Akshaya Nath: This Tamil Nadu village lived in darkness for over 35 days to help a sparrow
A village in Pothakudi
in Sivagangai district of Tamil Nadu lived in the darkness for over 35 days to
save a bird's life and its family. The village together decided to save the
endangered bird. A sparrow had hatched its eggs on the village's main
switchboard and the people of the village decided to carry its usual days without
streetlights, in order to save the bird.
The generous idea of
turning off the lights came from a 20-year-old student named A Karuppuraja. Karpuraja, who
initially spotted the sparrow and its eggs said, "Nearly 100 families are
there in this region and around 35 streetlights are used here. One day, when we
were passing by the switch board, we noticed that a sparrow had laid three
eggs. We immediately took pictures of them and posted it in our village
WhatsApp group, and asked people to cooperate and not use electricity connected
to the switch box so that the eggs hatch and the bird grows."
The 35 streetlights
were connected to the switchboard. The villagers disconnected the line and kept
the streetlights off for nearly 36 days in Tamil Nadu. Even the women who are
generally worried about venturing out in the dark decided to keep their fear
away and help the sparrow survive...