My Mittu

Those who know me well would obviously know who my Mittu is. Its none other than our pet parrot. He has been with us since five years. When Pappa brought him home, he was just a few months old. The ring around the neck was not there, the tail wasn't fully developed, neither could he eat properly nor make noise well. But within a few months time, he was a fully grown parrot with red patches on the wings, a long tail, ring on the neck, and even started speaking.. :) The first word he imitated was 'Pappa'. And no doubt, the person whom he loves the best is our Pappa.

Once I start speaking about Mittu, I become very talkative. Over these years he has become a very member of our family. When we came down to Bangalore, we him also along with us. Mittu is very posessive about Pappa. If Pappa holds any children or don't take note of him, Mittu gets angry and starts making noises. He responds to the voice of Pappa even when he doesn't to others.

Speaking about his fooding habits, he eats whatever we eat, even makes a try on the bones of chicken, but doesn't eat the flesh. Drinks tea with us from our cups, has breakfast, lunch, and dinner from our plates, snacks are what he likes the most. And his favourite nowadays are Minute Maid's Pulpy Orange, Sprite, Appy Fizz, and green chillies.

He doesn't like being locked up in a cage. So we have left him all free in the house. He sits wherever he likes and now has developed a habit of sleeping with us. Not in the whole sense. He comes and sits near us. We put him in the pullover sheet along with us. He is cosy being there.

On Sundays, we bathe him with mild shampoos and dry him by holding out in the sun. The whole process is very interesting to me. He looks entirely different soon after a bath, with all those spikes and angry eyes. Another thing he dislikes the most is touching his tail. Only Pappa has the permission for that. If any others touch the tail, Mittu starts grunting and growling. :) N guess what, I always keep doing that.

In our house in Kerala, we have a tree itself for our Mittu. A rope is tied from his cage to the tree. In the mornings, just after breakfast, he goes and sits on the tree and stays there till lunch is ready. And one cruelty what we do to him is that we cut the last to feathers of his wings so that he doesn't fly away. But since we have reached Bangalore, we don't do that since there are no trees for him to sit and so we don't leave him unattended. In the house, he is free to roam about wherever as desired.

Recently Mittu has developed a new habit for irritating us. Early by 6 - 6 30 am he starts making noises. Its so loud that we won't be able to sleep. Finally we all get up and start our daily chores. Then he goes into his small cage and starts sleeping.

The picture shows Mittu staring into the mirror. He quite likes sitting over there staring at himself (I thought only human beings do that.. ;-)) Lots are left unsaid about Mittu. Hope to continue it one of the following posts. Meanwhile, just have a look here, to see how Mittu helps my mom with peeling garlic.