God, the Great Creator.

God, the Great Creator, has created this Universe, Nature and all living-beings.  Many of His wonderful creations fill our minds with immense pleasure, at the very sight of them.  One of His fine creations, is a 'Sparrow' or 'Chittukkuruvi' in Tamil.

Since my childhood, I have a liking for 'sparrows' and have observed them in our ancestral house in Thambu Chetty Street, Chennai.  Though the house is not in our possession now, the memories it has left with us are still green.  How we were brought up there like a joint family, our family members, the games we played and observed others playing, the songs we heard and sang, the neighbouring temples of Lord Ananda Vinaayaka and Kodhandaramar, the festivals celebrated there and so on...

Now, let's again come to our little 'sparrow'.  Our house constructed in olden days' style, had Madras tiles, which bore the weight of the roof.  Close to the 'mutram-thaazhvaaram', a passage which was open to the sky, in the middle of a wooden tile, there was a beautifully-round-carved hole, which was the cute house of the sparrows.  I don't know whether the sparrows built that for themselves and some others gave it a fine shape or it was built specially for the sparrows by some good samaritans.

The sparrows, their sweet chirping, brisk activities, their love and affection towards their little ones, how they flew here and there, fetched their food and fed them...Oh God..at the time of their feeding, how the tiny tots opened and showed out their very beautiful, pink-coloured mouths.. really a feast for the eyes which is unforgettable.  Even after my marriage, I have seen sparrows settling with their family making a small nest, behind the calling bell in the hall of our house.  We had restricted our switching on the fan, fearing the sparrows might get hurt.  To our grief, that too had happened once.

Even though the rememberances about the sparrows are sweet, the bitter fact today is that the sparrow-population has drastically decreased.  Nowadays, not even a sparrow is to be seen in our neighbourhood.

In those days, in many film songs, birds, especially sparrows were utilised as a friend to the heroine (eg. chittukkuruvi chittukkuruvi sEdhi theriyumaa, chittukkuruvi muttham kodutthu, chittukkuruvikkenna kattuppaadu, chittukkuruvi paadudhu (thennankeetru solaiyile) and so on...

For me, 'chittukkuruvi' is always a friend.  It's a lovely creature, of beauty, of briskness, of enthusiasm and of sweet rememberances.  I name my friend, sparrow, 'Chikkoo', and introduce to you all, my blog readers.  It will tell you stories which I have written, share with you interesting and useful informations and tips on various subjects.  We are basically Tamil-lovers and our fluency in Tamil is more than in English.  So, the stories will be in Tamil.

"Come on chikkoo! Be ready! Our blog-readers are anxiously waiting! Let's welcome them to our blog!"