TWEETY MUST FLY: How engineers from IIT, space scientists from Nasa, Docs from Bombay and an advertising guy- all collaborated for one Bird's dream!

That morning also, the donkey came near our gate. He waited patiently- till my wife came out, gave him khana- and then applied a concotion of medicines, haldi and all. Like an obedient cow- he would stand silently bearing that burning pain of tincture bezoine- haldi and antiseptics- on his badly bruised open flesh would- that his owner had left him with- and abandoned him. Just then- from nowhere...a man came with a plastic bag, and in it- was something fluttering. He asked- Doctorni saab hain? I was flummoxed- as there was no vet in and around a single mile radius....next second i assumed he was talking about my wife. As the story unfolded- it was an injured parot- with its wings badly cut...and his toe nails/claws completely unstable and in bad shape. We immediately took it in- it was our first' ever winged guest....besides Coco- one small rescued puppy, one huge alsation which we had picked up from Chembur bridge, and yes, our very own Prince, Misha, Cherry- and the new 5 puppy litter. The house was a total mess...imagine- just total 5 rooms- a small lawn- a heavily pregnant wife- and so many pets and animals running around.

That night, we kept Tweety- a name we gave to the parrot- along with coco, in the bedroom. To make things more comfortable and natural- we got a small twig that was looking like a proper pedestal- so tweety can rest n stand on it- just the way birds are acustomed to.

Coco-the one month old puppy and tweety- that nigt shared a room- and maybe in must have communicated thru their divine animal langugae....who knows...Tweety...meanwhile was still under severe trauma, n was re-actionaless, motionless, and almost lifeless- no feelings at all.....maybe it was too early to expect it to bounce back to life....


As a few days passed by, spreading a buffet of chillies, guavas, cherries..etc in front of tweety became ritual...and well, coco, the lil one would also start running around as soon as it was spread on the ground. Tweety starting re-acting. Feelings expressions n life started being re-ignited....it started teeting/whisteling..screaming....as and when coco would try coming near its cherries or guavas....those were the first signs of life..in tweety....as now...he had not only accepted coco as its friend, but also a foe- in jolly spirit...it was a friendship built on innocense and curiosity....where both of them were just trying to know each other...the parrot and the puppy....

The friendship got funnier day by day- as every morning, we used to take tweety to the terrace- and there-we would spread lot of cherries chillies and all the birdy delights. Now, it was an area where the winged population was pretty good-especially parrots..so slowly gradually- a lot of parrots started coming on the terrace. The whole idea was- socialisation with its own kind will revive tweety, make it feel happy, and lso give it more self confidence. As weeks rolled- tweety was a new- fresh and revived parrot- singing and hopping around...every morning whisteling and waking us up around 6.....Sometimes he would hop over even to cocos bed...and then both will tease each other...As we realised, tweety was only not scared of coco- but whenever misha or prince would walk in the room- it was always perified.....and would sit very firmly on my shoulder.

The back-to-life and whisteling schedule was tweety was far rom over. It was, after all a bird, and they belong to the sky, the blues and the wirld- not in 4 walls and under a cement roof.

Now the first big question was: Will tweety ever fly again? Conventional wisdom said- it wouldnt- since the wings were clipped from the base by some sick pet seller/dealer.
The vet said- not possible. I said- WHY NOT??

Studied hours to understand 'wing' dynamics, aero dynamics (basic) and tried to figure out some way. There has to be a way it can fly again- even if it means a 'prostheitc wing implant'. But how.

It was a rainy day when i entered the gates of IIT, Powai.That's one place- i knw- u can ask the craziest of questions, think the unthinkable- n yet, ppl wont send u to an asylum.

First stop was a gang on students-outside the aeronautics building. I explained my idea' rather question.....and i did understand that the 'wings' are one of the most complex ever natural fabrication that has still not been understood by scientists 100 pcnt.He said- we havent been able to achive even 20% perfection to a birds wing' dynamics..but yes- best part was they were interested, they were encouraging...and then guided me to the materials management team- the same team that had developed the Jaipur foot- an Indian prosthetic limb.In the next few days, there was a flurry of communication which i had with the students- sharing, postulating, and kinda trying to comprehend. One group also put up this case- in their student committee- for discussion- and brainstorming. The entire cycle was supposed to be on suppositions. But mainly on one question- WHY NOT?

Code named 'TWEETY MUST FLY' i continued meeting, writing to, and interacting with many people. The entire process was going to be in 3 parts:

a) to develop the right kinda wings.

b) to find the best composite material for making the wing

c) a surgeon who will take up the chalenge of fixing the wings.

It sounded like a dream project...and news did spread to quarters i dint even expect. A famous vet surgeon from Bombay, called up and said- if u guys can make the wings- i can fix it for tweety. a materials expert from iit kharagpur also chipped in with his support and said- he too will try his best in making some light material in the lab. The biggest surprise was a letter from an Indian Scientist from NASA. He said- i will be coming to India in December and will certainly try my best to help in this project. And make tweety fly.

Perhaps that night, i imagined myself to be tweety....flying high in the sky, doing somersaults, eating fresh guavas from trees...etc....

To me, the project was moving full steam- on the power of hope and help from a number of people- especially when there was no 'commercial' angle to it.

Weeks rolled into 2 months- and it was just around november...

Morning time, was our prince tweety's time.....time to sit on his throne made of a twig, and then moment he was on the terrace, he would run, scream, jump....to gleee...and have his heart's fill ...and also inviting over many of his own kind. 9.30am it was time to bring him back, as i had to leave for office....and as usual, i went up, and he hopped on the twig.

Just as i was walking down the stairs- the last stair- i stumbled....fell...lost my balance.tweety too fell....and Misha- my 2nd doggy was right there....tweety fell right in front of her- and in one instant and instinctive reaction- she just put her paw on tweety. Impulse- and meant no harm.

But it was too much of a trauma for tweety.

It turned cold.

No response.

Tweety had flown away. Forever.