When lovebirds start hating

Mumbais lovebirds have always had a problem no place to cuddle When we were lads it was our perverse pleasure to surprise couples clinching between the rocks behind the US Embassy at Breach Candy Two weeks ago I realised that 40 years later Mumbais lovebirds kiss and cuddle in plain sight along Marine Drive sometimes under the privacy of dupatta By unwritten agreement people step around them neither staring nor intruding on their privacy I clicked a picture of a colourful couple cocooned in their worldThey reminded me of the affectionate colourful and intensely monogamous lovebirds the feathered kind we used to have first in Africa then Thailand Lovebirds become inseparable once they choose a mate and live their entire lives cooing at and cuddling with each other Truly true loveI wondered would the blissful couple in my photo one day be married Have children Would they still be like this say after three children and 30 years Four days ago a Mumbai man got a life sentence for strangling his wife in front of their children in 2013 A day earlier a man in Bikaner stabbed his wife with a sword and chopped off her legs and fingers and then hanged himself I imagined a day years ago when they would had snuggled near a river or lake unable to imagine a life without each otherHeres what happened to my lovebirds I dont remember the colour of our first two in Africa but anyone could see they were completely in love in their sweet gilded cage in our garden surrounded by trees and birdsOne day my daughter just four left the cage door open and one lovebird flew away We were distraught and the remaining lovebird was wretched as was his mate We could see the escapee sitting on a high branch of our magnolia tree chirping miserably at its lover How to get it back in the cage What if the other one escaped insteadFinally we took the chance and left the door ajar watching from a hiding place The escaped bird flew down to the cage and happily hopped in The lovebirds preferred being together in a cage to flying free in the world outsideWhen my daughter was nine she asked for lovebirds as a birthday present She selected two gorgeous birds from an aviary in Bangkok One came in radiant yellows and oranges and the other in shades of sky blue to denim blue Naturally she had to be called Blues so the first one became Jazz Jazz and Blues were every bit as loving and inseparable as our first lovebirds or the couple on Marine Drive We had no way of telling their gender apart for all we knew they were an LGBT couple My daughter never tired of showing them off to her friendsOne day she left the door open and to her dismay Jazz flew off into the concrete jungle My daughter claimed to see flashes of sunlight and orange flitting between buildings One day exactly as in Africa Jazz came back Returning home from shopping we found Jazz hopping around the locked cage like a wife visiting her husband in prison We eased the hatch up and she hopped in reunited with the love of her lifeTwo years later things got weird Blues laid several eggs but Jazz savaged them and dragged out the foetuses He began attacking Blues mauling her face and feathers The lovebird has been called the pitbull of the parrot family because of its disproportionately powerful beak which can crack open an almond Its a little bully that will fearlessly attack even a macaw 100 times its weightOne day Jazz murdered Blues like the men in Bandra and Bikaner We found a bloody mess of feathers and bones on the cage floor Why do we harm most the ones we love most It turns out lovebirds are pretty aggressive the males more than the females not unlike us humans A male can prevent his mate from eating and drinking and sometimes even injure or kill her even if he has loved her for years Again like so many human malesHowever scientists say such violence is unique to lovebirds that have been caged together not those in the wild It seems time away from the partner such as while foraging for food is very useful in keeping love alive If incompatibility sets in caged birds cannot separate wild ones can Lovebirds that have been allowed to fly around the room free a little every day do not savage each other I suppose a man and a woman who give each other space to be themselves and by themselves now and then would not one day destroy each otherHere viewed from there C Y Gopinath in Bangkok throws unique light and shadows on Mumbai the city that raised him You can reach him at cygopigmailcom Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates