Today, March 20th, marks the UN International day of Happiness as well as the World Sparrow day!
The purpose of the International day of happiness is to recognize the value of happiness in our lives, acknowledge the privilege that it is to be happy and create awareness.
Since for me, happiness and sparrows have a strong connection since childhood, it is a delightful coincidence that both these days are celebrated on the same day every year!
We grew up watching sparrows fly in and out of our homes, build nests in roof corners and crevices, feed their young and relish the rice grains that we gave them to eat. They are active birds who spread a lot of joy with their sweet chirping and of course keep our house free from pests & insects. So many of our childhood stories had the presence of the humble sparrow, making our evenings beautiful and our imagination soar!
The sparrow is a lesson in itself in thriving in the face of adversity and having very successful rates of survival in new continents and countries where they were introduced by man. They were masters at coexisting with humans, while also keeping their 'wild animals' status intact. Sparrows are known to travel hundreds of kilometers in a year and have been seen as high as the observation deck of the Empire State building!
Although ranked as 'least concern' in the International Union of Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) red list, their population has been declining at an alarming rate throughout the world. This is very much related to high levels of pollution, climate change, water/food scarcity and extreme increase in human population. It has now become very hard to spot sparrows in cities in India.
Luckily, we still observe them on a daily basis, coming to drink water and eat the grains that we put out for them, along with other birds. It takes very little for us humans to include animals around us in our everyday life by providing few basic necessities. These all add up in helping maintain the delicate ecosystem, food web and ecological balance, which is very important. Every living being has a role in the ecosystem and the more we destroy natural habitats and ignore the order of nature, the more repercussions we will need to face.
Happy World Sparrow day and International day of Happiness. May we derive our happiness from helping other living beings and just letting them live!
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