Rajasthan's disciplined pigeons - they come to take their food only when invited

Jaipur: You may call it their attitude or take inspiration from their discipline, but pigeons of Byawar city in Rajasthan take their food only when they are invited. It happens every day in a Jain temple of the city. A person spreads the grains in the premises of the temple and while the pigeons wait outside. He invites the birds to take their food when he completes his work and they gather to pick the grains only after his call. This practice is continued for the last 50 years.

It is quite an unusual sight as food is available and hundreds of pigeons are also there but none of them comes until they invited. They wait on trees, ground and walls outside the premises and when the person named Suresh Chelani calls them saying: "lo taiyar hai goutam prasadi..jeemo saa (food is ready, please come and take it)", then only the birds enter the premises of the temple to pick the grains. It happens every day at 2 pm and continues till 5 in the evening.

"We don’t know how it happened but the discipline of birds is unusual and worth watching. We have been watching this happen for many years,’ said Naveen, one of the residents of the city. "My forefathers had started this practice with 1 kg of grains and now we are feeding around 15 quintals of grains every day with the help of the people who donate for this service. The service was continued during lockdown also and there was no shortage of grain," said Suresh Chelani who is doing this service for last 30 years.