Naveen Joshi
After torrential rains in Kutch, a question arises in everyone's mind, Hamirsar flooded? The next question after that is… So will there be a lot of Surkhab this year? Yes… yes… Kutch always keeps an eye on Surkhab's movements. The late Raisal Naba of Tuga used to call in the middle of the night as soon as he saw flocks of birds passing by… 'Ra lakhe ja jaani achivyan ai, chhape mein dai di ja…' Although it is said 'ra lakhe ja jaani' but Surkhabnagar in Kutch- the whole settlement The credit of discovery goes to Khengarji Bawa. After the devastating earthquake of 1819 stopped the flow of the Indus in 1892, one of the residents of Khadir Mahal, who was on the way from Kutch to Sindh, informed Maharavshree Khengarji that many nests of beautiful birds had been built in the great desert. When Bawa asked for assurance, an egg was delivered to Bhuj, which Khengarji Bawa gave to Captain C. d. Lester and with a special letter to The Bombay Natural History Society, and the Maharao's letter in the Society's journal, declared that the great desert of Kutch was a host to the Surkhab birds. Kutch and Surkhab birds are very closely related. So, starting a research to unearth a little past with 'Flamingo City' and Surkhab as the center, Mr. of Kutch royal family. Mrs. Himmatsinghji was a very good ornithologist. Shantilal Varoo, J. K. Tiwari, Narendra Bharad, Lavkumar Khachar, Lal Singh Raol, Dr. There are observations and articles by ornithologists including Bhavbhuti Parasarya, who all credit Maharao Khengarji Bawa with the discovery of Surkhab Nagri in Kutch. Not only this, besides all this, many anonymous ornithologists-bird lovers will not destroy this beautiful colony, right? Articles containing such concern have also been written in such a large quantity that, do not ask. All these types of studies are proof of how close the relationship between Kutch and Surkhab is. Captain C. from Kutch in The Bombay Natural History Journal. d. With the publication of Khengarji Bawa's article and photographs on Surkhab provided by Lester, the high-ranking ornithologists of the country at the time raised questions and raised suspicions about Surkhab breeding in the Great Desert. So in the second monsoon the Ra of Kutch sent a state photographer to send one more article to the society journal with pictures from a big old fashioned camera. Look at Khengarji Bawa's love of birds, he settled in Kutch. A book titled 'The Birds of Kutch' (The Birds of Kutch) was written in 1878 by an Englishman named Palin. Manibhai Jashbhai, then Dewan of Kutch, wrote the introduction, 1898 British military officer Captain C. d. Prepared another edition of the same book from Lester. In 1904 at The Times Press located in Mumbai, in 1943 the then Maharavshree Vijayrajji entrusted the famous ornithologist Salim Ali with the responsibility of preparing the third edition from the Leicester edition and Salim Ali did extensive research in Kutch in 1943-44 with corrections-addition-scientific bases at Oxford University. A further edition was issued in 1945 through the press. m. Mrs. In an article written by Himmatsinhji, it has been said that Salim Ali gave the book on 'Birds of Kutch' but he was a Ph.D. were not He got that degree after a long time. Along with Salim Ali, Tugathi Raislanba has also mentioned in several discussions with the writer that he traveled to Flamingo City as Bhomia on camels. He passed away last month. Dr. Salim Ali, in spite of his old age, traveled from time to time to the Flamingo City and, exploring the settlement in a desert so large that a camel could drown and in such water, he recorded seeing two million surkhabs at once. Although the credit of Flamingo City goes to Khengarjibawa, Dr. Dr. Salim goes by Ali's name. The history of the years shows Kutch's relationship with these iconic, innocent, mobile yet endemic birds. Record rains have fallen this year, so Surkhab may have arrived in the big desert, it will happen, but as it has been happening for centuries, this time too, the concern is the same. Water did not reach the Dhordo desert through the huge salt embankments, so water did not reach the Flamingo City? Or will there be so much water that the entire colony will drown? Could the metaphorical birds have arrived? Will it come…
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
