Big attraction by Coimbatoreian
Setting another example of humans' love for birds, Tamil Nadu's Ramakrishnan has become a big attraction of sort in his Kalpatti Village near Coimbatore for nurturing a special bond of friendship with crows here. Every morning, Ramkrishnan, 42, carries a specially prepared meal for his affectionate 'friends', as many of them enjoy perching on his forearm to have their share of food. Many of them would eat only when he offers them on his palm. But none of them ever injured him while pecking. It astonishes people to watch crows responding to his calls and sign language while enjoying their daily meal at dawn, a routine Ramakrishnan has maintained for 14 years. "After the death of my father in 1993, I kept some food on the compound wall for crows in remembrance of my father.I saw that in a few seconds several crows from nowhere emerged to eat this food. Since that day, I started loving these crows and began feeding them. "Today, every morning they wait for me and the moment I come out of my farm house, they come near me, and show their love by making 'melodiously' cawing kaa kaa," said Ramakrishnan. "Generally, when crows approach people, they are shooed away. None cares to tend these crows with the love. I feed over 150 birds everyday with biscuits, dosai, rice, coconut pieces, mixture and other things," said Ramakrishnan. For villagers, the daily sight of crows being fed by such affection is something that inspires everyone to care for even the generally disliked birds like crows. "For past several years, I have been watching this man feeding these crows daily. As soon as he comes here with the bag containing food, a large number of crows surround him. Later, the crows follow him for nearly a kilometre when he departs on his motorbike. But if we go close to the crows, they fly away. It is an amazing sight," said Shanmugam, a resident of Kalpatti Village.
