Music to the ears
The Hindu
Though it seemed like far-fetched idea, Ansh was determined to see that the sparrows returned
It was almost evening when Ansh and his parents arrived at their ancestral home in Kalyani, a small town surrounded by villages. His parents had returned to their motherland a decade after his birth.
“Cheep-cheep-cheep,” chirped Ansh, buoyantly as he helped his parents with the luggage.
“Did my stories bore you?” asked his father, sounding a bit crestfallen.
“I love your sparrow stories, dad,” replied Ansh, careful not to hurt his father’s sentiments. “I can’t wait to hear them announce daybreak. Just like they did when you were a boy.”
Inhaling deeply, his father mused, “How did I survive all these years without visiting home?”
“You survived on my homemade pickles and poppadoms,” replied Dadiji. “We made sure to bring you a taste of home every time we visited you.”
“If it had been possible, Dadiji would have brought you a sparrow or two, I’m sure,” quipped Ansh, as his grandmother engulfed him in a bear hug.
The election authorities are gearing up for the counting of votes cast in the simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, scheduled to be held on June 4. The Collectors and Election Officers of Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli and Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) districts said on May 23 (Thursday) that their teams were ready for the counting of votes.
Responding to the prolonged water scarcity, the residents of the area took to the streets in protest on Wednesday. The protest, which drew attention to their plight, stopped only after the intervention of the police. It was not until 1.30 p.m. that a 4000-litre tanker was finally delivered by BWSSB, providing relief to the water-starved residents.