{"id":4837,"date":"2023-06-16T06:20:01","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T05:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalindianstories.com\/?p=4837"},"modified":"2023-08-16T19:06:59","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T18:06:59","slug":"chiku-our-squirrel-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalindianstories.org\/index.php\/2023\/06\/16\/chiku-our-squirrel-child\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Chiku, our squirrel child"},"content":{"rendered":"

This poem’s been inspired by real events and has been written to make children understand the power of compassion towards animals. It is meant to encourage them to love them.
\n————————————————————————<\/em><\/p>\n

I heard the crows scream out quite loud
\nAnd ran outside to see,
\nThere lay on the grass in our Mumbai backyard
\nTiny balls of three!<\/p>\n

It was early hours, we were barely awake
\nBut the cries were loud so we rushed off our beds<\/p>\n

Shriya, my ward, just all of four, was passionate like a bee
\nShe raced the steps with all her might
\nTo shoo the crows away,
\nAnd while they tried to attack her too
\nShe braced herself and stayed.<\/p>\n

I threw her a towel from our third floor flat
\nAnd asked her to cover them up.
\nWe thought they’d be but small bird chicks,
\nThat fell from the trees above.<\/p>\n

Shriya went close and stood quite still,
\nSurprised at what she saw.
\nThree tiny squirrel heads with their fluffy tails,
\nAll wrapped up in a ball!<\/p>\n

I gently bend down to pick them up
\nWhile Ira my eldest, grabbed a cardboard box.
\nShe knew the drill, just all at six,
\nOn how to rescue and love<\/p>\n

Gently we picked up all the three,
\nOnly one but stirred to my touch…
\nAnd carried them inside to a safe place
\nWhile the crows kept circling us.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We got some water in a dipper
\nAnd tried to feed them some,
\nOnly one responded with quick gulps,
\nWhile the other two stayed quite numb.<\/p>\n

The girls cried when they thought the worst
\nSaying it was their fault!!
\n“It must’ve been the crows,” they said
\nAlthough I think it was the fall.<\/p>\n

The next job was to find a vet,
\nBut alas, that was not easy at all!
\nIt was rare to have wild squirrels as pets
\nAnd most thought we were nuts.<\/p>\n

Some random calls and net searches down
\nWe were on a taxi rushing to town
\nWaiting outside the vet’s office,
\nWith the babies we had found.<\/p>\n

The girls had squashed some fruits at home
\nThe brown chiku<\/em> fruit being but one,<\/p>\n

The tiniest one kept nibbling in the box
\nWhile the nurse asked for his naam<\/em><\/p>\n

Chiku, the girls yelped out together
\nStill all teary eyed,
\nWhile the nurse looked closely at the other two
\nAnd declared that they had died.<\/p>\n

Well, Chiku survived and was fit and fine,
\nHe made his house in our curtains and drying line
\nTurned out to be our cheeky boy,
\nStealing Maggi Masala and sips of wine.<\/p>\n

Playful Chiku, the apple of our eye
\nWas a perfect companion, but people shy!
\nHe loved us back with all his heart,
\nProving that God’s not made us animals apart.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Shriya feeding Maggi to Chiku<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This poem’s been inspired by real events and has been written to make children understand the power of compassion towards animals. It is meant to encourage them to love them. ———————————————————————— I heard the crows scream out quite loud And ran outside to see, There lay on the grass in our Mumbai backyard Tiny balls […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4839,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,37,45,47,43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-fiction","category-kids-korner","category-lockdown-diaries","category-women"],"yoast_head":"\nRemembering Chiku, our squirrel child - Global Indian Stories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/globalindianstories.org\/index.php\/2023\/06\/16\/chiku-our-squirrel-child\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Remembering Chiku, our squirrel child - Global Indian Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This poem’s been inspired by real events and has been written to make children understand the power of compassion towards animals. 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