And the Four Lived Happily Ever After.

Hi Friends!

After the last blog where apparently I made some people cry, and by 'people' I mean a grand total of two, one of whom was my own sister who is legally obligated to have feelings for me, I am back. 😄 With another day in the life of a flumberer, where things just happen to me, entirely without my consent, and I do my best to keep up.

An intro, Hum Saath Saath Hain style

By now, you have a rough idea about my family. Those who know me personally are already well informed. For the newer readers, I am part of a trio of siblings and so is Bhanu. The kind of symmetry that could only have been written in the stars. ✨

Apart from us, Bhanu also has his three musketeers, who continue to play a very active role in our daily lives, you can read about them here.

But today I want to tell you about two more members of this family that I have not introduced to anyone yet.

They are the quiet ones. The ones who fly under the radar, much like my brother in our family WhatsApp group. Ask my parents. They will tell you everything. 😛

Allow me to introduce: Peelu and Arya.

And before Arya, there was Heeru.

The blog that follows is the story of how Peelu entered our lives on a completely ordinary weekday, and why Arya went unnamed for over a month after she came home.

From the top, a normal day that wasn't

It was a normal weekday. Do not question me on this. It genuinely was a normal day before everything unfolded.

I was supposed to go to work. I had packed up, made my chai, and was sitting at the breakfast table in complete peace, enjoying a thorough gossip session with my mother-in-law. Why should boys have all the fun, right? 😄

I cannot remember exactly what we were discussing, but I have a strong feeling it involved something Bhanu had done that he was not supposed to.

Anyway, mid conversation, something shot in from the balcony and got stuck behind the curtain.

For a split second I thought someone had thrown a stone. It took both of us a solid two minutes of shrieking before we gathered enough sense to investigate, and realised it was a small, yellow bird.

The moment we figured this out, I did what I always do in situations I have no idea how to handle. I ran to Bhanu shouting "Bhanu! Bhanu! Bhanu! Idhar aao!"

Bhanu came sprinting from the other room, t-shirt half worn, fully convinced we had set something on fire. The moment he walked in, we collectively announced, "Parde ke peeche ek chidiya hai."

Now here is the part I need you to trust me on.

This bird was terrified. It was hiding behind the curtain with its head down, like a child who shuts their eyes believing the ghost cannot see them. 😄

But the moment Bhanu reached out and whistled, within thirty seconds, the bird moved from behind the curtain and settled on his index finger.

I genuinely do not know what it is about this man. Maybe I am just fangirling. But in that moment, watching that tiny yellow bird move from the curtain to Bhanu's palm, I knew in my heart that our lives had just changed forever.

The great debate

My instinct at the time was clear….we should not keep the bird. I have always believed that birds are meant to fly, just like a girl is meant to daydream. I am deeply against caging a creature that was given wings to touch the sky.

Bhanu's counter argument was equally clear….the bird looked injured and too frightened to fly. It was not going anywhere for now.

FYI: He has been picking me up and dropping me to the station every single day since we got married on days I have to go to work. That morning, for the first time, he told me to take a rickshaw.

The bird needed him more than I did apparently. 😄

I accepted my defeat, went to office, and spent the better part of the day complaining to Juili about how I already knew this bird was never leaving, how it was going to become our permanent responsibility, and how I was barely managing my own life let alone another living being of an entirely different species.

Meanwhile, Bhanu was sending me photos and videos every hour. Some of the bird, some of himself with the bird. It felt like I had left a first time parent at home with a newborn, too excited to stop sharing updates regardless of how occupied the other person was. 😄

By the time I ended my shift and reached home, Bhanu had, in chronological order,

• researched the bird's species

• estimated its age

• determined its gender

• identified its ideal living conditions

• and, most importantly, established whether it was meant for the wild or for a home.

The verdict from AI and people who actually know about birds: Australian Budgies are not built for the wild. They are home birds. And this one, from the way it behaved, had clearly never seen the outside world. It must have flown in from someone else's home and landed in ours.

Destiny, I suppose.

Oh, and he had also already bought a cage, bird toys, and a full stock of bird feed.

Just like that, without a single plan, we had become a family of three.

Do you now see why I call myself a flumberer? 😄

The bird was named…Peelu 🐦

In the week that followed, Bhanu took care of it like a newborn. The fan in the room stayed switched off the entire week, even if it meant sweating through the day. Windows stayed shut. The bird was left free to roam around the room.

Every morning, Bhanu would place the bird next to his work desk and play videos of other Budgies making sounds, so our little yellow one did not feel alone.

And since it was so beautifully, brilliantly yellow, we named it Peelu.

Do you want a partner, oh partner?

