Thursday, September 4, 2008

The Temple-haunters

"Suddenly the heavens opened up for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him."(Matt 3:16)
I saw it happen,at the Basilica last Sunday!
The Holy Mass at 9:30 had started 15 mins late and the priest was racing along trying to make up for the lost time.Even the choir with their keyboard,guitars and tabalas hardly kept pace with him.And then it happened.
A grey pigeon landed gracefully on top of the Crucifix at the altar.

The Sanctuary at the Basilica is quite ornate with the entire heavenly fleet painted on it's vaulted ceiling.(When the homilies get boring the ceiling provides an ideal past time.Papa once told us that faces appear there when people die.As kids,Neil and I used to look for Appapan there.)The Eastern wall features the Crucifix in the center with the Nativity scene and the Risen Christ on either sides.The pillars in between have a spacious landing which is the roost for a couple of pigeons.From the ground level it doesn't seem to be particularly comfortable but the pigeon-tails are always seen whisking away in industrious haste.They keep flying in and out at whim,never once disturbing the sacred procedures going on below.A family of sparrows inhabit yet another wedge in the Sanctuary.They too twitter in and out with their birdie chores,deftly avoiding the blades of the numerous fans that dot the ceiling.They build a nest,lay eggs,hatch them and feed the little ones and see them take wings in the austere air of the church.

There is a quaint monastery church in Trivandrum which has a dovecote beside it and the inmates of the seminary feed the birds.It was in the same place where I've seen the birds perch on every saints head.
The old Portuguese-built church at Palayam with it's tall turrets is home to a murder of crows.These fellows don't care much for grace and timing.Sometimes they fly low,straight at you,missing your hair by inches.(Probably because you weren't saintly enough).They also occasionally "bless" the pews with their droppings.
Our parish church was one of those modern buildings which didn't attract similar roosts due to lack of dark nooks and corners.

Another favorite perch of birds are statues of great leaders.Sparrows on the outstretched arms of Christ atop churches, pigeons on the shoulders of a sad faced Gandhis,and a lonely crow on the raised arm of Subhash Chandra Bose.There was once a newspaper snap of the statue of Akkamma Cherian(freedom-fighter),near the Raj Bhavan in Trivandrum, with feather on her Gandhi cap!

I was visiting a friend's flat on the fifth floor when she pushed aside the curtains to reveal a plastic basket tied onto the window rails.In it were a couple of long leaves.It was brought in by a pair of tiny little birds trying to build a nest on the curtain rod.However hard they tried it would never stay and my friend had this bright idea of helping them out by providing a basket.Her 4 year old was seen guiding the birds, appealing to them with "killee ivide vekku..."However they didn't seem interested in the "rented" home.The pair took turns to bring in blades of grass,and by the time I said goodbye,there was a heap of grass on floor by the window.My friend was muttering that the silly birds had dirtied her floor.Mr and Mrs 'Bird' were not giving up yet.
On my next visit, the birds had finally succeeded in building a huge nest which looked like a bearskin hat.And my excited friend informed that there were already eggs in it.

"This guest of summer,
The temple-haunting martlet, does approve,
By his loved mansionry, that the heaven's breath
Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze,
Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird
Hath made his pendant bed and procreant cradle:
Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed,
The air is delicate. "

(Macbeth, William Shakespeare)

That the Bard uses these lovely lines as an instance of dramatic irony is a different story.But I guess that's how dwellings should be,in harmony with Nature.

17 comments:

mathew said...

I loved attending the early morning mass at palayam church..it was one church i love to visit again and again...and St Mary's which is probably the most serene place in our city...thats the place i go for enjoying a nice evening breeze everytime i visit home.

lovely post and a poetic feel to they way you put it..

Merin Jose said...

Oh...so this s the reason why u never like to miss the daily Mass...
As u said almost all the churches will hav a few pigeon families....
there r some in our church also..it s a very old one...a hundred yrs old...so there r many places apt for these winged guests...n they r so fearless that one day a white n cute pigeon dared to sit on the head f our vicar...n that too during a meeting...!!!
It s heard that in flat no:5B Mr&Mrs Bird r busy with feeding n training their little ones....

Neena Padayatty said...

@mathew

True...at Palayam the morning rays stream in through the coloured glass .The sanctuary veil sways gently with the breeze at St.Mary's like waves in the ocean.Thank u!

@merin

"..a white n cute pigeon dared to sit on the head f our vicar..."

really!! that must have been hilarious!

Got to drop in again at 5B before they fly away. :-)

silverine said...

Beautiful post! I was about to comment that you should check out, Kochuthresiamma and I see that she is on your Blog Roll :)

I miss the swallows that flew in the Churches when I was small. Now it is pigeons only. The decline of Birds can be felt acutely in Churches. In Bangalore we had House Swifts too and some other exists in the Churches I frequent.

Neena Padayatty said...

@silverine
Guess the no of winged haunters dwindle like their human counterparts ,and also because of the new styles in church architecture...Got the Pareltank link from u,after all :-)Thank you!

thomas said...

Since you described it so beautifully, i'll be watching out for the birds next time i attend the mass.
P.S. Are you by any chance a literature student?
P.P.S. I believe you are -- murder of crows -- not many people get this right.

:)

Deepti said...

WEll written ...so fluid, almost like poetry :D

Neena Padayatty said...

@tom
Happy bird-watching(the winged ones,I mean),next time!...Just completed my MA in Eng Litt but honestly, I'm no wordsmith to summon all the collective nouns at will;I have my sources.;-)

Thanks for visiting! :-)

@deepti

Thank you,dear!:-)

George said...

Your audacity in topic selection amaze me like anything. I remember that "Rat-a-tat-tat" post of yours. All the readers of this blog is going to remember you, next time when the doves fly across inside the church. I guess finding out the what those verses in the end mean, is the duty of the reader.

Neena Padayatty said...

@george
Well this is what I call 'Divine inspiration' ;-) and if what u said is right I'd be going to hell, being responsible for triggering mass sacrilege!!
Those are Banquo's lines upon entering Macbeth's castle at Inverness.He remarks that the castle is serene like temples where birds roost.However,it is in the very place where the "air is delicate" that King Duncan is murdered.Banquo is also killed soon after that,hence dramatic irony.

Deepti said...

something awaits you on my blog !! :)

Unknown said...

Lovely mention of Mr & Mrs Bird at the flat who are really busy with a new life on the way. My high five for the guys

Deepti said...

hey something awaits you on my blog .. please pick it up :)

VMJ said...

cant help but be amused at your amazing writing skills...im not a regular reader of blogs but got to your blog on a friend's recomendation. got to thank him for it and god almighty for creating people like you. amazing how you always manage to create such engaging posts out of such mundane topics. its those 'sweet nothings' of the world that make it such an amazing place and its people like you who make us realize what a wonderful world we live in. beautiful beautiful writing :)

Neena Padayatty said...

@deepti

Hey!Was away for Onam...checked that out...can't stop smiling :-)Merci beaucoup!!

@paul

They are epitomes of persistence..Thanks a lot!...:-)

@vmj

Honored and modestly flattered...thank mathew for me too...thanks a lot for taking time to drop in here...and would u by any chance happen to be Teenu's brother?

Nikhil Narayanan said...

Passing doubt.
Palayam St Joseph's Cathedral was built by the Portuguese, or is it some other church you are referring to?

-Nikhil

Neena Padayatty said...

@nikhil
I was referring to St.Joseph's Cathedral,Palayam which ,to the best of my knowledge,was built by the Portuguese.
Thanks for dropping by.