BIAL is for the birds!
There’s a curious phenomenon about the Bangalore International airport. After you check in and head towards your gate, it sounds like a tropical forest. A cheerful chirruping surrounds you, and your first assumption is someone’s getting a lot of text messages. Then you see friendly little birds that hop almost into your hand. Something flies over your head, and look, there’s a small flock overhead! Where are you?
Right there, waiting to catch your flight.
Bangalore lamented the loss of the house sparrow, as sprawling old Bangalore mansions with large gardens made way for apartments. Every kid up to fifteen years ago remembers throwing the crumbs of his burnt toast out into the backyard for the sparrows. It was a slower pace, when people appreciated shared moments with sparrows. When a sparrow found its way into the house, ancient aunties would nod their heads wisely and eye young married couples with glee. A baby is coming, they would whisper, all from a sparrow inside the house. The airport, I must admit was filled with little brats.
With nothing to do, my mind wandered in a direction nudged by the sparrows. I wondered how the airport would manage this. What about maintenance? They couldn’t shut down the airport to get rid of the birds. They were cute now, but they would probably multiply. What if they made the sparrows part of the BIAL charm? Clinging to the old Bangalore garden I grew up in, I try desperately to make a garden on my terrace at home. In large concrete pots. The high glass roofs and ample natural lighting suddenly transformed the airport in my mind into a tropical forest. What if they grew plants, trees, made little ponds…..The departure gates would be nestled between two palms, and the waiting chairs would be set in the most beautiful garden. The airport would be the most famous and sought after airport in the world. It would be the perfect example of how we can have progress, but take the extra step to say rooted. The common house sparrow, once the symbol of symbiotic living, would once again validate our choice of lifestyle.
While my flight was delayed for two hours, I missed my free refreshments because I had already bought food. Time had slowed down. My 45 minutes of free internet refused to work, I couldn’t check my email, nor had I anything else to do offline. As I reminisced and imagined a new world, a sparrow looks quizzically at me, with a little tilt of its head, and we share a moment.
Two birds skedaddle on the slippery floor, almost skating their way around the feet of a girl who is reading a book. She looks up, smiles and goes back to her book again. Little brats watch them in fascination and the unafraid birds let them come so close as to catch them, and then fly a foot away.
It’s old Bangalore, where the sparrows and people live together again – at the strangest, most unlikely environment. The Bangalore International Airport.
Right there, waiting to catch your flight.
Bangalore lamented the loss of the house sparrow, as sprawling old Bangalore mansions with large gardens made way for apartments. Every kid up to fifteen years ago remembers throwing the crumbs of his burnt toast out into the backyard for the sparrows. It was a slower pace, when people appreciated shared moments with sparrows. When a sparrow found its way into the house, ancient aunties would nod their heads wisely and eye young married couples with glee. A baby is coming, they would whisper, all from a sparrow inside the house. The airport, I must admit was filled with little brats.
With nothing to do, my mind wandered in a direction nudged by the sparrows. I wondered how the airport would manage this. What about maintenance? They couldn’t shut down the airport to get rid of the birds. They were cute now, but they would probably multiply. What if they made the sparrows part of the BIAL charm? Clinging to the old Bangalore garden I grew up in, I try desperately to make a garden on my terrace at home. In large concrete pots. The high glass roofs and ample natural lighting suddenly transformed the airport in my mind into a tropical forest. What if they grew plants, trees, made little ponds…..The departure gates would be nestled between two palms, and the waiting chairs would be set in the most beautiful garden. The airport would be the most famous and sought after airport in the world. It would be the perfect example of how we can have progress, but take the extra step to say rooted. The common house sparrow, once the symbol of symbiotic living, would once again validate our choice of lifestyle.
While my flight was delayed for two hours, I missed my free refreshments because I had already bought food. Time had slowed down. My 45 minutes of free internet refused to work, I couldn’t check my email, nor had I anything else to do offline. As I reminisced and imagined a new world, a sparrow looks quizzically at me, with a little tilt of its head, and we share a moment.
Two birds skedaddle on the slippery floor, almost skating their way around the feet of a girl who is reading a book. She looks up, smiles and goes back to her book again. Little brats watch them in fascination and the unafraid birds let them come so close as to catch them, and then fly a foot away.
It’s old Bangalore, where the sparrows and people live together again – at the strangest, most unlikely environment. The Bangalore International Airport.
posted by misanthrope | 8:52 PM
1 Comments:
Wonderful. I wonder if children today know what they are missing. With my father's love for birds and animals our home was always a mini zoo. Doves, flying ducks, parrots, love birds, chicken (yes chicken), dogs, rabbits and squirrels are what I grew up with. Now I live in an apartment and I really miss not living in a house surrounded by my mother's gardens and my father's pets.
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