Birds Chasing Hope

By Dr. Ashish Modi

When a group of angry foreign birds demand that Maya and her friends participate in their evil plots of revenge and destruction against humans by exploiting their weaknesses, Maya and her friends quickly realize that if they dont think of an alternative plan, the entire world will be destroyed.

Maya and her friends utilize their lifelong experiences to come up with an alternative plan by learning from humans strength and ingenuity. With that, they not only convince foreign birds but also the entire animal kingdom to participate in their new vision. Thus, together they not only save their forest, but also the world.

This is a hopeful and inspirational tale of a group of birds and animals who- despite all the odds against them- overcome their agony and sorrow. They not only save their forest and habitat, but also assist humans in their struggles to protect the environment and save the planet from more destruction.

This novel is a metaphor that discusses our past, present and future in an easy to understand language as seen through birds' perspective.

If you enjoyed The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho or Life of Pi by Yann Martel, you will certainly love this book. If you cherished The Lion King or Finding Nemo, you will love this book as well.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 15, 2011
• ISBN: 9781467053129

Dr. Ashish Modi

Ashish Modi was born in India and moved to United States in 1988 for further studies. He graduated from University of Illinois with a Doctor of Pharmacy diploma in 1993. Since then he has worked as a Pharmacy Manager for various retail outlets. He was recently named as a Regional Pharmacist of the Year for his exceptional service to the community. He currently resides with his family in Shreveport, Louisiana. This is his debut novel. It’s an elaboration of a play he wrote and directed for a local organization in Shreveport. In recent years, the author has written and directed half a dozen plays for a local group in Shreveport. He believes that every child has a potential to revolutionize the world in a constructive way and mentoring them possess a key to our successful future.

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© 2011 Dr. Ashish Modi. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 12/19/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4670-5303-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4670-5309-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4670-5312-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011918320

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Cover art by Morni Modi.

Contents

Advance Praises:

Acknowledgements:

Synopsis:

An Unforgiving Storm

Globe Trotting Maya

Another Dreadful Day

Maya and Molly

Sunshine Returns

Maya and Toby

Friends Reunite

Strangers Arrive

An Evil Plot

An Ultimatum to Humans

We Must Overcome

One Week Later

One Year Later

I dedicate this book to two great democratic nations, India and United States of America. I admire India for implanting seeds of peace and non-violence in me and U.S.A for inspiring me to chase my dreams.

Advance Praises:

I was quite impressed and enjoyed it immensely. This book has messages which are positive and powerful, told in a simple narrative that could be understood by even a younger audience. This book provides a global view within a marvelous tale: traditions, religious beliefs, biases, etc. These underlying themes or threads sew this novel together and create a wonderful tapestry for the reader to learn, while also being thoroughly entertained. Scene descriptions are excellent, creating real and very visual settings. I felt that author has utilized all five senses, which created a very visual read. Kudos!

—Steven Manchester, an author of many published books.

Birds Chasing Hope is a timely and insightful commentary on the times we live in. Using a style reminiscent of the Jataka Tales, Modi skillfully uses wild birds to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of modern man and his relationship with the natural environment. He weaves a broad tapestry covering a variety of topics including climate change, diversity, terrorism, and non-violence. The main characters are meticulously developed in rich and colorful detail. Modi’s prose is often poetic and the text includes many inspirational songs and poems. Young readers will find the book very educational and filled with wholesome values that are essential for our survival as a planet. Modi’s call for individual initiative, collective action, peaceful coexistence, and hope is the right prescription for the challenges of our times.

—Dr. Sanjay T. Menon, India Studies Super Professor,

Louisiana State University Shreveport

The author weaves together a rich tapestry of unconditional love, friendship, and forgiveness. He successfully transports you into a world of birds and animals, a place where hope and light overcome despair and darkness. I haven’t read anything like this before. I adored its characters and superb conclusion. This book gives many positive and powerful messages without being preachy. I find this book extremely entertaining, creative and message oriented. It is a thoughtfully written fable for the twenty-first century. This book is for the people of all ages.

—Tallisa Housley, an author of Pleasant Tree.

