Vedantic Tales : The Discipleship
        of Ajay : The Osprey

Ajay was not large for his age, nor was his wing spread unusually broad; but his proportions were excellent; he combined the softness of the dove with the strength of the hawk; his bullet shaped body was slightly rounded, but his wings, broad at the shoulder and sweeping out and back at an angle when spread, were like artfully shaped blades that could slice cleanly through the air without tearing it. His primary feathers extended at his wing tips like small sensitive fingers, by Moving which, ever so slightly, he could make the Most subtle of adjustments in his flight. His under body and crest were snowy white, which made him look indeed like a dove on the wing, but his back was a rich and lustrous brown. His feet were yellow with shiny black talons, and his keen, far sighted eyes a bright orange, which would later turn to a rich and mature gold. By the time he flew off to the Himalayan School he had entirely lost his childhood fuzz, but he was not yet full grown; he was still a boy, graceful, slender, vulnerable.

Ajay and his guide, an angry mountain hawk, flew all day and a part of the night with strong, even strokes. When they set out at dawn the following day he could discern in the north the sun blushed snow peaks, and high in the sky, silhouetted against them, a number of black specks, which he at first took to be pariah vultures on the watch for carrion. But the specks seemed to dive and to loop, to spiral and somersault, and as he grew closer, he beheld a spectacle such as he had never before seen. Falconiforme birds of all kinds and sizes were performing incredible acrobatic feats, turning and twisting in the air at breakneck speed. As the sun glinted on their wings, they looked like frenzied fire sparks, rising and falling on gusts of hot air erupting from some hidden volcano. Amazed, he looked at his guide. Morning classes, the hawk said without interest. And Ajay's heart sank. They had reached the College; these insanely gyrating aerialists were to be his fellow students.

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