A sparrow dies... and the spirit of a village too!

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

In a rare display of love towards birds, residents of a village in Chikkaballapur have built a small memorial in memory of a sparrow and also arranged for mass feeding as part of the 11th day rituals!

The sparrow in Basavapattana village in Sidlaghatta taluk, was very dear to the villagers. It was considered a family member since it used to visit every house and spend some time with people. Even the villagers never harmed it and loved seeing it chirping and sitting on the doors and windows of houses. They would feel bad if they did not see the bird for a day.

A few days ago, the sparrow went missing. The worried villagers searched everywhere but there was no sign of the little bird. Later, they saw the carcass of the sparrow and the whole village went into mourning. People, irrespective of their age, decided to give a decent funeral to their ‘little friend’ and it was buried in the village in the presence of all villagers. They hung a flex board which said in Kannada, “Matte Hutti baa Geleya Gubbachi” (be born again my friend sparrow).

The villagers have built a small memorial for the sparrow and people paid their last respects. On the 11th day, villagers observed ‘tithi’ of the little bird by pooling money and fed everyone non-vegetarian food. They bought around 50 kg of meat to prepare special dishes on that day. Around 200 persons from neighbouring villages too participated. Flex boards showing their love for the sparrow have been put up.