MYSURU: While most children head out to play as soon as they return from school, 13-year-old Varshini S follows a different routine. Every day, the end of school marks the start of a mission for Varshini, to provide her avian friends from the area, some much-needed respite from the heat.
A scorching summer this year has left much of Mysuru’s water bodies and lakes dry. While residents resort to tankers and borewells, birds have no such options and are often seen clinging to life, in a dehydrated state, with not enough strength to fly away. It is these birds that makeup Varshini’s life and she is committed to saving them by providing them food and water.
“Many bird species across the city were dependent on lakes and ponds. With a decline in water bodies and the rise in temperature, it is a testing time for these birds and they lose their strength to fly. The soaring summer heat also makes them have sunstroke. So I began placing food cups and water bowls across my area,” Varshini says.
Every day after school, she runs to a tree in JP Nagar, where she stays, with a pair of food cups and water bowls prepared for the birds. Her younger brother helps out by climbing the tree and placing the food and water bowls on the branches. Varshini has been following this routine for more than 5 years, trying to remind other people to follow suit and help the city’s birds.
During the course of her campaign, the 7th-grade student has also managed to influence many other people. Varshini routinely visits her neighbours and other houses in her locality along with her brother Kiran Kumar and encourages them to place water bowls for birds on their rooftop while telling them how these actions can benefit nature on a larger scale.
This young girl, who aspires to join the Indian Forest Service (IFS), makes use of every second available to read up on birds. She asks her parents to gift books on birds or any other device which would help her research.
During her free time, Varshini also conducts special classes and gives lectures on birds and conservation at various places across the state. On occasions like World Forest Day, World Animal Day, International Sparrow Day and other major events, she conducts free lectures for her friends and classmates on the rooftop of her house.
Her lectures and awareness programmes have inspired their neighbours so much that, all of them now have stopped bursting crackers during Diwali celebrations.
Talking about her journey, Varshini told The New Sunday Express that her passion for helping birds started when she, as a six-year-old, accompanied her father to Bandipur as part of an NSS activity and during this, a lesson by the resource person Rajkumar Devaraj Urs ignited a fire in her mind. The lecture opened her eyes to issues faced by birds, leading her on the path she has chosen. Many wildlife activists and conservationists including Bhagyalakshmi, Manohar Nayak, R K Madhu helped in her endeavour to conserve birds so far.
Bhagyalakshmi, a wildlife conservationist and animal rights activist says, “Varshini is a young bird conservator who has full knowledge on the avian species. At this tender age, she possesses great skills on birds and I can say that she is an inspiring sight to many conservationists out there. ”
Her father Shadakshara Swamy, a physics lecturer, and her mother Lavanya, a homemaker, say, “We are glad that our daughter is doing so many things in an attempt to conserve birds and nature. She has also influenced us, now even we have started to identify the birds and take part in many of her activities.”
Over the years, Varshini has mastered the art of preparing these plastic food cups and water bowls. She can make around 15 different varieties of colourful cups, using a scientific approach.
“I learnt the art of making the food cups and water bowls on my own and for a few days, I studied and observed how birds come, sit and sip the water. Based on the observation I started making different varieties of cups and bowls. I now place floating sticks in the water as it will be helpful for small birds to sit while they sip water,” said Varshini who has donated hundreds of such cups and food bowls to neighbours and interested people for free of cost.