The Nest Man Of India- Rakesh Khatri (Unsung Heroes Part-5)

“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 did they last spot these little birds chirping outside their home.

House sparrows are 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, balcony, window panes, and we were told by elders not to run ceiling fans too fast because of fear of getting them injured.”

He spent his entire childhood with his little winged friends, he fed them grains when returned from school, 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 realized that his childhood little winged friends are slowly disappearing. The new architectural designs are built this 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 He Has Saved Lakhs Of Sparrows?

Rakesh Khatri was a photographer & Short filmmaker by profession, he worked for the media industry. In 2008 when he saw that the number of sparrows is 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 it after drinking. He made a group program and collected those 10-12 waste coconut shells.

They filled the shells with newspapers and widened its opening, and covered it around 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 become completely dry after some 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 wrapped it with a jute roll.

He placed the nest on 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, he then brought his partner to the nest. Both those sparrows adopted that 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 front of their houses. Rakesh and his friends made around 20 nests and hung them everywhere in the neighborhood. 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 are still fly in large numbers and then make several nests for them on 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 left them to die.”

After that, he started doing various workshops and worked with schools, corporates, 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 lakhs 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 hand.”

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 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 recognized as ‘The Sparrow Man’ and ‘The Nest Man of India’.

Eco roots foundation and the people in his 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’s been also 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 ICSC English textbook for the 4th standard.

Recently, his name was recognized 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 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 one? How long will we stay quiet and leave these species in 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 dedicating to them.

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