Do birds and animals talk?
I am just finishing the reading of the book — Red Birds by Mohammed Hanif. The story is presented in three narratives by three characters — Ellie, an American airforce pilot, Momo, a teenager and Mutt, a dog. While I do not want to reveal the story here, I want to talk about how Hanif has dealt with Mutt. Mutt expresses his thoughts very subtly and interestingly. He tries to tell his philosophical and current voices in his mind. Mutt tells one-third of the story. I have also seen this narrative style in Orhan Pamuk in some of his books. Murakami’s novels — Kafka on the shore, Sputnik and After dark- are great examples utilizing this style of narrative. I like the style of writing as Murakami seamlessly switches the description in the middle of the story. It is fascinating and refreshing to read Murakami. I find many others who innovatively use this style of writing. Franz Kafka, in his book ‘ Metamorphosis’, utilizes this style.
Surrealism is here to stay. This movement is supposed to have started in 1920. The surrealists sought to channel the unconsciousness to unlock the power of imagination. There are renowned artists such as Joan Miro(Carnival of Harlequin), Rene Magritte (The human condition) and Yves Tanguy(Mama, Papa is wounded). Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud are supposed to have influenced these surrealists.
The storytelling by birds and animals is viral in Indian stories such as Panchatantra and Jataka tales. The complete Panchatantra is a collection of stories with the dialogue between animals and birds. All the stories are full of worldly wisdom. One can find many cases in Indian mythology, where the birds and the animals tell the story. Nandi and snake of Lord Shiva, mouse of Ganesha and Garuda of Vishnu, peacock of Kumara Swamy are household names in India. In Ramayana, for example, the golden deer, the bird, Jatayu and Hanuman, the monkey are core characters in the story.
In Mahabharatha, Nala, the king of Nishadha and Dayamatnhi, princess Vidharbha use swans to communicate with each other. Kadambari, another romantic novel in Sanskrit of the 7th century by Bana Bhatta, has a complicated plot involving the hero Chandrapeeda and the heroine Kadambari. Many of the characters appear in multiple incarnations, some as humans and some as demigods or animals. Katha Saritsagara, 11th century Sanskrit collection of Indian legends stories and folk tales by Somadeva contains several accounts of animals and birds. Sant Gnaneswar, a great saint of the 13th century, from Alandi makes a buffalo chant Vedic scripts to establish the fact the presence of Brahman in the mundane world. Even Egyptian and Greek folklore have several legendary bird and animal characters. Horus and Anibis are well known Egyptian gods. Each of the Greek gods had a sacred animal. ( Dove, Swan, vulture etc.) In the celluloid world, several movies are making animals talk in their scripts. All the films made by Disney Studios have the characters talking. Sakshi essays written by Panuganti Lakshmi Narasimha Rao between 1865 and 1940 include several stories where animals tell.
In my visit to Gorilla trekking last year at Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda, I had to learn a few sounds from the forest rangers before I met the Hirwa family. Our team was able to communicate easily with the family members using distinctive voices.
In summary, surrealism has existed for a while, and the animals and birds have been telling stories. I am sure there are standard codes and languages how these talk to each other and say to their stores. I am happy that modern communication tools are not available to them. I want the reader to imagine a situation if the birds and animals also use technology and use social media tools.
I end the story with a quote from Ingrid Newkirk:
“ Every animal has his or her story, his or her thoughts, daydreams, and interests. All feel joy and love, pain and fear, as we now know beyond any shadow of a doubt. All deserve that the human-animal affords them the respect of being cared for with great consideration for those interests or left in peace.”

