New Delhi: The urban development has taken us away from the nature of late. No one can deny this fact. Now, we are devoid of so many things that used to be part our lives. The diminishing number of sparrows from the urban areas in the national capital is one of the testament of the above statement. On paper, House Sparrow is still the state bird of Delhi. But their sight in the environs of the city has become restricted and we seldom get a sight of the bird in houses.
This has happened despite the fact that sparrows enjoyed a great association with the human habitats in the past. They used to thrive with us. Today is World Sparrow Day. The day also makes us ponder where our friends have escaped. Surely, they didn't like the way we changed our lifestyles. Now it is a big challenge to bring them back to their abode. But that won't be happening without creating a kind of environment where they live in. Front worker of Eco Roots Foundation, Rakesh Khatri has been involved in creating awareness among people about the importance of the bird in human lives.
Khatri always talk passionately about the importance of the sparrows in our lives. He urges people to wake up to this anomaly until it gets too late. He says that the sparrows have always been found at places with good ecosystem. Khatri shares many reasons behind diminishing of the sparrows from our surroundings.
Khatri took the occasion as an opportunity to inform people about the importance of sparrows yet again. On March 17, Khatri visited Air Force Naval Apartments in Sector 7, Dwarka to raise awareness about the sparrows. During his awareness session, he urged a gathering of children to create an environment to bring back the state bird of Delhi. He organised a session to teach children about the way to make nests for sparrows.
While doing so, Khatri said that by making nests, we can provide homes to the sparrows, which we as a group have taken away from the sparrows. Khatri said, “There is a need to understand the importance of birds. We should give them place for nesting and we should give them food too. Children enjoyed the workshop. They expressed their feelings about how they would go for awareness for sparrows by making more such nests.”
He said that the idea of making nests for sparrows has become very successful. It was the reason for him to be involved in creating awareness about the bird. He shared that he gets immense happiness when he receives photographs of sparrows in the nests from the people whom he had taught making of nests. He said that we should continue our efforts to take a step towards restoring our nature. While concluding, he said that making nests and giving food to the birds could be a step towards increasing the number of sparrows in the environs of Delhi.
The awareness session received a good response from the residents of the society. President of the society, SK Sharma said that children along with their mothers attended the awareness session. He enthusiastically shared that the society has about 110 species of birds and they want to make all the residents aware about how to protect them. “We approached an environment lover Nidhi Gupta and she invited Rakesh Khatri for the event. The response of the society’s people was great. With kids, their mother were also present there. Our society is perhaps the only society having this much species. On the occasion of World Sparrow Day, we organised the event and it was a great success,” said Sharma.
