Coexisting with Wild Animals is Possible

An Open Letter to Insufferable Indians

- Neha Sinha

It felt like anything could have happened on that dark night.

The sky opened like a tear and rain poured out, freezing and insistent. I had just reached my destination, but I was completely soaked walking from the car to the venue I was going to. I was in a hurry, and January rain appealed only from a safe distance.

Through the patter, a sound travelled. It sounded like a rip in the air, perhaps a rusty, jagged saw. It was in fact the sound of a Barn owl, calling from one of Delhi's most prominent buildings, which is a conference venue and a party place rolled into one.

There was a time when Barn owls were so common you could see them on every other light pole in the night, watching the streets with clever eyes for rats.

There are many rats still in the Capital city, but not so many Barn owls.