My primary school was hardly 1000 meters far from my home. The 15 minute short journey from my home to school brought agony to me every single day. Every morning my mamma had to see my grumpy face and my unique excuses showing my reluctance to go to school. But no matter how much I tried I had to take that marathon route daily. Certain things made this detachment from my home too difficult and due to that the school seemed to me no better than Mandalay jail. The sight of house sparrows waving around my house when I left for school roamed around my mind for whole day at school. These sparrows used to tease me every time I left for school. I was envy of them for their good fate.
Remember those cheeky, little, chunky house sparrows. You might have seen them passing through your house ventilators, roaming on the floor, dancing on the roof or sitting on the electric wires. I am sure they have had played a very important role in your childhood. For me, my tryst with these sparrows has generated some sweet indelible memories. I had a very good bonding and attachment to them when I was a kid. Apart from the teasing (which obviously they never meant) they were my best companion to spend time with .During summer vacations, morning sessions of school and on Saturday and Sunday I had plenty of time to goof around. Whenever I sat on the wooden cot in my house verandah I could hear their pleasant, mellifluous chirping. Eyes automatically rolled towards them and followed their activities. The mamma sparrow would bring food grains, insects in her beak from some remote areas and would feed her babies. Those small liitle red beaks would open with a shrieking sound whenever there was a food arrival.
House Sparrow
Sometimes during a hot sunny day in the month of June when everyone was sleeping to avoid the deadly loo and I was the only one awake in that deserted area, I would come outside my room slowly without making any noise and sat in the verandah. In that silence and rumbling sound of wind the only companion I could find were these little sparrows. Their chirping in that silence seemed so pleasant and I would forget everything while observing their pranks.
On an extreme harsh and humid day these sparrows would find a way to entertain themselves. They would brush their peak and their body with hot, loose sand grains scattered on the ground. The elders would interpret this as a sign of raining. This scene brought happiness to everyone’s face. Sometimes when my verandah was beaming with presence of my family members and fellow friends from nearby houses these sparrows cuddled themselves like they were enjoying this social gathering too and made their presence felt in their own way.
The house sparrows had some privileges too. The descendants of Draco Malfoy who were roaming around the village with their catapult to kill all sweet birds were strictly prohibited not to touch these little sparrows. They enjoyed their immunity from these hooligans. But during the time of Dussehra these sparrows had to face a different kind of problem from their own community. A new type of bird Indian Roller locally called as Khirlich or Neelkanth would become the cynosure of all eyes and sparrows found themselves neglected. They found themselves ugly compared to the Neelkanths and would stop roaming around in that dejection. But as soon as Dussehra passes and these Neelkanths are gone the village is once again filled with these sparrows.
Indian Roller (NeelKanth)
Now when I visit my house I hardly see any sparrows these days. It seems like all the good things in this world they have also decided to shun this place and have gone to some unknown places. The ornithologists have done a lot of research and have found certain factors responsible for this trend. The heavy use of insecticides, pesticides in farming, the increasing pollution, the use of leaded petrol, the absence of suitable places(like ventilators, dark and swampy corners) in new built houses, use of packed food grains( which reduces the chances of scattering of food grains) have made a very bad impact on these sparrows. This is a very shameful situation for whole humanity. I don’t want to add these birds in the list of “thing-that-have-disappeared”.
On 20th March, the World House Sparrow Day let’s take a pledge to preserve this beautiful creature. The use of organic farming, reduced use of pesticides and insecticides, increasing use of bio fertilizers, using unleaded petroleum, donating some food grains on your own roof, ceiling for these birds, reducing pollution in whatever way you can are some of the steps you can take to revive those golden days when the environment was full with the chirping of these sparrow. These are not the birds you want to shoo. Welcome them and let them be a part in the life of our children.
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