During the first day of our holiday, Anna and I took a walk along the street, close by to where we stay! Some sights told a story of the evolution of what we have seen.
This suburb of the city is a residential area since the mid nineteen sixties, which meant that the wet lands and marshy areas where the Ibis used to have their habitat no more exist. So they can be found in the streets searching for their food. They eat from the ground and even invade the trash bins, spreading the waste in the ground. They are getting used to life in the street having been displaced ! The pedestrians or traffic on the road do not disturb them.
The Parakeets feed on the fruits on the trees and make their presence known through the cacaphony they make when there are many on a tree. We watched their meal time because they through their bird calls gathered a family of them on the tree. The two parakeets remembered to share the good news of finding food to other birds.
A noisy Mina finding its food on the street was another interesting sight. A child while snacking on the way back after school, dropped a bun on the pedestrian path. The Mina perched on a shrub above, noticed it and flew towards it in no time. Till another child playfully chased it away, it fed on it relishingly! It looks like that birds are watchful when children return home from school!
The trees on both sides have blossoms although it is not the season of the year that one would expect trees in bloom. The climate change has blurred the four seasons. How refreshing it is to watch birds and flowers while on a walk!
While the above sights told their story through their quiet presence, the last picture of an empty can placed in the gap between two stems a of tree reminded us that some people do not behave with a civic sense. A trash bin was only a feet away!
What then is the summary of a walk!
The streets are almost like an extension of the yard in front and back of houses, which speak of he high civic sense of the people, who live on either side of the street. They take responsibility to keep the pedestrian path and green path in front of their homes well kept.
What a sense of collective responsibility people have towards a public place!
I am reminded of some efforts people take to create greater civic sene in the place we normally live! The awareness about the responsibility towards the environment is on the increase, although we have long strides ahead of us!
M.C.Mathew (text and photo)
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