World Sparrow Day (20 March) was a reminder of the days when they were plentiful (being sold at two for a farthing) and nobody bothered about protecting them.
They invaded homes and built nests in the ceiling, in which straw, cotton, twigs and bits of grass were industriously brought by both the male and female until the nest was completed.
When the chicks emerged, feeding them was the top priority. Sometimes they fell into the verandah and led to a commotion by the Chidda and Chirya, chirping frantically until the fledglings were safely back in the nest.
Grandmothers forebade the kids from touching the little birdies as human smell could dissuade the parents from taking the young ones back. In case that happened the hapless chicks were left to the mercy of the prowling cat. Those were the days when sparrows were netted in large numbers as hundreds of them came to roost in the bushes and creepers of the havelis of the rich, which had plenty of foliage, besides backyard gardens with both big and small trees.
One can still remember the tamasha at the haveli of a nawab, which turned into a virtual battleground when the netting was done. Men and women servants ran helter-skelter to see that the nets were properly fixed so that the maximum number of birds could be ensnared. Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh is said to have netted 2,999 in a single night.
Sparrows were considered particularly beneficial for girls attaining puberty and brides preparing for pregnancy. Adolescent boys were advised to take extra helpings of Chidi Pulao as it was considered good for them too.
In ordinary homes sparrows were caught by children during holidays. The low-seating traditional mundia, made of reeds, was essential for catching the birds. A strong length of string or wire was tied to the mundia, which was hollow underneath and served as a nice trap. Below it were kept some water and chana dal.
As soon as a sparrow came for a feed, the string was pulled and the bird trapped. A novel, The Heart of Shiva, gives a vivid description of the long row of sparrows that used to collect every evening on the terrace wall of the house of the beloved and of how the lovesick boy gazed at them longingly. Why? Because they had the liberty of fluttering right into the courtyard of his girlfriend.
One day he caught a sparrow, tied a piece of paper with a message to its leg and sent it flying to the rooftop. Wonder of wonders, the sweetheart got it in just as short a time as one sends an SMS.
The next day the two were missing and reappeared only after a week as a married couple. Keats' famous line on the nightingale ("No hungry generations tread thee down") did not, alas, prove true for the ubiquitous sparrow.