Ode to Sparrows: One for the bird, one for the word

It is appropriate that World Poetry Day on Tuesday followed World Sparrows Day on Monday, because very soon the little chirping birds may be found only in poems about the past. Many children in cities would not recognise a sparrow, and when even the space for poetry is shrinking in modern life, would the sparrows be able to make their last nests at least in poetry? They were an everyday presence in our lives once, just as poetry thrived in our inner lives and made us relate to the world better. They were an essential part of our environment and represented the variety and liveliness of nature, bringing the world to our homes on their little wings. Poetry interprets the world and makes it more real for us, but the world has become far more unreal with the sparrows disappearing from it. A world without sparrows is a poorer world, just as one without poetry is a dead world.

Sparrows are disappearing because our habits and lifestyles and the urban environment we have built make it difficult for them to survive in our midst. They built their houses on trees, in bushes or under the tiles of houses. Trees and bushes are being cleared, and tiles have given way to concrete roofs. They face a food crunch because grains are not found scattered and worms and insects are being eliminated to keep places clean. The noise and harsh lights and radiation in the city drive them away. Where do they go? To villages which are also becoming less friendly, and then to nowhere. There is a sharp fall in their population in many states and regions, and in coastal areas like Andhra Pradesh, the decline is as high as 70-80%. They are among the most common birds in the world but find life very challenging everywhere. Studies have shown that they have a story linked to human evolution and history, as they separated from wild birds at the beginning of agriculture. They cannot live in places where we are not present.

There is better awareness about the value of sparrows, and conscious efforts are being made to prevent their extinction. The day dedicated to them is part of those efforts. But lifestyles will not be changed for a little bird, and it is not possible to bring back the world where the bird lived. Poetry also finds the environment challenging, but it is basic to being human and will go extinct only with the race. It has always linked us to birds, insects, trees and the world. It has celebrated them, including the sparrows, and we should hope that we will not one day grieve over the loss of the last bird in an elegy.