THE CRY OF CUCKOO


The cuckoo commences its call by 20th of march at Mumbai. I have been observing this sound since years amusingly as my birthday falls on that day. I am not sure if it is to herald the spring or the approaching summer or to announce the mango flowering and ripening thereafter or an advance notice, invitation or caution of the monsoons but there is melody and distinct pain in her call. I understand that she calls to invite the male cuckoo for mating. Though it sings in spring the call can be heard even in early june
when the first showers of monsoons reach Mumbai. During my early student days I always connected cuckoo to summer and mangoes after having heard a classical song in raag ‘malkaus’ during School Annual day function – “ koyaliya bole amuva ki daar par.”

In Kochi I was alarmed to hear the cuckoo almost through the year as the mangoes are available on trees much prior and beyond the standard summer months. Could it be the mango which motivates the cuckoo to sing? And mangoes do appear by end march/ early april and keep us company till the middle of monsoon. Hapus arrives first being the King followed by baiganphali of Andhra, kesar , langra, dusheri and culminating with the naughty chaunsa.

Strange it may appear I observe that the cuckoo- mango-monsoon have a link to the character and personality of us Indians. ‘Wait’ ( intezar) is the first emotion which the above process generates followed by ‘exasperation’, ‘hope’, ‘arrival’, ‘rejoicing’, ‘celebration’, ‘separation’ , ‘disappointment’. Like the twist in monsoon tale which sometimes approaches but retreats or withers our emotional cycle too behaves similarly. Mangoes rejuvenate wavering health, so do the monsoon. Therefore the emotional quotient of Indians is heavily hinged on cuckoo-mango- and monsoon. Year after year the wait and embrace makes our emotional system superior to the logical mind system, it also explains our variety of cultural expressions during the monsoon months. In addition to reviving our economy the monsoon-mango and cuckoo give us emotional therapy to sustain for a year.