The Bird calls of a purple Sunbird start with a body posture of moving the neck and bills and upwards ! The whole body moves with the bird call. It is a progressive movement which ends in a bird call.
A bird call is therefore intentional and is a progression of an inner and outer movements!
The morning calls of different birds perched in the trees around our cottage sometimes are reciprocal from the same species of birds and others. Even the birds have a communal connection apart from species affinity.
As we listen to the morning choral singing of birds, there is a sense of freedom that birds treasure and exercise! They can be and are themselves. Each bird follows its native habits and practices.
The recent street protests in Ladakh is a resistance movement against disregarding the ethnic culture and practices and imposing pressure to convert the region to be an international tourist spot for commercial gain.
We are loosing the native customs and life style by an enforcement of a culture that is post modern. People feel threatened by being uprooted from what is truly their heritage. The commercial value of hills is huge as such places are considered to be a treasure of minerals which when excavated would bring enormous financial gain to the corporate sector. The down side is that people loose their land, familiar surroundings and get displaced to other regions which are alien to their way of life!
The human settlement in Lakshadweep island is getting threatened by the commercial plan the government proposes for tourism. Although eco-tourism is a jargon used to appease people, beneath lies the strong traction for commercial tourism.
The economics of these efforts favour those who invest to develop the places for commercial gain! The participatory planning or transition is not pursued in most instances.
Even a Sunbird has its place in the garden for privacy and practicing its ritual!
I wish people and their interests and wellness would remain at the heart of every development plan rather than the gain for the investors!
The melody of bird call is uplifting and comforting, for which they need trees and garden!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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