A yellow freelance employee

Something unusual happened at the Kapshagai HPP named after Sh.Chokin. A pet parrot
showed up on an employee’s birthday

Every holiday has its own special touch. But for Yelena Naumova, an accountant at the Kapshagai HPP named after Sh. Chokin, her birthday exceeded all expectations. It turned out to be… feathered.

It all started like in a movie: a sunny autumn morning, a light breeze, and a great mood. In one hand she held a cake, in the other – delicious treats to go with tea. Her colleague, Gulzhana Bakhtybaeva, was walking beside her. Together they cheerfully walked from the checkpoint along the winding road, discussing the morning’s chores and, of course, the upcoming congratulations.

And then there was a squeak, like a whistle, and a feisty one at that. They looked up… and stood still. There, at the top of a pine tree, was a bright yellow parrot, like a cartoon character that had accidentally flown out of the pages of a script.

“No way!” they said to each other. But there it was and it wasn’t flying away. It seemed to be waiting.

The bird was obviously domesticated: well-groomed, tame and completely unsuited to life in the steppe. The rescue operation was not long in coming – the valiant colleagues of Sanat Urmannov and Talgat Tokhtiev came to the rescue and deftly (and, fortunately, without injury) brought the bird to the ground. The parrot behaved like a true guest at a party – politely, calmly, confidently.

“We named him Kesha,” Yelena smiles. We housed him on a cupboard in the accounting department. At first, we just fed him by hand, but then we realized we couldn’t do without a cage. The next day, I bought a little birdhouse.

Now the accounting department doesn’t just have reports, it has reports with feathered accompaniment. Kesha doesn’t just lift our mood, he’s our talking stress reliever. He loves cheese, apples, boiled sausage and chatting with everyone.

More than six months have passed, and he is still at his post – greeting people, seeing them off, commenting (in his own way) and reminding us that miracles happen. Sometimes they fly in on their own.

“It was the best birthday of my life” says Yelena. “Not because I got a lot of presents, but because on that day, a freelance employee flew in to the office and became… a friend”.