Survival of not the so fittest:

The winner takes it all!

from: The roll of dice

One decade, three different cities and encounters with three differently abled - a one-legged crow, a one-legged pigeon and a three-legged dog!  When sighting the crow, the person was under stress due to a close-to-the-heart assignment, after retiring from an active work environment.  The rushing adrenaline through his body needed constant anti-dote.

 Coming face to face with the dog was under changed circumstances, while on duty as an escort for his grandchildren returning from school. After nine years since the sighting of the crow.  The third, of the pigeon, was during stay with a grandson, as recently as this year. From crow to the pigeon, life-rhythm had settled to shepherding grandkids, tutoring whenever they were willing, and trying to raise a garden, even if it meant proliferating it with weeds. Something green to look at.

 Now that he had some spare time, writing a few lines about how the unlucky crow, dog and the pigeon would have struggled or would be struggling, if still alive. He wondered about the probability of sighting, all of them or some of them, once again. He wanted to give them a personality by way of writing a personal account of his thoughts. But before that, he managed to find (thanks, internet!) some interesting facts about these characters, to give him the impetus and help. If not the unlucky characters, at least, he hoped, some of his friends would find it interesting.

 It was Herbert Spencer who coined the phrase “survival of the fittest", in the year 1864.  Charles Darwin adopted it five years later.  By quirk of fate, like that of his own characters, Charles Darwin is remembered as the one, who authored the phrase. Whatever be the authorship, both of them wouldn't have anticipated, that there could be a different kind of fitness to survive, - sheer grit and determination, under adverse circumstances. 

 The one-legged crow:

 Though not an ornithologist, he quickly learnt that this crow, identified as house crow in the year 1817, is one among the fifty types known, He ventured to think that the crow might have been young, when by accident or due to a birth defect, and ended up with missing a leg. On this day, it was looking otherwise healthy, having learnt to adapt to its life with passion and gusto. He didn't know when this handicap occurred, but the actions of the crow conveyed that it continued to be on guard, to survive against falling prey or getting electrocuted or run over by speeding vehicles. 

 Hopping on one leg, - its version of hopscotch, and tilting its head, left and right constantly, it watched the surroundings for any potential danger. Short flight to a tree top was always a herculean effort - longer runway, a greater number of single-leg hopping, and watchful eye for on-road and aerial dangers. His observations revealed that it never chose an electric pole as a perch. Probably based on previous experience when it might have lost a leg by electrocution or while trying to evade and got entangled. It sure remembered the heavy price paid, with one of its legs, for that lesson.

 Aware of the short life-span, which might be on notice, already, its actions were extremely careful. It appeared to be not sparing any effort, to hedge its bet and to survive as long as possible. Being a cunning one, the crow did not to miss out on any opportunity, to make most out of it.

 He had collected all these information, by keenly observing the crow, over a number of occasions - both happening to be at the same place, same time. This helped him to sort out his thoughts, on ways to solve some of the problems, currently pencilled in his ‘to worry list’. Was it urging him to look beyond bottle-necks?

He reflected on the stress that was bothering him, at that time. The responsibility to develop of a critical component   and the trust of a friend in his abilities, rested heavily on his shoulders.  The friend was under tremendous pressure to come out of this venture, soon and with his goodwill intact.

 The tenacity of the lame crow struck him with an inspiration, like a jolt of electricity with a hope that odds could be evened! Series of thoughts, jostled in his mind on ways to solve some of the glitches. With renewed energy, he tried out a few innovative solutions, to complete the project work. He and his friend came out with their trust, in each other, intact.

 Silently saluting the crow, he parted company with the crow, a few months later. Now, after about eleven years, he had no idea, how long the crow, that inspired him, battled to cheat death.

 The three-legged dog:

About three years back, he was coming home, with his grandchildren from the daycare. Suddenly the grandchildren shouted excitedly, "Look, one of the front leg of that dog is missing."

For him, coming face to face with a three-legged street dog was the second case of witnessing a missing leg. But this time, the experience was different, a relaxed daily routine, with adrenalin under control, and fun filled time with grandchildren.

 The first question that came to his mind was, whether that three-legged dog started its life as a pet and later abandoned due its birth defect or a free-ranging dog, born and bred in the alleys and streets, from the beginning? He could visually confirm about the missing front leg as a birth defect. Still, his doubt remained - abandoned or born free in the streets?

 This thought of the dog living in the open, made him to know about the shelters, natural or provided to a pet dog. The dog as a breed may not know that their genealogy dates back to thousands of years. That, its ancestors might have crossed continents, seen many cultures and lived in different environments, as hunter’s mate. There was no way pet dogs would have known that "kennel" - a dog house, has roots in French and Latin languages and used by their masters from   the year 1150 onwards.

 This ‘kennel’ history would have made no difference in the life of a street dog, it had as never enjoyed that luxury. A stray dog’s life revolved around three things - territory, food and safe resting place, though not a compelling concern or a comforting thought for a pet dog.

