On the way back home from our Ragihalli trip, we stopped at what I call the Ragihalli Restaurant (no, you won’t find it unless I take you…the proprietrix wiped out her children’s homework being done (in chalk) on the table when we ordered “chai” for all of us!)

(Here’s a sample of the children’s schoolwork elsewhere on the walls)

(That’s how homework is done, 20 km from the IT giants of the world….!)

and we noticed this little male HOUSE SPARROW:

He was on the basket that contained broken pieces of cement and granite, and it was obvious he was busy building up his nest! So we watched him….

He had a small piece of hay in his mouth at first:

He apparently didn't, finally, want such a small piece of nesting material, so he dropped it. He then flew across the road to this little shop kept, probably, by these two people: You can see the two casuarina-and-palm-frond pillars that support the thatch that gives shade to the shopfront. From the thatch, he took a lot of effort to pull out some dried grass: He brought it carefully down to near our feet: He then wrestled it into position to be carried... Off he went, to his little home in the rolling shutter of the building door:

This sparrow has a great deal in common with my “sambandhi”…my son in law’s mother..both are architects who have designed and built their own homes!

Well satisfied with the delightful way the House Sparrow’s House was shaping up, we left; since many Bangaloreans are worried about the decline in sparrow populations, we are hoping that we will see more sparrows in Ragihalli, at least, in the near future!

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