The Nest Man Of India – Rakesh Khatri

“When was the last time you spotted a house sparrow on your window?” Rakesh Khatri asks this question in every workshop he does. Despite being the state bird of Delhi, today they are a rare species in the capital. No one exactly knows when they last spotted these little birds chirping outside their home.

House sparrows have always co-existed and lived with humans after the forest was cut down and the cities built. Unlike any other birds, they used to live with humans in their home, made their nests around switchboards, balconies, and any other livable place or small resting place anywhere around the home.

Rakesh Khatri, a resident of Delhi, spent his childhood in Old Delhi’s Chandni Chowk. The Indian households built there are of old architectural designs and have enough spaces and rooms for sparrows to come and live with them.

Rakesh shares the story, “When I was growing up, sparrows would make their nests on switchboards, balconies, window panes, and we were told by elders not to run ceiling fans too fast because of the fear of getting them injured.”

He spent his entire childhood with his little winged friends; he fed them grains when he returned from school, and played with them. That time was completely different; even those who didn’t have big houses had big hearts where these birds stayed.

Later, Rakesh moved from Old Delhi to Ashok Vihar, a developing part of Delhi. After moving to his new home, he realised that his childhood little winged friends were slowly disappearing. The new architectural designs are built in a way that leaves no room for these birds. They haven’t been able to keep up with the new architecture and lifestyle changes. Now the people have become intolerant towards the supposed ‘nuisance’ birds create.

How has he saved thousands of sparrows?

Rakesh Khatri was a photographer & Short filmmaker by profession. he worked in the media industry. In 2008, when he saw that the number of sparrows was declining and becoming a rare species, he decided to quit his job and save them by building nests.

He got an idea of using the waste green coconut shells for making nests. Green coconut comes in abundance from South India, and people usually throw them after drinking. He made a group program and collected those 10-12 waste coconut shells.

They filled the shells with newspapers and widened their opening, and covered it with grass used in coolers. Tied all of them together, and placed an Azadirachta Indica stick near its opening for them to sit and then hung it on the tree.

They kept an eye on the nests for several days, but unfortunately, not a single bird came to accept those nests. Moreover, the nests also failed as they became completely dry after a few days. People also mocked him and his ways by saying, “Why would sparrows stay in your nests? They’ll build their own.”

But it didn’t stop Rakesh Khatri from doing what he’s doing. After several trial and error methods and research, he made a nest from thin sticks used in chick blinds/window blinds by turning it into a globe shape and wrapping it with a jute roll.

He placed the nest in the tree and waited for birds to come. Every day, he sat there with the camera in his hand to capture the moment. But even after 3 days, nothing happened. On the 4th day, he saw a male sparrow examining the nest, and he then brought his partner to the nest. Both those sparrows adopted the new house happily.

After that, people around Rakesh started asking him to build the same nests for them too; they would also like to place the same in balconies or in front of their houses. Rakesh and his friends made around 20 nests and hung them everywhere in the neighbourhood. Within a week, all those were adopted not only by house sparrows but different types of birds.

Rakesh would stroll around his locality and city to identify different places where these birds still fly in large numbers and then make several nests for them in trees.

Eco Roots Foundation Was Founded

Four years later, in 2012, he founded Eco Roots Foundation in order to promote his mission and raise awareness. Rakesh then never looked back. He contributed his life to environmental preservation. He always says, “Sparrows are my childhood friend, how can I leave them to die?”

After that, he started doing various workshops and worked with schools, corporations, and residential welfare associations. His mission also includes teaching children and the young generation how to build nests and bring them close to nature. Children and adults happily attended his workshops.

He has conducted over 3 lakh workshops and worked with over 4000 schools to teach children about environmental preservation. Until now, he has taught around 300,000 children, adults, and elders how to build a birdhouse from jute bags, bamboo sticks, grass, and threads.

In every workshop, he says, “It’s the biggest blessing when someone resides in the home you built with your hands.”

He also said in one of his workshops, “There have been times when people have destroyed the nests built by my foundation. But that has not stopped me. If they destroy one, I will build another five.”

Today, Rakesh Khatri is a renowned environmentalist and has been awarded several times for his extraordinary mission and dedication towards saving sparrows. He and his team made it into the Limca Books of Records two times for the highest number of workshops conducted and the largest theatre event on climate change.

He’s also been recognised as ‘The Sparrow Man’ and ‘The Nest Man of India’.

Eco Roots Foundation and the people in its workshop continue building various types of eco-friendly nests. Rakesh Khatri and his NGO also built several nests from recycled waste like Tetra packs.

He has also been awarded by International Green Apple Award in the House of Commons in London (2008) for best practice on sparrow conservation in India. Not only this, but even a dedicated chapter based on Rakesh Khatri’s work is also included in the ICSC English textbook for the 4th standard.

Recently, his name was recognised by the London World Book Of Records for creating 125,000 nests using jute and tetra packs.

Now, he and his NGO have the vision to build birdhouses throughout the country and are also involved in Water conservation and various other missions to environmentally sustain the ecosystem and ensure the habitation of all its elements.

His story is truly inspiring for today’s environmental situations. We often ignore these changes and issues because of our busy lives, but they also require equal attention. You already know how many of these species are on the verge of extinction.

The future generation might not be able to see them ever. But if we have people like Rakesh Khatri who know how to make noise before it’s too late, then our nature keeps breathing. But why can’t we be the ones? How long will we stay quiet and leave these species to unnatural extinctions?

Sources-

• Eco Roots Foundation
• ThebetterIndia

Do let us know about the Unsung heroes you know that are doing or did tremendous work for the betterment of society. We’ll be glad to do more research about them and will write a tribute dedicated to them.

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