My 25th encounter with the peacock

1.
In my next life
The peacock said
I want to be a happy hippy
Even though I've told you about its inherent futility, I said

Ok, then as option two: a penguin would do nicely as well


2.
Once, I overheard the peacock give advise to his young one
Walk on your toes, twirl your feathers, learn to understand one human language (howsoever pointless it may seem), love music (a good tune is a sign of pedigree and proper genes) and never forget that no matter how long you sit under a tree you cannot become a Buddhist


3.
The horror, the horror
The peacock said
What happened, I asked?
I took a dip in the holy river
What happened then, I asked?
I entered it reverential and ritualistic
Good, I said
When I emerged I had pelagic plastic parts glued to my feathers

Then the peacock proceeded to show me
The quantitative distribution of micro particles
Of plastic

This is bad, what shall we do? I asked
Wait for it to polymerise?
Or decompose?
Or pray to the river god?

No, said the peacock
Go out and buy an expensive shampoo
Then rinse me properly
Right now


4.
As I watched some more bad news on the TV
I sighed
The peacock said
Can't you see
Your politics is passe
You need something a tad fashionable to run this planet


5.
How about that
In my previous birth
Said the peacock to me
I was a fossil