Missing the sparrows in Bangalore

Today, March 20, is World Sparrow Day.

During my childhood in Bangalore in the 1970s-80s, sparrows were a part of our everyday life, much the way rock pigeons just merge with the high-rise landscape today.

Scores of sparrows would be all over the backyard, chirping on the pomegranate and guava trees. Unafraid of humans, the sparrows hopped around on the ground whenever mom cleaned the rice, in expectation of falling grains. (Yes, the rice used to have stones that needed to be removed, and chaff that would blow away in the wind as the rice was tossed up and down on the “morram”.)

A lesson in parenting

For his English Language home assignment, my son Gautam had to write a story based on a picture from his Hindi Language text book. The eleven-year old turned out this delightful piece, which also turns out to be a lesson in parenting.