The front leg appeared a little stronger, supporting his assumption that the dog has had a confused DNA, at birth. He looked up at the anatomy of a dog, to confirm the correctness of his assumption. The scapula or shoulder bone for the dog's front legs was well developed to support the standing leg. Further reading of the medical jargon regarding the leg - radius, ulna bones and the short humerus bone have been strengthening as the pup grew into a dog. Though he could not imagine the struggles it went through, he was all admiration for its fighting spirit, that too probably as a street dog, evading ever present dangers to life.

 After becoming familiar to our presence, the dog wagged its tail, standing on three legs. Except for a little more shaking in the body, compared to a normal dog, it had learnt to balance body weight versus effort in waging the tail. However, while walking one cannot but notice the body tilt to burden the standing legs with the weight the missing leg would have shared.

 It would have put in tremendous effort to strike friendship, being lame, and when we saw it for the first time it was lolling alongside two other dogs. He could not describe the way it walked to reach point B from A. The closest approach was the dog doing a 3-legged hopscotch or mimicking the dance steps of a hobbled donkey. He only hoped that this canine friendship endures, as the two friends have to perform additional security duty. 

 The one-legged pigeon:

 The modern-day pigeons have happily shed the tag of living in pigeonholes. In their busy life, have no time or inclination to appreciate the fact that the word 'pigeonhole' is about 450 years old. When high rise buildings offer ample space to rest, forage, brood and hatch why would they settle for less! Canny species that they are, occupy niches, ledges, sunshades and other available secluded places. Their sole aim is to survive and increase the head count.

His face to face with this species, a pair of pigeon actually, happened during the covid season. He became an absentee resident for a stretch of time. This pair, in all their audacity, simply ingressed into the unguarded balcony, laid an egg, hatched it too. On closer look, he saw an indistinguishable lump showing no feet, head, eyes or plume. The occasional cooing - a blind pigoenlet In addition they had made use of the premise as a washroom facility. The stink of bird droppings, fallen feathers. It was too much to bear. 

 After a marathon struggle to evict these squatters, and cleaning operation, promptly, a barrier with mesh was placed, of course like locking the paddock after the horse had bolted. He was in for a surprise attack. The pair found it convenient to occupy the sunshade under the bedroom window and let loose a barrage of pigeon humming. Desperate times called for very desperate measures. He hung a balloon painted with owl's eyes (just his own innovation), a black carry bag on a long string (to swing and scare), a blow up of his very own serious face! Nothing worked. At this point he developed a deep-rooted pathological hatred, in a very short time, for these two legged, invaders and squatters.

Now, after a gap of five years, he noticed a pigeon quietly sitting on the sunshade. Usually, a pigeon struts around tracing imaginary circles, the purpose of which only the pigeon might know. After watching it for a while, he noticed something odd about the bird. The smartphone came in handy and a close-up picture resulted. Closer inspection revealed the reason for the oddness- left leg had gone missing. Further scrutiny said it aloud - a birth defect. It sat for some more time and waddled to the edge of the sunshade. As he watched, it did the unthinkable – leaned forward and dropped like a stone., only to flap the wings energetically to fly away!

 He started to worry about this one-legged pigeon - will it keep alive, find a mate and start a family! Is it a male or female? How would it go about laying and hatching pigeon-let? Who nurses the pigoenlet, mother or father?  His inner voice woke up and asked, "What happened to your pathological and deep-rooted hatred?" He silenced it by saying, “A stricken bird deserves some consideration and why should you keep on speaking your mind to interfere with my showing of compassion?"

 By shifting the body from left to right, and head constantly bobbing front and back, to add gait to its brand of ramp walk. Getting tired of making a few imaginary circles, presses both the feet in the ground, springs up and flies away with fluttering wings. For the fun of it, sometimes it does aerial bombing, to tease our patience out.

Obviously, the one-legged pigeon could not play the game of circles., do a ramp walk or lift-off effortlessly. Everything, including finding feed was a struggle for it. Under normal circumstances, it just leaned out and using the airdrop to fly away. When threatened, summoning all possible energy, from the body, the lame pigeon springs up into the air, trying to act as a normal pigeon!

For many days after the first sighting, he searched for the lame pigeon, high and low of the high-rise building. Flock of pigeon appeared and disappeared, but probably the one-legged pigeon chose to stay aloof and safe. Maybe, it might have located a pigeonhole and a source of food, intent to live as long as possible!

 The crow, the pigeon and the dog did not know anything about Herbert Spencer or Charles Darwin or about their studies. They were not interested to know 'only the fittest survived' to upgrade the process of evolution of species. The crow did not know that it could live up to 13 years, generally. The pigeon did not know that it could live possibly up to 15 years. The dog did not know that it could or may live all of 13 years. Ironically, they had no idea that all were omnivorous, and their life expectancy clocked, almost, the same number of years.

Combinedly, these survivors have proven that it is the determination to stand on available leg/legs that mattered. It is little disappointing that he could not see them again and confirm, who won and who lost.