“We’re not leaving,” says six-year-old Jennica Prathap. She’s the granddaughter of C Sekar, who has been feeding parakeets at his rented house on Pycrofts Road, Triplicane, for 15 years. Prathap has no idea that her grandfather has been asked to move out by his landlord. She watches him scoop soaked rice grains onto wooden planks for the parakeets — something she’s been doing ever since she was a baby. “They’ll be here soon,” says Sekar, placing a handful after handful of the grains in little mounds on planks he places between the walls of his small terrace.
Suddenly, an insistent ‘kreech kreech’ rings out, and we know it is time. One by one, they arrive. The parakeets swoop down on the cables overhead and perch there for several minutes to ensure that the coast is clear. Sekar takes us to a building on the other side of the road to witness the spectacle. With the Express Avenue Mall at walking distance and vehicles screaming past on the road below, the vision of green seems too beautiful to be true. The 62-year-old watches the birds, the thought of moving houses weighing in on his mind.
I can’t imagine deserting my birds. Would you do it if they were your young children? I know that they can find food elsewhere if I don’t feed them. But they will suffer initially, like a newcomer in a city, lost without a direction. I don’t want to put them through it.
Without birds, there can be no human beings. They create forests. It all started after the 2004 tsunami. At the time, around 10 parakeets came to my terrace to eat. I kept feeding them and the numbers increased and before I knew it, I was feeding 2,000 of them. During the winter, the numbers go up to 6,000.
I spend ₹1,500 on food per day for the birds. That’s 50% of my earnings. Kind-hearted people have started donating rice, bringing down the costs. You know, I always eat a handful of rice from the sack that was donated before offering it to my birds. I want to make sure that it’s safe; I don’t want anyone to harm my birds.
CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, 20/09/2013: Green parrot normally colored Indian Ringneck Parakeets are mostly a bright pastel green color. While crossing Pycrofts Road near Amir Mahal in Royapettah during morning and evening no one can miss to watch the hundreds of green parrots flying on a terrece of a old house where a camera mechanic Sekar lives. He feeds the parrots daily. A spectacular scene in Chennai on September 20, 2013. Photo: K. V. Srinivasan
I feel responsible for them. I remember how during the cyclone, I fed them non-stop in the rain with a raincoat on. I’ve stopped bus drivers plying this route, asking them not to honk when they drive past this stretch because it scares away the parakeets.
The landlord wants to sell the property; I cannot blame him. He’s been very kind to me. I’m hoping to buy this place, rather than it going to someone else. All I ask is this: I have a priceless collection of 4,000 vintage cameras that I’ve collected over 35 years. I’m willing to sell them to someone in order to buy this place. I wish the Government pitches in to support me; it can buy the cameras for universities for educational purposes. My cameras are my treasure; they’re all that I have. But I’m willing to let go of them for the sake of my birds. After all, what’s more important than love?
As told to Akila Kannadasan
