The Convention

Early, one cold Sunday morning, a commotion of a large number of crows, brought me to the window showing the grand Gulmohar tree with its branches trimmed. I was surprised to see so many crows sitting on one tree and caw-cawing away with their gaze upon a common thing of interest.

At first, I hardly noticed what they were looking at, for all crows are known to care for their kindred and it is believed that cawing crow means the arrival of a guest. But surely a large number of crows were in no mood to tell me something. They were here wit some purpose of their own; probably a meeting to sort out some issue or mourn another crow's death.

Then I noticed something else, they would all fly from one tree to another, together and come back to the same tree which showed their common point of interest. I thought maybe a snake would be going back and forth and was attracting the crow's attention. I noticed a peculiar brown dotted object on one of the branches. "Oh! so this snake is a reason for the whole discussion", so I thought. But, the snake would not move. "Maybe its dead".

By now, all people in the vicinity were getting curious and looking towards the crows. My inquisitiveness into the matter started gaining ground when my daughter came with her binoculars. At the same time, one of the crows mustered enough courage to check on the confusing object and it started to peck on it. And then it realized that it was nothing more than a piece of cloth. The other crows also saw the futility of the discussion once the whole mystery was solved.

All the crows who were till now cawing suddenly lost interest and flew away ! It appeared as though a decision to a common problem was reached and corrective measures taken. If a bird such as a crow can understand this then I am sure most people who involve themselves in conventions should also see the logic behind it and act accordingly.