The villagers of Tamil Nadu’s Sivaganga district who said no to streetlights for a whole month because a bird had converted the village’s community switchboard into its nest.
By doing so they have proved the saying-“There’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end” right.
The Better India reported that the people living in Potthakudi village in Tamilnadu’s Sivaganga district switched off its street lights off for the last 35 days to let an Oriental magpie-robin lay her eggs on the switchboard.
The reports said that Karuppu Raja, a college student, is in charge of operating the street lights in the area. After the lockdown was imposed, he saw a bird building a nest inside the switchboard.
He didn’t want to disturb the bird in her nest making and wanted her to take shelter in that switchboard and doing so for the following months would mean that he could not turn on the 35 street lights placed amidst the 100 houses.
“My house is located at the end of a street where the main switch for 35 street lights is installed. I have been turning them on at 6 p.m and switching them off at 5 a.m since childhood. When I stepped out of my house one afternoon, I noticed a small blue bird flying in and out of the switchboard. Being curious, I went closer and saw that it was gathering sticks and straws. I did not know what bird it was, but it was building a nest,” said Karuppu Raja.
The college student circulated the message to all the people in the village via WhatsApp and the matter was brought to the village panchayat.
One of the panchayat heads said,” When the boy requested me to cut the power line for a bird, I was surprised. So, I agreed to see it for myself. The bird had finished building the nest and kept leaves, grass, and straws all around to build a haven. During the lockdown, I saw many people suffering on the streets without a place to stay. I did not want to give the bird the same situation and agreed to cut the power line.”
With over populated and polluted cities, the birds are continuously living in danger reducing their strength. The village by switching off the street lights for one little bird says a lot to this overpowered but shallow world.
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