A parrot tries a guava, outside our home, next to a guava tree, in Lankeshwar Guwahati.

We were told during our childhood that guava is the favourite fruit of parrots. During my childhood, at our grandparents’ house in Tikrikilla in Meghalaya, the guava tree would be swarmed with the green-feathered birds, especially during the guava season.

Now, we do not see that many parrots in Guwahati. Even this one, trying the guava, is a pet, of a man who was passing by our house. And, my mother insisted that the bird should have the fruit.