It made me visualize the settings and tempted to draw them. You will look at the birds differently after reading this creative, entertaining, and message driven book with awesome characters. This fable commands attention for it contains a desperate world of bird’s and animal’s universe. I find this novel extremely thought-provoking and intensely entertaining.

—Chris Pitre, Master of Art student at LSU.

Chasing Hope by author, Dr. Ashish Modi is a combination of great imagination and reality about the environmental changes that are slowly destroying our world. It’s seen through the eyes of the birds and animals in the forest that are affected by human beings who are slowly wiping out the very things we need to survive. The earth and waterways are contaminated with toxic waste. The plot is how do they show the human race what they’re doing? They decide to make the everyday life of humans uncomfortable. I consider this to be a great story to share with school children to open their eyes about the changes that have to be taken to save themselves and future generations.

—Alberta Sequeira, an author and a speaker.

Chasing Hope is a story that uses a jungle of animals to break down the complexities of human interaction. Entertaining and thoughtful, it spotlights our tendencies towards stereotyping and later reveals the advantage of moving past these preconceived notions. It references recent disasters in a way that will be easy for young adults to understand. The lesson that we can all contribute to the betterment of our world prevails.

—Britney Lindsey, an avid reader and a Pharmacist.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. The images Ashish has painted and the characters he has personified left my mind to venture out and seek more background. I could close my eyes and picture the settings beautifully. Color, texture, personality and spirit are all depicted very well and should delight every reader. The author has done a fabulous job of letting his audience know who each member of his cast is and just how the interplay will work. Maya’s character has a wonderful Gandhi/Mother Theresa figure where her family becomes beautiful disciples in the quest. I enjoyed how the World was embraced as were all other celestial bodies as being power behind it all. God is referenced and not to excess- giving a universal read. I also thought that comments at the end provided insight into each character. This book definitely has a message to send and awareness that people should wake up to. Bravo!

—B.P. Skinner, a published poet and writer of fiction,

an eager upstart editor and fashioner of better lore.

Acknowledgements:

As the saying goes it takes a village to raise a child, I feel privileged for the help of countless unselfish individuals on my first writing project. I want to acknowledge Tiffany Trujillo for reviewing and correcting my first draft. I also want to thank Cindy Evans and John Prime for correcting my errors. I want to thank Judith Johnson and Alberta Sequeira for their honest critiques. I want to thank Dr. Manish Dhawan, Dr. Indira Sastry and Dr. Nikunj Parikh for reading and advising me on this project. I want to acknowledge Steve Manchester and B.P Skinner for editing my messy drafts. I also want to thank my co-workers for reading and encouraging me to finish my book. I thank my wife and kids for their patience and encouragement. Without them I am incomplete.

Synopsis:

Birds Chasing Hope: A story of birds saving the world…

Maya is a compassionate bird who is stranded in her forest by forty days of an unrelenting storm caused by climate change and human negligence. Because of her old age, she has not traveled with her lifelong friends Molly and Toby on a global tour. She is sad, depressed, frustrated, and is losing hope. But, she decides to wait for her friends to return.

When Molly and Toby finally return, they have even worse news to share with Maya. They have decided to leave their childhood place forever and relocate to a better place.

On the day of their departure, two foreign birds arrive in the forest with their teams. They are on a mission to save their habitat by avenging humans. They want to destroy humans by exploiting their weaknesses. Since Maya was the leader of the forest, they want to convince her and her friends to participate in their evil plots of revenge and destruction. Maya and her friends disagree with their plans but realize that if they don’t change the hearts and minds of these strange birds, the entire world will be destroyed.

Maya utilizes her lifelong experiences and learns from the human’s strengths and ingenuity to come up with an alternative plan. She convinces not only the strange birds but the entire animal kingdom to participate in her new vision. With that, they not only save their forest together but also the world.

This is a hopeful and inspirational tale of a group of birds and animals who- despite all the odds against them- overcome their agony and sorrow. They not only save their forest and habitat, but also assist humans in their struggles to protect the environment and save the planet from more destruction.

An Unforgiving Storm

Maya had many close calls. A huge limb right above her head almost crushed her to death when lightening struck the tree. The power of lightening had destroyed many old trees by splitting them into small checker-like pieces. The typhoon had become more and more violent, as the other storms merged to create a single, deadly, unforgiving storm. A few more days… Maya kept telling herself.

