Yesterday (22nd Feb'09), I woke up around 6.30am but as usual was still lying on the bed... (I normally wake up early, but do not get up until I feel like ;)... some times I doze off again too). As I was lying on my bed and thinking about the previous evening - the get-together of the ex-L&Tites from Mysore, trying to recollect everyone's face, trying to visualise how they looked while I had seen them at L&T and how they have changed over the years etc... something disturbed my thought process and "visuals" blurred and faded into the day light... Though I was distracted / disturbed, I was pleasantly surprised with what I had just heard... something I had not heard in a long time in Bangalore... I could not believe my ears. I was woken up from the "slide show" by some chirping outside the window. I immediately sprang up from the bed and peeped out. I had indeed heard it right. Now, I could not believe my eyes... I saw a few sparrows happily chirping and eating some grains from the terrace of the opposite house. I have probably not spotted a sparrow in Bangalore in the past 5-6 years. These little cute and chirpy birds that used to frequent my home so often during my school days had slowly faded away from the city life. A few years ago I was reading an article on the "missing" sparrows in cities and thats when I realised that I could not recollect when I had last seen a sparrow. Bangalore has literally chased away these tiny chirpy friends. The increase in vehicular population, the pollution, the reduction in greenary, the expansion of concrete jungles and the cutting down of trees all around had literally chased the sparrows out of Bangalore. As if all these were not sufficient, I understand that the ever increasing mobile network / signals have added to it. Thats why my joy knew no bounds when I woke to the chirping of these good old cute little friends... (I did spot sparrows recently... a couple of weeks ago, but unfortunately not in Bangalore). How I wish we were more considerate to the other living beings around us.... :(
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