Feeding pigeons in Hyderabad’s Mussalam Jung Bridge: Faith and fowl play Premium

Middle-aged businessman Raju Dewasi feeds pigeons on Hyderabad's Mussalam Jung Bridge, highlighting the city's pigeon population and urban challenges.

Combed over and dressed in white, Raju Dewasi, a middle-aged hardware businessman, arrives at the Mussalam Jung Bridge, one of the oldest bridges of Hyderabad, around 10 a.m., later than usual because it was a Sunday.

The lean man grabs a small box of multigrain mix from a shop nearby, removes his leather chappals, and gets ready to feed the pigeons in the vicinity. He joins his palms in prayer to the birds and the sun before paying ₹20 to the grain vendor.

With clockwork precision, Raju then briskly enters the Gaushala (cow shelter) opposite the bridge, where fresh green grass is being unloaded from a mini truck. He feeds the cows behind iron partitions, circumambulates them, and three minutes later, starts his motorcycle to head out.

“Pigeons heal graha peeda (malefic effects of planets). They remove hindrances in business and improve human relationships,” Raju, a resident of Goshamahal area, a few kilometres from the bridge, says. For Raju, who was born and raised in Rajasthan and has made Hyderabad his second home like the many traders, feeding pigeons is a daily ritual.

The common city pigeon, a feral descendant of the Eurasian rock dove, according to the State of India’s Birds-2023 report, is the most thriving bird in India. From 2012 to 2018, its population surged by over 150%. While reduced human activity during the COVID-19 years (2018-2020) caused a temporary dip, recent data shows that feral pigeon numbers have not only bounced back but are now surpassing pre-pandemic levels. Scientists attribute this rapid growth to urbanisation, easy access to food, and habitat abundance in cities, crowding out other bird species.

From spreading allergens through droppings and feathers that cause lung diseases in humans to posing a threat near runways by increasing bird-aircraft collisions, the pigeon has earned a reputation as “an opportunist bird, an urban menace”, according to scientists and clinicians.

Like Raju worships pigeons, N. Vinod Goud reveres them. A techie and pigeon fancier for 14 years, he owns and selectively breeds about 100 homing pigeons, all pedigreed nationally and internationally. His birds are categorised as sprinters, middle-distance flyers, stocks, breeders, and squabs. In his duplex house in Sainikpuri, in the northeast part of Hyderabad, Vinod has built a special pigeon loft with four small rooms, each meshed against pests, fitted with grill-protected exhaust fans, ceiling fans, and mosquito repellents. The pigeons, housed on the terrace, are licensed as pets by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.