Braving sun to care for winged friends

Minna Zutshi

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 19

In the hot sweltering sun, this young brigade is busy with its ‘project’ – sensitising the people towards the needs of their ‘winged friends’. In the summers when the mercury soars, many birds die due to lack of water. A simple measure like keeping a water-filled bowl can help save the birds, says Karan Chopra. His friends are equally enthusiastic about their mission to help their ‘feathered friends’. These students of Journalism & Mass Communication from the PCTE Group of Institutes distributed earthen water bowls among the city residents. Sukhpreet Singh, Shaveta Sharma, Deepanshu Sharma, Jaspreet Singh Pahwa and Kashish Khosla were part of this endeavour, says Karan.

They went from door to door and distributed earthen bowls among the people. The main purpose was to make the people aware that a simple act of filling the earthen bowls with water and keeping these outside their homes can provide a big relief to thirsty birds and dogs in hot summers. This way they won’t die in the heat.

The group said they received a warm reception from most of the people, who were open to the idea of sparing a few minutes daily for keeping a water-filled bowls for birds.

“When we were children, my mother would keep bowls of water in the backyard. This was a regular practice in summers. We used to see birds drinking water. It was exciting to see birds coming for a dip in the bowl – the little bowl was their bath tub too!,” says Avtar Singh, a senior citizen.