It must be lonely to be a penguin

... it was difficult to not show excitement at the squeaking penguins barely 50 meters away. There they all stood with their 'hands' a little away from their stomachs, in the trademark colors of white, black grey and yellow, looking just the way they did in the National Geographic magazines, on the Discovery Channel and in my toddler's baby books. The gait won my heart and the far away look in their eyes melted it.

It was beautiful watching them walk on the rocky terrain and with a 'gup' fall into the water, swim gracefully, come out effortlessly, and stand back in the exactly the same posture- as if they had been meditating for ages. Visitors came and went but the three of us just hung around marvelling at these birds for as long as our son allowed us. You would agree that for a fourteen month old 43 minutes is a big deal :) Oh how I wanted to touch them, stroke them, cuddle them, and tell them through the gestures known to me, that I loved and appreciated their being- without knowing them a bit.

All that separated us was the glass, the carefully controlled temperature and the lighting system that was in charge of controlling their bio-clocks. This visit to the bird park had been planned for 3 weeks now. We had guessed our son would enjoy the birds and it was only a matter of waking up in time to do the trip. I must admit my husband and I were as much, if not more excited than our son at seeing the penguins. Only for a fleeting moment did I get conscious of the other visitors at the penguin expedition, for all the other time it was just the penguins and us.

But why were they not talking to each other? Why didn't their seem to be any interaction? They seemed playful through all the pictures? Even in these big numbers each seemed lonely. They walked about as if with their own agenda in mind, each separated from other. Nothing in their mannerisms reflected that they shared something other than their demeanour... and the number tag that each had on the arm.

The immigrant psyche- is it? It must be lonely to be a penguin I guess.