This may have been a very trivial story which I could have easily forgotten, but the mother squirrel taught me a lot of values, which, I’ve rarely seen in us humans. Well, it probably is the power of civilization that has made us what we are!