After more research, we discovered that Budgies are pair birds. Left alone for too long without companionship, they can fall into depression.

That decided it. Peelu needed a partner.

The following Saturday, we set off on a mission to find him one. That is when we met Heeru, at a local bird shop, part of a large flock kept together in not so great conditions.

Seeing her there, my heart quietly made peace with the decision. At least this bird would be moving somewhere better. At least that.

We brought Heeru home in a stapled paper bag with a small hole in it, which in hindsight, feels both very practical and slightly dramatic. 😄

The union 🌸

The moment Peelu and Heeru met, it felt like a match made in heaven.

Peelu, shy, gentle, a little naive, and absolutely beautiful.
Heeru, bold, confident, wild at heart, and tougher than she looked.

They were perfect for each other. They ate from each other's beaks, shared the same perch, the same play area, the same sleeping spot. Best friends. Maybe something more.

Our routine settled into place. One day moong for protein, another day coriander stems for fiber. Bhanu planned their meals with the same seriousness he applies to everything he commits to. They roamed free in the room for most of the day, fans switched off, windows carefully managed. Every evening, Bhanu would clean the room and set it up fresh for them to come and play the next morning.

This was our life. And it was a good one.

Until tragedy struck. 🙁

Interval 💔

On a weekend, while all of us were busy with our own corners of the house, Heeru, the bold one, the wild one, decided to explore beyond her room.

The living room window was open. It was never a concern before because Peelu and Heeru never left their space, no matter what.

But Heeru did that day.

She flew straight for the window and out into the open.

We did not realise for the first five to ten minutes. Only when someone went to check on them did we find Peelu, alone, quiet, and confused.

We tried everything. We kept Peelu on the balcony so his sounds might call her back. We searched every tree outside. We told everyone around us to keep an eye out for a small yellow bird.

Nothing worked.

After two days, we stopped searching and accepted what had happened.

Call me dramatic, but I think I understood Heeru better than she knew.

She was always a wild one. Even with a warm home, a full stomach, and a partner who adored her, I think she craved freedom more than anything else. And I do not blame her for it.

Are we not all, in some way, searching for the freedom to live life on our own terms? Sometimes that search takes us away from the people who love us most. It does not make it easy. It just makes it real.

I know it is entirely possible she did not survive out there. But somewhere in my heart, I choose to believe she found her place on this beautiful planet and is living exactly the life she always wanted.

Post interval

The quiet days that followed were heavy. Peelu was alone. We kept replaying what we could have done differently.

Eventually, we were left with two choices. Let Peelu go free and hope for the best, or find him a new companion. The second option felt like a betrayal to Heeru, who had become so deeply part of our world.

But we knew Peelu did not have the instincts to survive outside. He needed to be sheltered. He needed someone.

So we decided to try again.

Phir kya hua?…..phir..phir…apne maholle mein Aishwarya aayi 👑

This time, only Bhanu went to get the new bird.

And I will not be exaggerating when I say we did not name her for over a month.

She had entered our home. But I was not ready to let her replace Heeru. So she remained nameless, present, but unnamed.

And then, slowly, something shifted. I started noticing that this new bird was not trying to be Heeru. She had her own personality entirely. Her own energy. Her own way of doing things. She was not a replacement. She was simply herself.

Peelu started getting comfortable around her. She started settling into our space. The old routine quietly rebuilt itself, this time with a little more care and a little more awareness of how fragile things could be.

One evening, Bhanu and I were sitting in the living room. Peelu and the new bird were in their cage on the balcony. And I turned to Bhanu and said, it is time we named her.

We named her Arya.

Yes, inspired by Arya Stark. And her famous line: "A girl has no name." 😄

And that is the story of how we accidentally, unplannedly, and very typically became a family of four.

End credit notes 🐦

Life continues as usual. Bhanu feeds them first thing every morning, fills their food and water, and reminds me, every single day without fail, not to switch on the fan while they are out.

Some evenings, we sit and wonder what Heeru must be up to. And every time, I choose to think only good thoughts. I like to believe she is happy out there. And that sometimes, maybe, she remembers us, the way we remember her.

Do I have a grand conclusion this time?

Honestly? Not really. No life lesson neatly packaged with a bow. No profound revelation that will change how you see the world.

Just this.

Peelu did not care about my bad days. Arya did not judge my Monday moods. And Heeru, well, Heeru did exactly what she wanted, which honestly I respect deeply. 😄

What I can tell you is that somewhere between switching off fans, planning moong and dhaniya menus, and crying over a bird who chose freedom, we started making space in our lives for someone who could not even say thank you.

And that, without us even realising it, made us a little bit better. 🌸