"You can't see it right now, but a deadly storm is heading in this direction.
3,489 miles north of here.
It has destroyed every city on its way. I don't think you will survive it either,"
said the sparrow to Manu.
Manu couldn't believe two things - A talking sparrow and the information just unleashed on him.
Televisions did not exist in this world; it was a society living with scarce means of communication.
"Even if I ignore the fact that you are a sparrow that talks, why are you telling me this?" asked a shocked Manu.
"I need protection and food. If I am out in the wild, the bigger birds that flew in this direction, fleeing from the storm, will eat me,"
replied the tiny little sparrow from across the other side of the window.
Manu had noticed an influx in the volume of birds in the last couple of days.
"You have to prepare a shelter and hide until the storm passes. That is the only way to survive this. You have three days at the most," continued the bird.
Manu struggled to imagine the danger of this magnitude while everything around him seemed calm and peaceful. "You know, it is hard to prepare for a problem you haven't seen with your own eyes," confessed a visibly confused Manu.
"Your belief or lack thereof has no impact on the brutal reality which I have witnessed with my own eyes. Of course, you can choose to ignore it, but accepting it and preparing regardless will cost you very little," replied the sparrow.
Though full of doubts, Manu agreed to prepare a shelter as instructed.
Three days passed, and the storm came as predicted. It destroyed the entire city and every living being in its vicinity
While waiting for the storm to pass in his shelter, Manu asked the sparrow,
"Am I the only person you have approached and saved?"
The sparrow smiled and replied, "No. But you were the only one to look past your doubts and believe a tiny little sparrow."
Message from the author:
Covid is real, friends. People are dying around us. If we do not take precautions when we have the time, it may be too late to survive this pandemic. Food for thought?
