Dear Editor,
I was recently in a taxi on the East Bank Road when I saw a beautiful bird in a cage, in the very hot mid-morning sun. I told the taxi driver how much I hated to see birds in cages so he stopped and I asked the owner of the caged bird to please put the bird in the shade, which he did.
The taxi driver then told me his experience of owning a bird in a cage. He said one day he was held overnight at a police lockup which was a real hellhole; it was hot and stank like a sewer. He said he couldn’t sleep and spent all night pacing around his tiny cell, praying for the morning so he could clear his name and be free. While in the lockup he started thinking about his lonely bird at home and how it must feel trapped in its tiny cage. As soon as he was released he went home, opened the cage and set his bird free.
It seems the ‘in-thing’ for many young men today is to catch wild birds and put them in cages. most of these young men have not yet learned to appreciate their freedom.
Yours faithfully,
Syeada Manbodh
