Sparrows and Mangoes

There was a news article recently in the Times of India about a sparrow survey. Apparently the common house sparrow is becoming fairly uncommon. Still remember sparrows making their untidy nests with grass and in crevices around the house and behind the electricity meter. They would fly endless sorties transporting the building material taking a break once in a while to have a drop of water or a dirt bath in our garden.

My mother would tell us not to disturb the eggs, for sparrows give up eggs if they smell of human touch. We would eagerly wait for the baby sparrows to hatch  and share the good news with our friends.

It was such a peaceful time, they say that when we look back in life, that's what we prefer to remember, the happier times. Well they were happy, we would play for hours in the garden behind our house, climbing onto the jamun tree, watching the big black ants going about their business. Once in a while the ants would get irritated with us trying to divert them using small sticks and we would howl and jump around with one of the soldier ants stuck onto a toe. Those bites were painful.

Coming to Gurgaon nine years ago to a call center job, in our busy busy lives, never realised that there were few sparrows, who had time for sparrows and time too had been turned on its head, working to follow the American sun during the Indian night.

Intrigued by the article I set off to explore our condominium and look for signs of sparrows. In our lives we often become blind to the little things, and it is only when you focus your attention consciously that you begin to see again.

In not more than half an hour I came across a little sparrow, hopping around doing sparrow stuff. Further investigation led to a small straw nest in a hole in the parking area. So sparrows are doing alright, atleast in my condominium, they are going about their lives and building houses too!