Do they not see the birds above them?

I stood near the road waiting for my cab to come. As I waited, I saw hundreds of pigeons flying over my head. It looked majestic and I couldn't but keep looking at those beautiful creatures. Pigeons are found in abundance in Hyderabad while crows are not found as much as I used to see in Kolkata. This could be the reason the locals does not find it interesting enough to admire the beauty that was happening just above their head. 

The flocks of birds around 200 in number were moving around in a circle of around 50 meters radius. My eyes traversed their path. They continued doing round and round, the cheerful aura involved was hard to resist. A couple of rounds later few of the birds rested on top of rooftops, street-light poles and mobile signal towers. Was it a rest? I may not be able to tell, but they took turns in getting back to the original flock. After few more rounds they changed their direction to clockwise. This intrigued me, I thought okay let's find a pattern here. It was difficult but I pressed myself to dwell into the minds of the flock and understand their behavior in this activity. After their directions changed, the number of birds kept reducing after each round. Some flew away which I couldn't track where; while some rested on rooftops and towers. Then only two left, I thought of them as chief and his wife probably trying to convince others to keep doing (whatever they were doing). While I kept myself focused on those two pigeons, I was taken aback when all of a sudden another set of birds flew just behind the building and joined those two. The scene completely transformed to its original state leaving me and my pattern findings abilities in wilderness. At the very moment my cab came and I was left thinking, "Okay some other day I will try again to understand what really happened."

While feeling comfortable in the cab, I remembered an aayah from Surah Mulk (screenshot below) where through Quran Allah tells us to go out and look at those birds, ponder how they spread their wings, how majestically they float. Who would hold them except Allah. Subhan Allah! This amazing activity from Quran was nothing short of upliftment of one's imaan.

The water flow

Have you ever wondered what are blessings? If you pondered carefully you will realize we are surrounded by blessings. Look no far, you will find blessings in yourself. The eyes that we use to see, ears to hear, legs to take us to places, hands to do all kinds of work, intellect that makes us distinguishable from other animals; these are all blessings from our Creator. If there is even a bit of doubt if these aren't blessings, then think about giving it away or ask the ones who doesn't have these. Of such many uncountable blessings we have, perhaps the most desirable of them is water. As is with any desirable gifts, we should preserve it and not let it go as waste.

I come from Kolkata, capital city of West Bengal, India. Though it's not a port city, it's very near to the sea bay of Bengal. It is also in one of the dis-tributaries of river Ganga. The water is in abundance in my city. I have never faced scarcity of water in my city with an exception of a day or two. Although I've heard about some places in Rajasthan and Gujarat where people face immense drought, it wasn't in my destiny to practically feel what shortage of water causes until I had leave Kolkata due to call of duty. 4.5 years in Bangalore and 1 year in Hyderabad made me realize how importance water is to our life.

Water is distributed early morning in Toli Chowki locality, the place where I stay in Hyderabad. Locals are happy because by the time they wake up, their water tank is already full. On the way to the Masjid for early morning prayer it is really painful to see water trickling down from plenty of houses. People are lazy to even get up and switch off the motor machine so as to stop the water flow. I am not sure what they are; lazy or selfish. Just think of those who are deprived of this blessings. There's a beautiful campaign to illustrate the feelings to save water;

Abdullah ibn Amr reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, passed by Sa’d while he was performing ablution. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ  said, “What is this extravagance?” Sa’d said, “Is there extravagance with water in ablution?” The Prophet said, “Yes, even if you were on the banks of a flowing river.” Source: Sunan Ibn Mājah 425

Just think, of our actions. If this causes anger to our creator and He takes away the blessings we are enjoying now. The scary feeling is depicted in the aayah in Surah Mulk.