Sunday 14 February 2016

Kabootar jaa jaa jaa

Kabootar jaa jaa jaa...
Kabootar jaa jaa jaa..." Said the iconic song from the 1989 movie "Maine pyaar kiya" which was released during my Engineering college days. The movie introduced Salman Khan as a lover boy in style and was his second movie. And we, the engineering college students were enamoured with the very pretty & cute Bhagyashree. She looked like a girl next door who stole the hearts of all young boys. The smile floored us.
But sorry folks! This write up is not about the ever lasting Superstar with the undeniable charisma nor about that pretty heroine, neither is it about the movie. Its about the pest, we call  kabootar, the pigeon. Any new building constructed, it is first occupied by the pigeons and then the humans. The humans invest in a flat for themselves, when there is actually nothing on the site. And as the building starts coming up, they part with their hard earned money to the builder. Then the day arises when they are handed over , the keys to the flat. They pick an auspicious day to do the gruh pravesh. And on this day, along with their most near and dear ones, they enter into the flat. And what do they find...a pigeon or two, who are already sitting in the window and indulging in PDA! And crying out to each other and to the other pigeons in the vicinity in their very peculiar intonations. Are they actually making fun of the humans who have paid through their noses to occupy the flat? I am not sure.
And the situation starts deteriorating further as the days go by. Every 12 hours, the lady of the house, has to go on a cleanliness drive, such is the pigeons' propensity to indulge in their acid laden droppings, especially in the balconies. And when the time of the year comes for them to mate, they start bringing in assorted twigs, sticks, et al, preparing for additions to their families. After some days, an egg sits in the nook of the balcony, or whichever other area, the pigeons take a fancy to. I for one, take no chances, the minute the egg is spotted, it is thrown out, so that there is no addition to the menace of these avians. Some may call it cruelty to animals, I call it prudence. If you are not careful and leave the balcony or the windows open, god save your beds or sofas, for you are sure to find beautiful designs on them, once the pigeons are done. And if they fly inside your room, it is given that by the time, they make their way out, they would have shed a lot of grey feathers inside. Your hair will also turn a shade of grey just looking at all the mess they have made. One thing I discovered is that they cannot see the transparent glass windows and many times they will crash against them, on their way out.
A few people, especially the kiranawallas, like to feed them grains. This feeding is not to  one or two but to the entire community of neighbourhood pigeons. A whole flock of them will descend on the ground for this feast. In fact, all the old cities, had always had kabootarkhanas, which were meant for exactly this feeding frenzy. The Dadar kabootarkhana, feeds about 5000 pigeons who consume about 1500 kg. of grain daily! New cities don't have any area known as kabootarkhana, but the activity is still in vogue. If you don't believe, go to any new neighbourhood, especially in morning time, you will find the nearest kiranawallah, spreading out the grain feast for these pests. I think this is done for getting the lord's blessings but why not feed hungry and poor humans instead?
 More and more cities, especially in the western hemisphere are waking up only now to this menace and have banned all such feeding activity to try and control the abundant local pigeon population. Till this happens in India, please be ready to hear the daily "gutur goo..." and feel nostalgic with the lyrics"kabootar jaa jaa jaa..."
Yatin


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