A 'Snapshot'

Mid-afternoon. The Volvo to Bombay halts. It must be very hot outside. One draws the curtains aside and peers out. A busy intersection; the sun blazing away; a traffic light glowers, red. A pair of dirty looking little birds are flitting around it. Yes, you call them 'market sparrows' in Malayalam. Their smallness make them look sort of cute but they generally are to be seen amidst garbage, aren't they? One of them has a black patch on the throat - the male of the pair; and he appears by far the more energized of the two. Presently his mate settles on top of the traffic light and he approaches and lands on top of her ... and takes off again in about two seconds.She follows. And they both resume their complex maneauvres around the light which has since turned green - and the bus has begun to move. The curtains are drawn over; 'Sion Circle' must be about a quarter of an hour ahead.