It was a situation, which several Mumbaikars saw but their conscience, and ‘I am running late to office’ prevented them from being in Vishal Gupta’s shoes.
It was a situation, which several Mumbaikars saw but their conscience, and ‘I am running late to office’ prevented them from being in Vishal Gupta’s shoes.
The 30-year-old from a chawl near Prabhat Colony, Santa Cruz (E), was on his way to a shop, when he noticed a BMC officer and Raunaq, a 7-year-old schoolboy, looking skywards.
Their gaze was set on a pigeon that got entangled in a
manja (thread laced with finely ground glass powder) from a kite that was stuck in a tall jamun tree. The pigeon was stranded for nearly a day before it was spotted by Raunaq in his enthusiasm to catch a falling kite.
Several calls were made to the fire department. After waiting for nearly 45 minutes, the bird lover in Vishal could no longer see the plight of the bird’s suffering as it struggled through the
manja.
Without wasting any more time, Vishal began climbing the tree and with much difficulty reached the pigeon that was exhausted from the struggle to free itself. ‘The manja had gone deep into the flesh. I could sense the pain it was undergoing.
I carefully removed the sharp threads and decided against setting it free. Instead, I called my friends at Karuna (an NGO that cares for animals and birds) and told them about the incident. They came later; provided medical aid, and took the bird under their care .”
Vishal looked up and saw another pigeon entangled in the
manja. “The bird was dead. And my hand couldn’t reach it. After rescuing the surviving bird, I realised that I was in a precarious position. The descent was very difficult, though I could have tried. But I didn’t want to take a chance with an injured pigeon in my hand.”
A two-storeyed building was a few feet away, and Vishal jumped on to its terrace, but there was no way out, since the terrace had been converted into a flat and it was locked.
“I went back to the edge of the terrace and conveyed by signs that I was stuck on the terrace. Soon, I heard the fire brigade siren and knew I would be rescued,” he said. “The firemen aligned a ladder alongside the building and I was down in no time.”
Though he received no money for his bravery, the unemployed Vishal is happy that he was able to understand the dangers involved in flying kites using the sharp
manja. “Why
can’t they use normal thread and let the birds live in peace?” he wondered.
Meanwhile it is not only birds affected by the
manja, human beings too have become casualties of the sharp thread. In an incident that happened last week, Rajesh Gokhale, a 38-year old badminton coach, had his throat slit while riding a motorcycle at Borivli.
His fingers, too, dripped blood as he tried to pull away the razor-sharp thread.
Bleeding profusely he was admitted to the nearby Gandhi Nursing Home where it took the doctors 26 stitches and a long operation to remove the powdered glass pieces and put together his badly slashed neck muscles.
Had Gokhale not been rushed to the hospital in time, he could have lost his life, said a doctor.
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