A Bird That Stopped Singing
[Before you dive into this piece or while reading, I suggest listening to this song at least once, if you haven't heard it before. It sets the mood better than any introduction I could write. Youtube. Spotify .] In Bangla, you can call someone you love Moyna(Myna) Pakhi , whether it is your partner or your child. I do not know the history behind the phrase or how it came into being, but when someone says “Amar Moyna Pakhi” , it simply sounds beautiful and full of love. When I was a child, we had a moyna bird at our house. I do not remember it myself, but my mother told me stories about it. The bird could talk. It used to call my grandmother “Maa.” Hearing everyone else call her that, my father, my uncles, it learned the word and began calling her Maa as well. It learned the names of some other family members too, but throughout the day it would mostly chant, “Maa, Maa.” Once, a hawker came to our house to sell saares. He noticed the moyna sitting in its cage beside my grandmothe...
