| Q11. Would you like to share a story about House Sparrows from this time period? | Matunga, the area, which I live in is one of the older suburbs of Mumbai & a majority of the structures are old & dilapidated, including the building where I stay. Hence, it is obvious that these structures being hazardous have to give way for new structures with a larger habitable area.
A year back, the structure sharing our same compound had to be redeveloped which is an inevitable thing since it was in a severely dilapidated condition. Also certain trees needed uprooting (of course with requisite permits) to accommodate certain norms. The felling of trees is offset-ted by planting new trees within the same premises albeit at a different location. Meanwhile the habitants of the felled trees like sparrows & other birds are dislocated. It is during this period that a lot of these birds fall prey to predators like cats & stray dogs. Some just die due to loss of habitat. This is where care needs to be taken. Thankfully our locality has a relatively large tree cover. There are Ashokas & Gulmohurs in our premises. The dislocated birds didn't have to do a lot of house hunting. But they still needed to adapt.
My daughter is a bird lover. She started to keep pop-corn crumbs & other savoury bits on the window sill. Gradually the sparrows started to arrive on our window sills. Initially, it started with a couple of them. And over a period of time, we are witnessing encouraging results. It’s been nearly a year since we started this practice, & there has been a steady increase in the number of sparrows arriving at the window. As I write, there are 10 sparrows feasting on the sill right now. Also the sparrow chirpings can be heard throughout the day, indicating a steady rise in the overall population of the area.
This is a very nice initiative on the part of the ministry. I would like to thank the people concerned who have developed this programme & extend my full support.
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