मैं हवा पानी परिंदा कुछ नहीं

Summary

The story follows Ali, a man who suddenly transforms into a bird while sitting at his desk. Before the transformation, he had been feeling a strange trembling in his body. As a bird, he first examines himself, flies onto a thick book—his recently published autobiography—and then studies his reflection in a mirror for a long time. He realizes his eyes and ears have become much sharper. Ali knows he can no longer stay in the room and must go outside, where there are gardens, nets, arrows, and guns. He remembers that before becoming an ornithologist, he had killed many birds with stones in a single day. This memory makes him shudder. He flies to the windowsill, looks around, and takes flight. Ali had been gradually shrinking and losing weight for some time. His friend Saeed had once joked that Ali's face was becoming small and beak-like, but Ali had laughed it off. Now he realizes Saeed might have sensed the change early. Ali can still speak both like a bird and a human. After a long flight, he rests on a tree branch and notices he is completely naked, but then remembers birds don't wear clothes. He finds it difficult that his hands have become wings, unable to hold a pen or turn pages. Other birds look at him with curiosity and suspicion, thinking he is from a distant land. Ali decides not to reveal his true identity, fearing he might be cast out from the bird community as well. A small flowerpecker bird approaches him, and Ali shares everything he knows about her species from his studies. The flowerpecker laughs and tells him many things he didn't know, making Ali realize his books were incomplete. He longs to return to his study room, which he finds cleaned and tidy—unlike his usual messy space. Ali had been obsessed with birds since childhood, often leaving school to follow them into forests for days. His parents tried doctors and psychiatrists, but nothing helped. His only friend Saeed's father, Waheed Miyan, who had once dreamed of becoming an ornith