Not going

Something that gives me special joy these days is the sighting of a sparrow (Passer domesticus). But that is quite rare, as the bird is almost 'extinct' in city spaces. The reasons may be many, from rock-pigeons finding crannies in apartment blocks more convenient nesting places and thereby driving the sparrows out from their close-to-human haunts, to kolam becoming a lost art, thereby depriving these small fellas out of an early morning snack at the doorways of our houses. 

Despite not having been sighted in most of India's big cities for a long while, the range of this bird is quite vast and it therefore continues to be listed as a "Least Concern" by the IUCN in its Red List. 

This painting was on display at an exhibition last year. Even if it is not the sparrow itself, it is such a wonderfully done likeness that I left the place beaming!