English Proverbs – BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER

Proverb Expansion

BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER

Go to Jamuna Pushta i.e. the barrage on river Jamuna in Delhi. You’ll come across groups of people – young and old – girls and boys – rich and poor – highly educated and illiterate – all having a common purpose -consuming drugs in one form or the other. The scene at the corner Panwala in Connought Place in New Delhi, Anna Salai in Chennai or Kalbadevi in Mumbai is no different. These are the havens of drug addicts. All have the common purpose and flock together.

Notorious students in schools and colleges form groups – sometimes rival groups too. Teachers for whom school or college work is just a side work have strong unions to safeguard their own interests. So is the case with the surplus staff in public sector (nationalized bodies like banks). They form strong trade unions and are close to one another like real brothers. No different are the unscrupulous political leaders who indulge in different types of scams. Even these plunderers of the national wealth have their ethics. They remain together. They help one another even at the time of distress – they flock together.

Of late the tendency of flocking together has acquired a healthier aspect. Human activists who oppose child labour, pollution, felling of trees and women activists who fight for their rights and against drug trafficking have too started flocking together. It is a healthier sign that may bring the scholars and saints too together – a rare phenomenon of course.