Where Have All the Sparrows
Gone?
By: Aqeel
Farooqi*
The threat to species
continues. As the inexorable juggernaut of human development rolls on, it
leaves little or no elbowroom for other life forms to cling on tenaciously
to the thread of survival. Whether it is the forest or urban environs, so
many species are being pushed surely and steadily over the brink of
extinction that one now tends to lose count. Although the larger and more
well recognized endangered species have strong conservation groups
supporting their struggle for existence, but for commoner species these
threats are so imperceptible that conservationists get the chance of ringing
the warning bells only long after the damage is done.
One victim of these
imperceptible threats is Passer domesticus, the common house
sparrow. As its name suggests, it is one of the bird species that have
always been closely associated with us in our urban environment. A bird so
ubiquitous, that it had almost become a part of our lives. More often than
not, it was the sparrow which was the ‘chiya’ that parents pointed out to
the bubbly infant in their arms - sometimes as the first lesson in making
him aware of the wonders of his new world, or as a distraction to stop his
streaming tears when he cried inconsolably in anger or in pain. As he grew
up, they regaled him with stories of ‘chiriya-chidda’, in which the
central characters were none other than sparrows.
Our homes always had sparrows
as co-habitants. Any wooden rafter, crevice in the wall or the cup in the
ceiling fan, was confidently staked by the sparrow to build its nest. Its
initial forays, when it was searching for a nest-site, were strongly
repulsed. But once it succeeded in laying its claim to a nesting site, we
tended to let it go on unhindered. Although it turned out to be a nuisance
for the house mistress because of the wispy nest material falling all over
the place, it was tolerated with good humour since it contained eggs, and to
demolish it was anathema to most. Later, as the hatchlings emerged, they
often wriggled too vigorously in their quest for food and fell out of the
nests, but were promptly replaced by us with tenderness and care. The ones
that didn’t survive found teary eyes and willing little hands that laid them
gently to rest in impromptu graves dug in the backyard.
But all that is now a
thing of the past. Our homes are now drearily silent without the twitter and
chirrup of the sparrows, which seem to have either gone into oblivion or
have forsaken us in our mad race in the material world. With our beautifully
constructed houses and rooms of isolation, we effectively banished the
sparrow from our environs.
The older generation, for whom
feeding the birds was akin to puja, has mostly passed away. The
younger generation, with its hard-working couples in single unit families,
has neither the time nor the inclination to bother about such mundane
distractions as putting out food for the birds. Besides, thanks to the
fridge and the changed culinary setup, nothing qualifies as leftovers.
And so, with no food and no
place to qualify as home, the poor sparrow has all but made a quiet exit
from our lives. Only a few die-hard stragglers remain, to make us more
acutely aware of their plight. There may not be any research conducted, and
no questions may be asked to explain this loss. After all, the sparrow does
not have any NGO rooting for its survival as there are for other
high-profile species.
But to those of us who grew up
chasing sparrows during the hot summer afternoons, after making stealthy
escapes from strictly enforced siestas, the cheerful chirrup from even one
sparrow today is enough to gladden our hearts.
* The
author is a government officer serving in the UP State Transport Department,
based at Lucknow in India. Wildlife is his passion. He is associated with
leading NGOs on several conservation issues and has served as honorary UP
State Coordinator of Indian Bird Conservation Network (IBCN) established by
Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and the UK based Royal Society for
Protection of Birds (RSPB), and continues as Partner, IBCN.
E-mail - [email protected];
Website -
http://www.wildlifeofindia.com/ |
