A pigeon project in the heart of Bengaluru

It is 8am on Friday. Traffic activity begins to pick up as cars zip by the Jai Karnataka auto rickshaw stand, located at the junction of MG Road and Brigade Road, just under the Metro Rail line. Driver Syed Yaseeen rolls to a stop in his auto rickshaw. He comes out carrying a sack, full of gram. He walks on, to a spot which is blocked off by yellow police barricades. He opens the sack, takes a handful of seeds, and tosses it into the enclosure. Within minutes, a huge flock of pigeons appears, seemingly out of nowhere. For the better part of the next hour, the enclosure is full of birds, feeding while cars honk and drivers rage about the traffic all around them..

It may be hard to believe – but for the greater part of the past decade, more than a 100 pigeons have made their home at the auto stand, right on MG Road. They gather there twice a day, every day, and are fed grains by attentive auto drivers. A few birds have been named, and respond to whistles and are beloved pets for some drivers.
“It all began in mid-2005 when traffic was restricted on MG Road due to the construction of the Metro Rail. The girders erected for rail work became seating space for lot of birds including pigeons and parrots. Some birds became friendly as we started to feed them,” says Yaseen, who along with other bird-loving drivers, decided to create a permanent space for the birds alongside their auto rickshaw stand.