7.KAAKKA

It was after my grandma passed away that the routine of feeding the crow became a norm in my family. My father would spot a crow on the nearby tree and tell my mom “See, Your mother has come.”(Popular belief in Hinduism that the spirits of the dead come back as crows to accept feed from the family members). And my mother would come with some food to feed it. This continued even after my father passed away. Although it is difficult to distinguish between the crows, there was this one crow that would come and just sit on a branch or in front of the house somewhere. It wouldn’t crow or make any other sound to attract attention but simply sit and stare at the house or anyone outside the house. Even if someone is there outside the house and fails to notice him, he would sit and watch patiently until that person takes notice. So we used to call him “Muni Kaaka”- The silent one. Sometimes he also used to come up the doorsteps and stand at the threshold looking into the house .If someone takes notice, we are supposed to fetch the food. We have been  raising a few generations of them till now, I guess.