It had been thirty-eight days since Maya last saw the sun. She had been counting each day, as they brought new miseries into her world. Charcoal clouds were still blocking the sun from penetrating the sky. The entire forest remained soaked with rain. Though the rain had receded for days now, many uprooted trees in the forest were still embedded in the mud. Soaking wet for many days now, Maya had been imprisoned on the same limb. Her feathers had become so saturated with water that, even if she wanted to fly, she could not. It was as though her wings were stuck to her body with super-glue. Lonely, sad and depressed, she sat there, thinking that only the sun could bring her relief.

After thirty-seven days of relentless storms, the appearance of the forest was one of the universal calamities. Thirty seven days and some more to come, Maya told herself repeatedly. What had started as just another thunderstorm had become the most deadly hurricane in history. Maya remembered the hottest summer days before the whirlwind. At first, the winds intensified. Then, the sky darkened and the rain started. As the descending cool air met the hot air rising from below, falling droplets met ascending droplets forming bigger drops. As they grew in size, they fell faster before the rain started hammering the forest. The combination of rain and furious winds destroyed everything that stood in their way. By Maya’s reckoning, the wind accelerated to cyclone. The trees in the forest swayed back and forth, creating an appearance of ghostly dancers-especially at night. As the rumbling of the storm continued, Maya could see the spiraling funnels traveling at high speed, uprooting thousands of trees. As the storm began, sunlight sprayed its eye and produced scary olive-green clouds and a spectral pink light. This created a visual effect, as if the sky were bleeding.

All hell broke loose when the river began to overflow and the forest’s natural dams started to leak. As the water in the river rose rapidly, the winds raised surges that turned even more destructive than the storm itself. When the river broke its banks, Maya closed her eyes. The water rushed through the forest like a raging bull.

Already saturated ground could no longer absorb the water, turning the forest into a floating island. The once vibrant forest filled with animal and birds became a deathtrap for many of them. The flash floods also created significant risk to the inhabitants who lived beneath the surface of the forest. Millions of insects, spiders, and snakes lived in the dark tunnels of their underground homes; decomposed leaves and bones where they had built dwellings for themselves in the cavernous tunnels. Their survival also depended upon the fate of the forest. The torrential rain and flash flood became cadaverous for them, as well. Those who were strong fled the forest whereas others like Maya, who stayed put, made the mistake of their lifetime. Nature is finally avenging itself, as it can no longer tolerate the abuse by its children, Maya thought. Unfortunately, she and the other innocent animals were the ones paying the ultimate price.

Maya kept wondering, Is this thunderstorm the worst I’ve ever seen? Is this even worse than the tsunami after that major earthquake? That tsunami took so many innocent lives in many different parts of the world. Maya saw the tsunami waves from the sky above and had tried to caution humans on the beach, but all of her efforts were ineffective as she could not speak their language. When she’d tried to warn them by flying close to them, they welcomed her with stones. She’d felt helpless and frustrated. A few minutes later, the gigantic ocean waves were swallowing up people and their belongings like a whale devouring planktons. For the first time, Maya blamed herself for not speaking the human language. But then, she questioned, What if I did? Would they have listened to my pleading? Maya remained dubious. She knew that the humans were too preoccupied with racing through their lives. Why would they pay attention to a crying bird? They had no time. They were always on the go and even at night, they barely slept. They had no time to listen to a bird.

Maya kept on thinking, Is this storm a worse catastrophe than the earthquake I witnessed a few years back? That earthquake had completely flattened the entire city and leveled all the tall buildings and houses in it. It had killed thousands of people and destroyed countless lives. Once again, Maya felt numb. She wanted to help. But how could she?

Is this even worse than the wildfire that had burned forests and many houses in the nearby village? Maya lived in a forest and knew that it was natural for fire to happen, but it was the worst fire she had ever seen. For a moment, she felt fortunate to be a bird. But then, what about other animals? From the sky above, she saw zebras, kangaroos, monkeys, and elephants running desperately to save their lives. Where could they go? All the escape routes were engulfed by the raging fire, so many of them were burned alive. Within a few days, the forests and cities had become ghost towns. Even Maya could not escape the smoke and her beautiful soft feathers had become ashen with gray dust. Despite all, Maya had tried her best to save as many lives she could. A sleeping owl became her friend for life, as she woke him up in time and saved his family. Maya felt fortuitous because she spoke the same language as the owl.

