Fly, Fly Away, Bye Bye

This was the view from my balcony in 2008. 

Here's what greets me now. 

This is just one tiny example of so-called civilization extending its greedy arms, grabbing every inch of vacant, green land, and staking its claim over it through an ugly profusion of concrete and steel. But the loss of natural beauty is nothing compared to some other irreparable losses...like the disappearance of the birds. 

Earlier, the rainclouds brought with them numerous species...mostly those looking for a waterhole to park by. I would observe them from my balcony, sitting with a hot cup of tea, and my camera, close at hand. Soon, I could identify the birds, and recognize their birdcalls and peculiar habits.

Pond Herons ambled lazily alongside the water’s edge, hardly ever taking flight. Kingfishers and Black Ibis' were surprise guests!

There were Red-wattled Lapwings that descended here during the rains, and adopted the land. These cheeky birds teased and bullied the stray dogs that marked their territory here as well. 

Cattle Egrets walked daintily alongside the numerous cows and buffaloes that grazed here, and it was entertaining to watch the Cormorants disappear under the surface of the water, only to emerge a good distance away, just a few seconds later!

These birds showed up without fail every rainy season, and I waited for them each year, as soon as the first showers broke over the city.

But this spectacular window into nature began to shut slowly when the excavators and bulldozers started arriving. They relentlessly dug up the ground, and now, an ugly, brown and grey landscape has replaced those refreshing greens. Where there was once fresh, clean air and the melodious chirping of birds, there is now dust, sweat and noise.  

This year, only two Red-wattled Lapwings showed, looking for their familiar haunt. They couldn't have liked the sight that greeted them...heavy machinery, cement dust, the loud, monotonous construction sounds, and dry waterholes, filled with discarded pieces of wood and steel rods. They left the same day, and haven't returned since…much like the other birds, which I never saw after the last Monsoons.

There are other birds that inhabit this area. But most of their homes are now either firewood, or holding up the roofs of the houses we live in. 

 

The sparrows have mostly gone, and I wonder if these birds will someday fly away too...
And if they do, then we will have no one to blame, except ourselves.

Maybe we can’t stop people from tearing down trees and we can’t stop the birds from flying away to greener pastures. But what we can do for starters, no matter how insignificant it might seem in the light of bigger things, is to plant a tree, in a small attempt to woo them back, and to return some of the joy that they so generously give us.