Flashing crows in Bangsar

Every evening is a croaky affair in Bangsar’s Lucky Garden. The trees are alive with the sound of crows. Really, it looks like the leaves are flying off the branches, noise and all. There’s a mad rush happening on and above ground. The crows are busy preparing for the night, tidying up their nests and catching up with each other’s accounts for the day.
People are walking in quick and erratic motions to avoid becoming a target practice while the birds casually spit from their behind. You would too if you saw the pavement and street all wet and marble like. Cheese cake anyone?
Trust me, you do not want to be walking under the trees when the crows come flying home. The size and texture of their droppings on your windscreen…urghhh

You’d hear ‘caawww, caaww’ *tack* ‘caaw’ *tack*tack* ‘caaww’….

I come here grudgingly but it is the next best place to get my groceries. Two supermarkets, TMC and Village Grocer, offer decent products of both worlds, local and international, at reasonable price with a wide variety. Most important of all, it is the nearest place to shop, with ample free parking space. The only catch is the crap.

I was there last Saturday evening for a cuppa at Starbucks and some groceries, in Bangsar Village Mall. As usual the birds are home and gossiping the evening away, talking trash and oozing manure. I walked across the street as fast as I could and when I looked back I saw them take flight in unison, more of a scram, from the trees, regroup and explode again. This got my attention and instinctively I grabbed my camera and waited for another burst of flights. Nothing happened so I decided to shoot blank. And wouldn’t you know it, they performed the explosion right after. So, I waited and tried again. The same thing happened.

“Is there some cosmic order that I don’t know of? Some unknown force of nature messing with me so I can’t get a good shot?”
I fired several more rounds and the birds couldn’t make up their minds. To fly or not to fly. Is that even a question?

Hey! Are they mocking me? How the hell do they know the instant I click my camera. I’m not making any sound here. I know these birds are intelligent but they can’t possibly have super sensitive hearing or animal instinct?

I finally realize that my flash was on and that was their cue. For a moment I thought they've outwitted me. But damn they sense flashes well ! I was very far away but they could detect my flash going off. I’ll never get a good clean shot this way. Unless I have an independent flash. Then we’ll see who’s messing with who.

Oh but I didn’t have to get another flash to have some fun. I went closer and took shelter under the bus stop, right across the street. The crows were chilling out precariously on the branches above when I sent spikes of stunning flashes and made them burst into flight. Some must have soiled themselves. But for them it’s all good. It’s on the hood.

“Those are for my car you did every week. That’s for my collar many months ago. And that’s for my friend’s head years back” and I grinned a wide one.

Sufficiently amused, I hurriedly walked back into the mall, hoping none of them had time to figure out what just happened. Crows never forget, so the notion goes.

And I'm making sure I have a record.

One more for the blog, I reckoned.

It was not clear to me, growing up, how cunning these birds are. I didn’t think much of them since I seldom come across them. Let alone encounter a murder of crows. Yup, that’s what they are called in groups. They are rarely seen in Sarawak. Sure there were plenty of images on TV but it was recorded from lands far away.

Nothing prepared me for the culture shock when I first lived in Section 18, Shah Alam in '96. The number of crows there amazed me. They were everywhere. Especially in residential areas where domestic food waste was in abundance. There were husky ‘caaawww’ sounds everywhere I turned. Black shiny figures whizzing around. However, I soon see them just like everyone else, a nuisance. They are not only unhygienic since they scavenge for food wastes, they wreck dumpsters and tear rubbish bags, scattering trash around. And worst of all, they poop everywhere. Making everything their target practice. A good friend even got shot on the head twice during our college days.

The early introduction to crows I got was in elementary school. It was a tale of the thirsty crow. I believe every Malaysian knows it. Several clicks traced the origin of the fable to India. Now that’s new. I always thought it was Malaysian. But then again, it is not that hard to see since Malaysians are partly made up of descendants of Indian immigrants working in the rubber estates in the past and cultures intermingled. For the uninitiated, this smart and robust little bird managed to drink from a slender neck pitcher after placing pebbles into it diligently, all drama and suspense aside. The moral of the story? Think fast, your life depends on it.
No, really, that’s it. But of course you could always come up with your own ideas.
Excuse the horrid color painting. It's my first attempt with photoshop's paintbrush. Only the outline was by hand. And I didn't get the chance to get a picture of the droppings since I was too scared to get in the line of fire. Besides, there's too much crap in here anyway.

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Have a great Wednesday's night out!