Toolika Rani (India) is a Squadron Leader (Retd.) in the Indian Air Force, a mountaineer (Everest climber), international motivational speaker (TEDx), author, poet, and assistant professor. In 2023, she served as the G-20 Brand Ambassador for the Higher Education Department, U.P. Government. She has published seven books. Her book Beyond That Wall: Redemption on Everest earned her the Young Writer Award and Sahitya Shree Award. Sherpas of Solukhumbu: History and Evolution is based on her Ph.D. thesis on the Sherpas of Nepal.

 

 

 

English

 

A MIGRATORY BIRD

 

 

 

They bloomed in clusters-

 

the orange yellow flowers,

 

tiny but spectacular.

 

When I saw them first

 

admiration in my eyes

 

arose for their lustre.

 

A riot of colours!

 

And, smell did I them

 

As was my manner.

 

 

 

Then one fine day

 

did a book display

 

their ‘scientific’ nature;

 

they were termed an ‘invader’.

 

 

 

The ‘native’, ‘invasive’

 

The words bombarded,

 

The fragile ground of my heart

 

lambasted.

 

My emotional connection with the

 

flowers was blighted.

 

My naivety to trust and love them

 

derided!

 

For the first time I learnt

 

their name was Lantana

 

Despite the blame, even this was a stunner!

 

My flower was a charmer.

 

 

 

Divided between the integrity and heart

 

Flummoxed I stood, with a question mark,

 

Laden with fruits, on a Guava tree

 

An Asian Brown Flycatcher chirped,

 

“Hark, Hark!”

 

I glanced up and blatantly remarked,

 

“Oh, you are a migratory bird!”

 

 

 

She flew and released from her open beak

 

An African seed

 

Holding it in my fair palms

 

I wondered why did my nativity shrink!

 

***