Yesterday, i went to visit Upasak in the hostel so we could watch a movie. He stays on the third floor. He was smoking when i went and he pointed to a poor pigeon who was stuck in the manjha on a tree branch. The poor bird was struggling so hard to rescue himself but in the whole process he kept getting entangled in the manjha which is known to cause the deaths of many birds. I felt various emotions at that time and first came out anger "A life is ending in front of you and you are smoking a cigarette. Go get Rajnish, get Sanchit." He went off to find Sanchit. In the meantime, i found a pair of scissors and tried to pull the branch closer to myself in the balcony. I could also cut a little bit of the manjha though the bird was still stuck badly. I only felt the desperation in the poor bird and its natural instinct to save its life and i could not control my tears.
Upasak and Sanchit returned soon. Sanchit is a tall guy and an animal lover. At our campus, we have the clothes stand in the balcony too. this was a deterrent in our bird saving project. Upasak had to hold the clothes stand. I pulled the branch closer to us and Sanchit started cutting the manjha. It was not very easy because the pigeon was scared of us too. It would flutter even more as we tried to help it. However, soon we managed to free it from the branch. Sanchit could hold it and put it on the balcony. One wing was severely damaged and the bird could not fly. It could however walk. We gave it water in a bowl and some bread crumbs. The bird was very very scared and probably also in shock. We also got a cardboard box for it but we could not make it sit in the box.
We kept checking on the pigeon through the night and gave it some sprouts too. In the morning, i called many helplines to save birds. In the end, i found one at Goregaon west who said they would come and pick up the pigeon by afternoon. At about 4, a certain Hasmukh bhai came to collect our pigeon. He removed the remaining manjha stuck in the bird's wings. He put the pigeon carefully in the box we had ready, recited the gayatri mantra and then took the bird for treatment. He told me that the NGO doesnt have many funds and it is not registered. I donated some money towards the cause and will visit it too in the near future.
It felt nice to be able to help a life which was suffering in front of us. Kite flying is enjoyed by the human life but its repercussions on the avian life are too harsh. Kite flying should be banned.
