TAPAN MUKHERJEE -
Martin Burn Campus Raniganj Railway Station, National Highway 60 Raniganj West Bengal
In my childhood during the above period there were abundance of house sparrows. They were not afraid of human presence rather they took full advantage of the city life to live and multiply without any concern. A few things that they took advantage of are as follows.
The old buildings of that era were built by the British Engineers who liked 12'-14' high ceiling, spacious rooms, electric wiring mounted high up the wall on elaborately ornate teak wood batten with protective wooden cover. Wooden Joint boxes, Corner joints were provided with ample sizes providing a very good platform for the sparrows to set up nests without fear. Also, then the suspension rods of old generation D.C. fans were much longer. They used to have large metallic caps at both ends which again provided a safe place for building a nest. Very rarely any resident took offence in the presence of these birds. They were part of our daily life. Another important factor leading to abundance of sparrows within a household was availability of food of their choice. Then rice and other cereals were daily subjected to winnowing to clear any chaffe or broken grains before cooking. These rejects were one of the main items in their menu. They had free entry to any room in the household without facing any threat.Today there is a sea change in housing design. The ceiling height has come down to 9'-10', open wiring has been replaced by concealed wiring, the stem of today's celing fan has become 18" only. Today we need not resort to winnowing food grains, instead we get grains in polythene bags. we have lost open grassland which provided building materials for our little friends.There has been a drastic habitat loss for these sparrows.Till 1975 there was no largescale microwave transmission system in place. With the advent and proliferation of communication technology it appeared that the birds moved away from areas covered by them may be due to electromagnetic field. But there is positive come back now.
In my childhood during the above period there were abundance of house sparrows. They were not afraid of human presence rather they took full advantage of the city life to live and multiply without any concern. A few things that they took advantage of are as follows.
The old buildings of that era were built by the British Engineers who liked 12'-14' high ceiling, spacious rooms, electric wiring mounted high up the wall on elaborately ornate teak wood batten with protective wooden cover. Wooden Joint boxes, Corner joints were provided with ample sizes providing a very good platform for the sparrows to set up nests without fear. Also, then the suspension rods of old generation D.C. fans were much longer. They used to have large metallic caps at both ends which again provided a safe place for building a nest. Very rarely any resident took offence in the presence of these birds. They were part of our daily life. Another important factor leading to abundance of sparrows within a household was availability of food of their choice. Then rice and other cereals were daily subjected to winnowing to clear any chaffe or broken grains before cooking. These rejects were one of the main items in their menu. They had free entry to any room in the household without facing any threat.Today there is a sea change in housing design. The ceiling height has come down to 9'-10', open wiring has been replaced by concealed wiring, the stem of today's celing fan has become 18" only. Today we need not resort to winnowing food grains, instead we get grains in polythene bags. we have lost open grassland which provided building materials for our little friends.There has been a drastic habitat loss for these sparrows.Till 1975 there was no largescale microwave transmission system in place. With the advent and proliferation of communication technology it appeared that the birds moved away from areas covered by them may be due to electromagnetic field. But there is positive come back now.
