I found a bird with a broken wing the other day. It was quite late, around 6.30-ish, we were just done buying food from the Festiven booths in front of UKC and heading back to ZC, when I suddenly saw this bird whimpering at the parking lot. I went to the bird and just stared at it, I mean, what do I do?
I've seen this a lot in movies, someone saw a bird, brings it back home, mends it, and they become bestfriends for lyfe. But something scripted can be very doubtful in real life, so being in the situation of a bird with a broken wing, I just didn't know what to do. I had all these thoughts rushing in my head, like if I left it here, some stray cat could've eaten it, if I bring it back to my room, then what next? What do I even feed it? What medical assistance can I possibly offer to this poor creature. Is it even legal based on ZC's laws to even have a pet on its grounds? In all rationality, it seems easier to just leave it, to not meddle with the ecosystem. But opposing rationality, and thinking if I were a bird, and I had a broken wing, I could really use some help from a superior species that are capable of emotions and are civil enough to require such intelligence that could help me fly again. I was plum out of wisdom. I stared at it for a minute... then I gently lifted it up.
I didn't exactly had a plan. What I did know, was that I was not going to leave it to the cat, and judging by its whimper, it wasn't exactly dying, there was still hope for a flying career, and I thought...what the hell. Throughout my journey to ZC, I was surprised by how nobody noticed that I was holding a bird. Well, given its dark coloured feathers, I could let it pass, but seriously guys, I was holding something with a beak, show some curiosity!
Both Azwa and Raihana seemed quite excited when I showed it to them, Azwa even suggested we buy some ice-cream to use the stick as a.. thing you put on patients who break their body parts. I put it in a container, and then I went to wash myself before Maghrib. When I got back, Azwa was crying, with the bird in her hands...dead.
Apparently, the bird was actually dying, it had an injury at its chest, there were dry blood that I didn't notice before, and his breathing was very constant and it wasn't moving much, plus its eyes were red, and Azwa was trying to give water, when suddenly the breathing stopped. At least, that was what Raihana & Azwa told me about the death.
We were quite solemn shortly after that, we agreed to give it a proper burial after Maghrib. We prayed Maghrib, together, and proceed to the back of Block C to bury the bird. There weren't much earth to begin with, and there were lot of rocks in the earth that we dug, and we couldn't get that deep, so it wasn't quite proper, but it's similar to what I imagined. One thing I must mention, we looked like we were doing something illegal, someone caught us in the act, and everyone laughed.
The moral of the story, things scripted in films, are unnecassirily true. If you see a bird with a broken wing, don't think an ice-cream stick would make it any better. This myth is BUSTED!
p/s: I named it Pascal, and I still don't know its gender.