Difficult rationality

(from the archives)

I heard a sound that I couldn't recognise and it appeared to be coming from someone in either distress or an alert to some nearby danger. I walked in direction of sound. even before I locate the source, my interpretation of sound drifted more towards distress than to alert. Soon I also saw the source. A small bird hanging on the gular tree. Two crows were sitting nearby and fearing they will harm the bird caught in Plastic Kite thread, I made gestures asking them to go away, they flew away.

Fortunately there was help at hand. While I saw no way how that bird could be saved but one person climbed on roof below the tree with a long bamboo of I think some 20 feet, he attached burning incense like thing (burning not just at tip but few inches) at the front, targeted plastic thread with swiftness and precision and thread was cut. bird stuck midway and he pushed leaves/branch, bird fell to the ground. It wasn't a bird, it was a small fruit bat. I had not known they were around till then.

It took me 20-30 mins to slowly free his wing from multiple loops of that killer thread. towards the end, bat lost patience and tried to free itself from my grip, and bit my finger - only slightly though. I also managed to get a little scratch from his nail. though it slowed down remaining untangling process, finally it was done and despite one broken bone in the wing, one side of the wing damaged, it managed to fly in short bouts and climbed nearby banana tree. It covered itself in its wings and went to sleeping position - I admired its rationality. If I was him, I most probably would have stayed in panic mode and destroyed any remaining chances of recovery also.

After washing my hand, applying turmeric, also applying antiseptic from nearby dispensary, I googled if bat bite is risky. and well, I was really scarred to read about rabies, other possible infections bats can carry (not fruit bats though). well, the scratch and bite were only slight, and most probably I was more scared than required. actually, definitely my reaction was unwarranted. plus, my innocent little fruit eating bat appeared very healthy- both physically as well as mentally. plus GoI guildlines I found on net stated that in India there was no information on risk from bat and exposure to it can be ignored. even in my worried state, or probably more because of that, I hoped one day to make myself as calm and as rational as the bat. tough target, but worth the efforts - if I can reach there.

Meanwhile, despite the very low perceived risk and lack of information, to get rid of my fear (that I myself could see was irrational) I finally decided 'to err on cautious side' and took rabies vaccine. How intensely I wished then to be like the bat and be rational in future instead of being caught in fear and irrationality loop. If one day I can do that, probably all these short-term problems would prove to be a small cost for a bigger gain.