Smart Flappy

It was a dark summer night, with no moon in the sky above. With no breeze and lingering heat of the already set Sun, it was hard to even breathe. Only man made street lights broke the blackness of night here and there on the lonely Oak street. In the middle of Gurgaon, naming a street as Oak street is bizarre, mainly because there are no Oaks here within a hundred miles. On regular days, there are occasional evening walkers on Oak street, but tonight somehow the street looked very forlorn and lonely.

Flappy, the little fruit bat was busy making it's sorties from one street light to another, catching flying insects that loved circling around the light. Flappy was the darling son of it's doting parents, who loved to keep an eye on him from afar, all night. Flappy also had a little sister Marlene, who was only a year younger than him but already both siblings were adept at catching their prey in the air. All night long, Flappy, Marlene and their parents flew from one tree to another, one light to another, catching insects and enjoying their lives in the lovely Oak street. As the daylight broke in morning, family would quietly retreat in the fronds of a nearby fish palm tree. The chowkidar at the gate was all too familiar with their daily antics and enjoyed watching them immensely. They were perhaps the only company he had all night.
This night seemed like the darkest of all but Flappy and Marlene were happy souls, without a care in the world.
"Fl a a a pppeeeeee", suddenly Marlene's ultra sonic screech reverberated through the dense air. She was flapping her wings wildly. She could barely keep herself steady and could hardly catch her breath. Flappy ignored her and kept relishing his food. But their parents could sense that something was not right. Marlene was not used to panic easily. Before they could even ask Marlene what was wrong, chowkidar's long shadow with a longer stick in hand, fell on Flappy. Both bat parents turned around to see a group of humans approaching Flappy. They were giving some instructions to chowkidar who seemed to reluctantly obey them. Marlene remembered peeking at a big colourful box in one of the homes recently where many bats like her were being shown and humans in the house were staring it at and pointing their hands at it. She thought they were trying to learn about bats. But little did she know that the TV in human homes was beaming horror stories about bats and making them the villain for their own miseries.
Flappy however was a smart brat...oops bat. Looking at the approaching group, it was clear to him they were in danger. It gave a swift pat on Marlene's wings that was an indication that it was time to rush. Marlene and bat parents got the signal. And immediately, they took to wings and flew high above the trees and above the street lights, not stopping at all, till they were completely out of Oak street and into a mixed grove of Neem and Jamun in a nearby village. They had found a new home and Oak street was history. People in Oak street were happy that last of the bats were gone and they felt safe whereas the beautiful little bat family had already moved to the delightful village where gulmohar and amaltas flowered and Koel cooed and where people were far more friendly and loved these little furry creatures. Smart Flappy had found a new home.

Scratch your brain cells

1. Have you ever seen little fruit bats flying around your home at night ?
2. Have you ever seen a colony of bats anywhere ? Old buildings are great to see them hanging upside down.
3. Do you know there are 128 species of bats in India ?
4. Do you know bats communicate using ultrasound which human ears cannot hear normally ?