‘There’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end,’ goes a saying and this has hit reality for the villagers of Tamil Nadu’s Sivaganga district who said no to streetlights for a whole month because a bird had converted the village’s community switchboard into its nest.

Potthakudi village in Tamilnadu’s Sivaganga district switched off its street lights off for the last 35 days to let an Oriental magpie-robin lay her eggs, reported The Better India.

According to reports, Karuppu Raja, a college student is in charge of operating the street lights in the area. When the lockdown was imposed, he saw a bird building a nest inside the switchboard.

‘My house is located at the end of a street where the main switch for 35 street lights is installed. I have been turning them on at 6 p.m and switching them off at 5 a.m since childhood. When I stepped out of my house one afternoon, I noticed a small blue bird flying in and out of the switchboard. Being curious, I went closer and saw that it was gathering sticks and straws. I did not know what bird it was, but it was building a nest,’ said Karuppu Raja.

He wanted to allow the bird to take shelter in that spot for the following months without any hindrance and doing so meant that he could not turn on the 35 street lights placed amidst the 100 houses. To seek a solution, he soon circulated the message to others in the village through WhatsApp and took the matter to the village Panchayat.

‘When the boy requested me to cut the power line for a bird, I was surprised. So, I agreed to see it for myself. The bird had finished building the nest and kept leaves, grass, and straws all around to build a haven. During the lockdown, I saw many people suffering on the streets without a place to stay. I did not want to give the bird the same situation and agreed to cut the power line,’ said one of the Panchayat heads.

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