Ornithologist Bikram Grewal tells Shalini Saksena why the sparrow has vanished from Delhi & how birds are way low on the Government’s conservation list
An ornithologist, author, birdwatcher and conservationist, Bikram Grewal has written several books on Indian birds — over 20 — spanning two decades. He penned his first book in 1993 because the few that were available in the market were “very bad and I decided to come up with my own,” Grewal tells you.
Grewal’s love for birds began as a child visiting his maternal grandmother in Assam who was an avid birdwatcher. “Almost every summer, I would be at my grandmother’s place. She loved watching birds. I would go for walks with her and that’s how I got my passion for birds,” Grewal says.
His passion landed him in plenty of trouble, one being arrested for watching birds from the Yamuna bridge in the Capital. “I was watching birds with my binoculars when a cop walked up to me and asked me what was I doing. ‘Watching birds’, I said. His expression was of disbelief. He said, ‘chidiya kaun dekhta hai’ and took me to the police station. It took several calls to get me out of my predicament. I was made to sit for three-four hours before he was convinced that I was not a spy but an avid bird watcher. He couldn’t believe that there were people in India who actually spent hours watching birds for pleasure,” Grewal recalls.
Interestingly, there are plenty of bird lovers in India — over 15 lakh. There was a time when there would be only one bird walk a month with five-six people. But today, Grewal points out, there is one every weekend and each has at least 15-20 people. There is a lot of awareness among people. The good part is that age is no bar for bird watching. “There are people as young as 25 and as old as 65. They understand the environment better and while birds may come way down the list of animals, they know what their disappearance from the cities means,” Grewal says.
A case in point is the humble sparrow. There was a time when these tiny birds were part of our lives. “Today, they have vanished. The question to ask is why they have gone and not where they are. There is no grass left in Delhi and sparrow is a grass seed eater. Move just 10 km out of Delhi and you will find them everywhere. Delhi is all concrete. If you take away the food source, the birds disappear,” says the 65-year-old. He divides his time between Delhi, Dehra Dun and the Sundarbans, trailing birds.
India has around 13 per cent of the world’s bird population and yet no one cares for them. “Ninety-five per cent of the funds go to the tiger. Birds are only slightly better off than the insects on the conservation list. See what is happening to the Great Indian Bustard, the heaviest bird in the world. The population is down to 50-60 birds, with 80 per cent of them in Rajasthan. Every year, we lose 10-15 per cent of them. I have submitted a report, but nothing has been done. It will be the first bird to be extinct in my lifetime and that is sad because you find the bird only in India,” says Grewal.
His book, Birds of India recently hit the stores. It took him five years to compile the 800-page guide with 4,000 pictures. “It was the toughest book I have compiled. Over the years, so many bird pictures were taken. Each had to be studied and labelled before entering the book,” Grewal says.
Administrative apathy, he adds, has fallen heavily on places like the Okhla Bird Sanctuary which has nothing to offer to bird lovers. “You get to see a few vagrants but it has become more of anullah than a sanctuary,” Grewal asserts.
“People can keep water and seeds for the birds as many die in summers due to lack of water and food. One should also plant fruit-bearing trees instead of random ones to help revive the bird population,” Grewal says.
