K Narayanappa (name changed) had to wait for over 50 minutes before he could successfully complete the 10th day ritual of his father’s death recently. Reason: His family was left wanting for crows.
That the frenetic growth of the City and increasing high-rises have had their bearing on infrastructure is a known fact.
Poor roads, shortage of power and water, longer commuting time, increasing pollution and congestion are not the only issues that come with concrete replacing grasslands and tree cover.
This also jeopardises the habitat of birds. Among the many birds that are slowly retreating from Bangalore are house and jungle crows.
Most of the Hindu families have to feed the bird as part of the 10th, 11th and/or 13th day rituals when a death occurs in the family and the lack of crows in the City has seen many break their heads over their perceived “ill-doings that could have prevented the crows, which are believed to be ancestors, from arriving and feeding on the offerings.”
About a month-and-a-half ago Venkataramana Joshi, a priest who performed the 13th day rituals in Jayanagar, had to wait for over an hour-and-a-half for the crows.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, he said: “This is not the only time I have experienced this. There have even been times when the crows never turned up. Worried families bombard me with questions of alternatives that could relieve their dead from this planet and ensure a safe journey to greater abodes.”
Conceding that there are no answers to what happens to the dead, he said that the rituals were practised in order to safeguard the ecosystem and not so much to give a good send of to the dead.
“We have these practices, including leaving food in rivers, so that fish could feed on them and not really for other reasons. But given that these rituals have always been related to faith and religion, people have their own sentiments. I generally tell them to feed a cow when crows do not turn up,” he said.
Ganesh Prasad Sharma, another priest, also experienced a similar thing recently when he went to perform the rituals in Bommasandra.
“People get really worried when such things happen. They think they have done something wrong,” he said.
Experts, however, cite other reasons for the birds deserting the City. They are of the opinion that the lack of birds is because of the decreasing tree cover and other civic activities that jeopardise their habitats. The number of crows has definitely come down.