DHAKA — It was a misty winter morning in February 2012. Shomour Kumar Ghosh started out his day by opening his sweetmeat shop in the district of Pabna in western Bangladesh and sitting in a chair to catch the sun’s warmth. He then noticed a flock of mynas, known locally as shalikh, gathered in front of his shop, apparently looking for food.
- Shomour Kumar Ghosh, a sweetmeat maker living in western Bangladesh, began feeding a flock of mynas gathered outside his shop in 2012.
- Since then, he hasn’t stopped, and today feeds an estimated 2,000-2,500 of the birds each morning, at a cost of around $28 daily.
- Ghosh’s “bird restaurant,” as it’s become known, is one of several efforts initiated by individual bird lovers across Bangladesh trying to do their part for avian conservation.
- Ghosh’s love for birds and his feeding efforts have been widely lauded across Bangladesh, and in 2020 he was awarded the best “Bird Lover” in the country by the Forest Department.
Out of curiosity and love for animals, the 50-year-old scattered a handful of chanachur — a mix of fried lentils, peanuts, chickpeas and more, often known as Bombay mix — to the birds. They ate the offering and flew away.
What happened the next day was beyond anything Ghosh could have imagined.
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