Since he started this work nine years ago, Deepak Sharma has been requesting people not to fly kites when its peak traffic time for birds.
For the next 15 days, the sky in Jaipur will be dotted with multi-coloured kites as the festival of Makar Sankranti is celebrated. But kite flying also has an unpleasant fallout - birds get injured by the sharp strings that are used to fly kites with.
Strings used to fly kites, called
manjha or
dor, are coated with glass and metal and are used to cut an opponent's kite's string. Chinese-made
manjhas are especially sharp and scores of birds die or get injured during the kite flying festival.
But one man is on a mission to provide treatment and shelter to injured birds. 45-year-old Deepak Sharma, with a team of like-minded volunteers, runs a helpline called Operation Bird Sky. They spend the festival of Makar Sankranti rescuing birds, treating them and transporting them to the nearest bird hospital where they can be treated.
"We see how badly the bird is entangled in the string , first the string has to be cut as much as possible, then we give the bird a pain killer and an antibiotic through drops in its beak called Melonix, sometimes it becomes difficult to treat parrots and injured kites who have sharp beaks," Mr Sharma says.
Since he started this work nine years ago, Mr Sharma has been requesting people not to fly kites when its peak traffic time for birds.
"We enjoy flying kites, but those kite strings often strangle or cut the throats of innocent creatures and my request is people should not fly kites when it is time for the birds to go out in the morning or return home in the evening," he says.
This year, the district administration appears to have paid heed. Kite flying has been banned in Jaipur during sunrise and sunset so these feathered creatures can return home in safety.