Sparrow - The lost companion of Human Race

I never thought, we have to celebrate or rather observe "Sparrow Day" to make people aware about this harmless little passerine bird, being on verge of extinction.

I grew up seeing sparrows everyday, during my childhood. It was a sight, so familiar. In my native,  sparrows were co-owners of certain part of our houses, that too with authority. They use to litter a lot, around their nests. But no one thought of dismantling their nests. It was their abode, same as ours. It was their safe haven, because we were supposed to be their protectors.

Unfortunately they considered us untouchables. The moment one of their young ones falls out of their nests, they use to banish them and leave them to die. If someone put them back to their nest, they used to throw them out, abandon them.

It was easier for those sparrows to build their castles in the southern section of our large clustered house, because that part was made up of clay bricks, Bamboos, wood and straws (or rice/wheat husks), a suitable construction ground for tiny fellows.

Time passed, and passed a generation who lived there, my grandparents. Maintenance of clay homes are difficult, because they need regular cleaning, fixing and roofing. Finally,  the section, where these sparrows have built their empire and had freedom for  generations, had to be destroyed and rebuild, A home, which they co-owned, where their generations lived as ours, which belongs to them too, they did not have the right to protect.

Now, the concrete and brick structure is strong, safe and grand. But neither human nor sparrows live there. Pigeons, as referred by Rudyard Kipling, are the oldest companions of human race, they have evolved with human and learned to live in the modern buildings. Sparrows are not pigeons. They need more organic living, they can live with human but don't need interference. They boycott any human intervention, including their children, even if just touched by humans.

On March 20th, world observe Sparrow Day.  I came to know couple of years back. If we want this beautiful species to continue to please us, if we want next generations, especially urban generations to remember Sparrow as a tiny little bird and not as a character of a movie series, we must find a way to protect them.

Sparrows have taught us, we can co-exist without interfering into each other's life. Hope, we human also acknowledge this. Hope we won’t need a sparrow day!!!

"Akhil"

#WorldSparrowDay