Is this storm a worse catastrophe than the volcanic eruptions a few years back when volcanic ash clouds blanketed the skies for many months? Those dusty clouds had turned many forests and towns into dry gray deserts. Many birds fled the region, as breathing became more and more tiresome. The floating lava burned every living creature on that mountain top. As it merged with the ocean water, the lava created hot fumes that made the ocean look like a pot of boiling water.

Maya could see the devastation in her forest. She watched as the decaying carcasses of dead animals slowly disintegrated. Maya felt lucky but wasn’t sure whether to appreciate God for her own survival or to blame Him for everyone else’s misfortune. Sitting above the ground, she could see that few animals survived. Zebras and monkeys had clung to tree trunks to keep from drowning. A few elephants stood in front of them like a brick wall to keep them from getting washed away. Every one was fighting to save each other’s lives. Maya remained seated on the branch, grieving for her own loss and for the suffering of her animal friends. She knew that death was certain for all living beings, but she could not withdraw from her emotions. While witnessing the premature deaths of her loved ones, the tears began to roll down her cheeks.

In recent years, Maya had been through countless natural disaster. She remembered witnessing humans’ agony and suffering after a powerful hurricane devastated an entire city. As she flew across the sky, she saw humans standing on rooftops pleading for help. She saw helicopters hovering in the skies hoping to save a few who were nearly drowning. Much like her animal friends, she saw people fighting over food and water. She saw them looting and resorting to violence just for a piece of bread. She also remembered seeing dead carcasses of humans and animals floating in the water and on the streets. Maya always admired humans, but she wept when she saw humans behaving like animals. What a contrast, she thought.

Maya kept her eyes closed. Thoughts kept flying in her already distressed and tired mind. She could not resist them. Her mind kept wondering, Why so many natural disasters lately? And why am I experiencing all the agony and suffering? Even though Maya knew that nature was always unpredictable, she could not understand why it was changing so dramatically. She knew that there were even bigger catastrophic events in the history of the world, but the climate was not this bad when she was growing up. Oh boy! She had many unforgettable memories. She had many animal and bird friends in this forest. Most of them either flew away to find a better place, or died. Maya also had an extended family. She had many brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, uncles, aunts and, of course, her own parents. But now she was alone. All of them had moved away to find a better source of food and water. Maya recalled that her parents had also migrated to this forest in search of food and water many years before she was born. She remembered her parents telling her how they fell in love with this place when they came to this forest for the first time and decided to make this forest a permanent place for their nest. They had named her Maya which meant Illusion. But today, Maya was no longer in an illusion. She was becoming an intimate part of the changes taking place in her forest. She missed her family a lot and traveled to visit them many times. Other times, she received news about them from other migratory birds, as they rested on Maya’s tree on their way to their final destination. She heard that the situation in their part of the world was also depressing. But now, they were attached to their place just like Maya was to hers and, therefore, they did not want to relocate.

Maya remembered that once upon a time, this forest also used to have many delicious fruits and nuts, but they had also disappeared. On some dreadful days, Maya also felt like flying away forever, but she didn’t know where to go. She was not young anymore and did not have enough strength to fly a long distance. That was exactly the reason she had stayed behind this time and not traveled with her lifelong friends, Molly and Toby. Today, however, she felt contrary and wanted to fly somewhere far away forever. She wanted to become like a saint who visits many different places alone to help needy humans; never staying in one place and never getting attached to anything- just keep moving, yet staying very happy. Why can’t I become more like the doctors without borders? Maya questioned. Those doctors did their best to save human lives, but never get attached to their patients. They just cured them and moved on. But then again, how could she detach herself from her childhood memories and her friends? There is no way I could do that, Maya thought. Then she made up her mind and declared to herself that when her friends returned, they would all leave this annoying place forever. For now, all Maya wanted to do was keep her eyes closed and focus on her golden past and unforgettable memories rather than beholding the unfolding calamity in the front of her eyes.

Maya still wanted to overlook the ongoing disaster in her forest, but a loud thunderclap shook