Sunday, June 01, 2008
The Crazy Bird Lady
Oh, crap.
I KNEW I should've just taken the 395, it would've taken 15 minutes to get back to college through uni, and now I've wasted the bloody 15 minutes waiting for the 372.
Stupid public transport.
While I spent time at the bus stop whining about how it'd take me twice the time to get home (I didn't actually mind: I love buses and this city so much), I happened to chance upon The Crazy Bird Lady.
She had short, bobbed black hair and I was first alerted to her presence by a giant mob of pigeons. Throwing grain from a huge bag (one of those 20 kg bags of bird seed), CBL walked back and forth, followed by her faithful, grateful flock.
After she'd disposed of the bag, she proceeded to reach into her blue eco bags (4 of them) and started throwing cheese and bacon rolls at her avian audience.
Cheese and bacon rolls?!
Srsly, lady?!
People started taking photos at this point in time, of a small Asian woman with slightly crazy hair and a tortured expression throwing mounds of human food at a bird flock.
While I'd like to think she was simply being a lovely person, or an animal lover, or a bird enthusiast, part of me thinks it goes deeper than that.
See, I used to feed birds too.
Oh, I know, I know, we've heard LOTS about Sana's miserable early school years as the fat lonely kid, WAAH. Whatever, it's all relevant.
Remember? I'd go to the canteen every day at lunch, get myself "auntie, satu french fry dan cili" and spend an extra buck (EXORBITANT, THERE WERE ONLY THREE) on a packet of chicken nuggets.
I did this every day for over three months, 90 bucks just to feed a crappy flock of crappy pigeons. I did it because I was tired of people but couldn't stand being alone anyway.
The fact that this lady ran off, blue eco bags in hand, after her job was done? Vanished without looking, smiling or talking to anyone?
She's tired of people, too. Sick of humanity and sick of interacting with it and sick of being forced to deal with it and its problems.
Because it's humanity, it's society, it's people around her that will call her the crazy bird lady. It's people like us with our screwed up ideas of what constitutes normal that alienate people who want something deeper, something more meaningful.
Once upon a time, a lonely kid fed birds. One day, I'll be brave enough to feed them again. Brave enough to ignore what my moulded brain tells me is socially appropriate. Brave enough to do something JUST because I want to do it.
Brave enough, and please forgive me this, to flip society the bird.
I KNEW I should've just taken the 395, it would've taken 15 minutes to get back to college through uni, and now I've wasted the bloody 15 minutes waiting for the 372.
Stupid public transport.
While I spent time at the bus stop whining about how it'd take me twice the time to get home (I didn't actually mind: I love buses and this city so much), I happened to chance upon The Crazy Bird Lady.
She had short, bobbed black hair and I was first alerted to her presence by a giant mob of pigeons. Throwing grain from a huge bag (one of those 20 kg bags of bird seed), CBL walked back and forth, followed by her faithful, grateful flock.
After she'd disposed of the bag, she proceeded to reach into her blue eco bags (4 of them) and started throwing cheese and bacon rolls at her avian audience.
Cheese and bacon rolls?!
Srsly, lady?!
People started taking photos at this point in time, of a small Asian woman with slightly crazy hair and a tortured expression throwing mounds of human food at a bird flock.
While I'd like to think she was simply being a lovely person, or an animal lover, or a bird enthusiast, part of me thinks it goes deeper than that.
See, I used to feed birds too.
Oh, I know, I know, we've heard LOTS about Sana's miserable early school years as the fat lonely kid, WAAH. Whatever, it's all relevant.
Remember? I'd go to the canteen every day at lunch, get myself "auntie, satu french fry dan cili" and spend an extra buck (EXORBITANT, THERE WERE ONLY THREE) on a packet of chicken nuggets.
I did this every day for over three months, 90 bucks just to feed a crappy flock of crappy pigeons. I did it because I was tired of people but couldn't stand being alone anyway.
The fact that this lady ran off, blue eco bags in hand, after her job was done? Vanished without looking, smiling or talking to anyone?
She's tired of people, too. Sick of humanity and sick of interacting with it and sick of being forced to deal with it and its problems.
Because it's humanity, it's society, it's people around her that will call her the crazy bird lady. It's people like us with our screwed up ideas of what constitutes normal that alienate people who want something deeper, something more meaningful.
Once upon a time, a lonely kid fed birds. One day, I'll be brave enough to feed them again. Brave enough to ignore what my moulded brain tells me is socially appropriate. Brave enough to do something JUST because I want to do it.
Brave enough, and please forgive me this, to flip society the bird.
