Lessons learnt in flight

The wind screams in a low pitched voice which can almost drive you deaf. As my wings hold the currents and push my body upward, my tailfeathers balance the ascent. Mom and Dad watch from the craggy peaks, seeing me fly solo and onto my first dive. An achievement for any peregrine of my age, as generally a dive comes a little later.

As I soar to a considerable height, I start thinking about who I am and what I am doing here. A stupid thought for a falcon at this altitude, but i guess heights make you philosophical. I have seen humans in airplanes look through the windows in silence and the look in their eyes is a sure sign that they are pondering about the magnanimity of the sky and the cotton clouds. We peregrines feel it all the time, I guess this is why the state is called GETTING HIGH. I hear humans can do it with a few powders or a bacteria infested drink.

From so high up in the atmosphere, the world looks so small (DUH!!). And I have to strain my eyes to see my parents down there on the edge. Dad must be thinking, "Get on with it already, Silly stool pigeon" . But deep down inside, he is proud that i have come here without his help.

Everysince i hatched, they said I was special. Funny thing that everyone felt it but me. As life passed, I realized why. Because what i am is an individual thing. For a person looking from outside, it is something great. Like for a person in the aircraft, the feeling of flying solo is great. And sometimes the lazy one inside me longs for a chance to fly like them without flapping my wings. So I felt they were special, and they inturn felt I was. Funny creatures. Its all hunky dory until I realized the fact that, not only did they feel i was special, they believed that I SHOULD KNOW IT. And unfortunately I guess I am the last person to accept it. Or rather, Last Falcon.

I got along my small like being ME. And they thought I was being nice. I knew how to fly, they wondered how I could do it. I wondered how they couldnt. No I am not suffering from Optimism. And I didnt attend a personality development course to become this. I guess we all are born with an ability which we dont see, but feel it naturally. And this is unique to others.

I look back at all the times I have cried, all the times pain tore me wing to wing.. I remember the times when life was nothing more than one small jump from my nest into the ravines below. It could all end in a snap (wats with the puns today). But somehow I held on with all my might. Strange eh? I didnt grow physically , but I always knew that my first flight would be memorable. When i didnt grow, people who thought I was special thought i was "SPECIAL". And belonged with the owls and the nightingales. But when i swept past them in a few days time, they knew i belonged with the Falcons.

Life gave me good times, but more bad ones. And it all made me the bird I am today. They say its a journey where u learn everything at a level. Bad days are best coz u get to learn. Good days pass off with no solid lesson. Paradoxical isnt it? I know. I am still high you see.

And as I reach the point where I feel I may not be able to breathe, I knew I had reached my peak. When I look down, I see no one, but the image of my parents never leaves the heart. And I look up at the vast unconquered sky, and the earth below. From here, life is lonely, and sad, and silent. Everything my past showed me enough. And then I bend my neck first, swung my wings along the streamline as dad had told me to. And I dived.

As I picked up more and more speed, I realized how fatal this can be. The dive is in every possibility the last one too. And then I could see my eyes turn hazy, and so did the brain. And deep inside, I smiled and thanked all the painful lesseons I picked up and faced with people.

My Dive got faster, I was a missile coming to earth,at 250 as dad said, My balance started shaking. And for once, It wasnt scary. It was mind numbing. For the next few seconds I didnt see the problemes ,u life was plagued with. At this time, It was me, and the dive. Nothing else mattered.

As I zoomed towards the earth, only one thought struck me was whether I would return alive.

And it made the dive more challenging. As I broke the paragrine threshold velocity, I realized the silent power in which calmed me. The wind screamed and howled in my ears, And i remained silent.

300 Kmph. And I was the fasted moving thing on this planet (naturally atleast). And suddenly all my problems disappeared into the receding skylines. As the craggy outline of the peak came into view, I could see mom with her wings over her eyes. And a smile on dad's face which said.

He's a Peregrine.