The sparrows and mynahs will soon join the dinosaurs. We were not responsible for the extinction of dinosaurs, are we? So also, we shall not be responsible for the vanishing of twitters (not the twitter technology) and singing feathers.
Living on the fifth or eighth floor this fact about sparrows really does not matter as no branches jut in. There are no trees, only concrete matchboxes that are neatly packed in rows one above the other in an orderly fashion. And, even if the bird comes tweeting in, the air-conditioned rooms do not really allow the sound to penetrate. In fact, the twitters or singing feathers can be a nuisance!
March 20 was the common house sparrow day. So we did get to read a whole lot on how we can save the sparrow from this day onwards. Can we build nests for them (they do! with twigs and sticks, it takes a solid seven hours to do it, they say.)We are not individually responsible for the felling of trees for widening roads or building the metro, or, are we? So how can we be responsible for the extinction of the dear sparrow?
The grains from the grocers are no longer food for the sparrows as it is not packed in gunny bags so the sparrows could get a peck from the holes; nor can they feed on the cleaned/left-over grains as they are packed in plastic bags and placed in malls. We have done away with ledges which housed and fed them with neat compound walls; the roof tiles with concrete and the crevices in walls and roofs too with cement. Who has the time to keep a basin of water? We are in a hurry and are buying water in cans and bottle as the taps go-a-hissing. Where do we have the time or money to keep water for the birds too?
Mud bath? For the sparrows or dust bath? We have done away with that too by neatly laying footpaths and walkways with concrete. Neat ain't we?
Talk about cellphones and they say we are killing a bird with every call. And it is interfering with their population. Do we care? Well, you can do without sparrows, not the cellphone, right?
“A signature campaign is on. I have signed it to save sparrows and there ends my worries about sparrows. In any case, I had not noticed their disappearance till it was announced that house sparrow day falls on March 20,” is the thought of many.
Let the Mohammed Dilawars worry about the sparrows, I'm headed for my 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. workplace, is another thought.
We shall never wake up from this fast moving world unless there will come a day they call the “world human being day” and, unless we do something about it, we will soon join the dinosaurs and sparrows.
