The First

The sky pales against the curtains of my window, dull screech of traffic from the street, and a hoarse voice of an untamed crow from the sky. and then, among those who are familiar to the ear, a low whistle, loud, clear and beautiful. Lifting its head after nearly a year. Filling the cities filling the valleys, it traverses the entire island, the whole of the tropics. The first koel, the first of the season. * Koel always cries at the end of March-beginning of May. In local culture we celebrate the Sinhala and Tamil New Year during April, and the Koel is thus seen as a symbol of the festival among locals. Of course, hearing the first koel always sparks excitement, especially when i was a kid. I heard one today for the first time in an year.