Dadar Family Caws With Pride About Their Pet Crow

Mumbai: A crow as a house pet may sound strange. But it’s pretty normal for a family in Dadar. This crow is not a fly-in, fly-away visitor, but a permanent resident at the Grace family’s home in Naigaum. Named Kuku, the bird eats, drinks, sleeps and lives in their home on the third floor of a building in Naigaum for the last couple of years.

- Alex.Fernandes @timesgroup.com

All day, Kuku moves around the house, sits on a broken tree branch kept in the balcony, hops into the living room and parks itself on a perch with bowls of food and water attached. “Kuku understands basic commands in Hindi and Marathi,” says Esther Grace, a retired nurse, who treats Kuku like the baby of the house. When she calls out, the bird with poor vision hops on her finger or wrist, which is followed by some pampering.