A Suitable Bird

Having just finished Mira Nair's wonderful adaptation of Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy, I feel its time to go public on the great love affair between Vikram & my much missed cockatoo, Albinia. Here is a love poem written by Vikram, on missing a dinner due to flu:

sick & sorry rhymes

dear willie,

i'm a sicky and illy,

moaning weakly in bed

with a sore head.

dearest olivia

what excuse can i givia

for remaining in noida?

(i'm not trying to avoidya.)

beloved albinia,

wdvluvd2hv seen ya

but there's less than perfect bliss

in a viral kiss.

O cacatua galerita,

Could anything have possibly have been sweeta

Than to lip your beak and muss your sulphurous crest

And swoon at last against your downy breast?