Not many people, however, know that the Kathmandu skies have also served as sports arena for some athlete pigeons, that too, for over 12 years now. [break]
Since its inception in the year 2000, Nepal Pigeon Keeper’s Association has been hosting Pigeon Flying competitions every year. Photojournalist Jitendra Raj Bajracharya, one of the founding members of the association, prides in the select community of pigeon fanciers who have patronized the sports in Nepal.
Bajracharya says that though pigeon keeping has been here since ages, it remained only as a hobby. Whereas, in India pigeon flying competitions started almost 30 years ago with motorcycles or huge cash as prizes and victory processions after the tournament.
“We’d gone to Benaras in India just to watch one of these competitions in 2000,” he says, “After we came back, we set up a committee and formed some rules similar to what they had in India. But we have tried to make it more feasible for the pigeon keepers here.”
Within a month that the committee was formed, they held their first trial pigeon flying tournament inviting select participants. Since then, the tournament has been held annually around the month of April with pigeon keepers turning their hobby into a recreational sport.
One important thing to note, Bajracharya says, is that the pigeons they keep as pets are different breeds than the feral or wild pigeons you normally see.
The ones they use for the competitions are called high fliers. Even within this group they have different breeds such as kagaji, chini, tauke, rekta, nakhada lalsa, bhujra, kasni and more, with the birds distinguished by their physical build and the color of their eyes and feathers.
The game, he says, is all about calculating the total amount of time the pigeons fly; the ones that fly the longest win.
The pigeons are flown from the terrace of the participants’ own house, and at least two judges for the day, appointed by the association, are present to monitor the flight.
“Each participant gets to fly a total of seven pigeons, but the flight timing of only five longest flying pigeons is added for the final record,” he says. “We allow two extra pigeons because there are chances that some pigeons might not come back or get attacked by predators such as falcons.”
As the birds can fly for seven to eight hours straight, the judges, who are themselves contestants, have to spend an entire day from 6 am. All seven pigeons are marked with visible stamps and the players are specified to fly them by 10 am.
Once the high fliers take off, they make circular loops and continue flying higher in the same motion for some time. As they keep circling or tumbling (kawa khane) and rolling (baji khane) around the spot they took their flight from, they are mostly visible, making it easier to keep time.
Later these birds have to land in the same terrace or they are disqualified from the game.
These fliers are trained in such a way that, signals from their owners, like waving flags or specific sounds, lets them know that it’s time to fly away or come down.
However, during the competition, they can use the tricks to make the birds fly only for the 10 minutes after they take off. From then on, the participants cannot interfere and it all depends on the pigeons as they fly and land in their own time.
“We normally don’t fly the pigeons in rainy season,” says Bajracharya, and adds enthusiastically, “But during training period, we let them out almost daily. When the tournament approaches, they’re prepared like marathon athletes, with right food, trainings and techniques that the bird and its keeper learn to recognize over the years.”
Bajracharya says he has been around the birds since he was a sixth grader as his family had been keeping pigeons since three generations.
“Earlier, people used to keep pigeons with religious beliefs that it brought good fortune and brought them from India or Pakistan,” he says, and adds, “These days some of the pigeon flying enthusiasts have started bringing pigeons from Bahrain that cost as much as 100 U.S. dollars.”
A devoted pigeon lover himself, he says he once owned a total of 150 pigeons. But because of his busy schedule, he now takes care of his 15 pairs of prized high fliers.
Mohan Krishna Shrestha, past president of the association and also one of the founding members, also shares that his family has been keeping pigeons for more than a century now.
With 160 pigeons at home, Shrestha was also the winner of the fourth pigeon flying tournament with his pigeons recording a total flight time of 17hours and 35 minutes.
“This year Gorakh Shumsher J.B. Rana’s pigeons set the highest record with a total of 26 hours and 20 minutes and also got the Best Flier of the Year with 9 hours 38 minutes,” says Shrestha, “It takes a lot of time to train your flyers and also a good deal of nursing and diet for their health and hygiene.”
The pet pigeons are fed on special diets of grams, mustard seeds and wheat grains. Their breeding is controlled; they are given a proper bath with potash mixed water and their pens or cages cleaned regularly.
As Nepal doesn’t have pigeon specialists, Shrestha informs, most of their pigeons are checked and vaccinated by the bird veterinaries in case of any disease.
“Another problem is the increase in the number of falcons who prey on these pigeons,” he says, “During the Rana regime, they used to hunt falcons that harmed pigeons, keeping their numbers in control. But now with the tall mobile towers that nest many falcons, we lose three to four pigeons daily.”
It’s almost impossible to replace their homebred athletes, most pigeon keepers say. But for most of their new purchase they head to Chandra Man Shrestha’s house in Maru Tole.
Though some pet stores in Kathmandu do sell these pigeons, for most pigeon keepers in the association, Chandra Man’s has been the common joint to buy and sell the locally bred high fliers.
But because these birds have a tendency to fly back to their first owners or where they were bred, it’s very difficult to acquire true ownership of the new additions.
Despite the amount of commitment required, many pigeon lovers in the valley continue to care for these birds and Bajracharya says the attachment with these beautiful creatures is often very strong.
“One of the ardent pigeon lovers I knew, Chini Kaji Tuladhar, had to be fed in his bed as he grew weak due to old age. But, for his pigeons, he would gather the will power to get out of his bed and climb up to his terrace to happily watch them fly.”
And with the introduction of the sport, the number of such pigeon aficionados has been growing steadily, according to Bajracharya.
The number of registered members of the association has gone up from 80 to 130, and comprises of pigeon lovers of different age groups from teens to elderly people in their seventies.
“The sport has brought together many keen pigeon aficionados together creating a whole new community,” he says.
Besides the annual tournament, a group called Himalayan Pigeon Flyer’s Club, which both Shrestha and Bajracharya are a part of, also organizes such tournament around September or October.
Though the competitions have not been large scale, the organizers try to arrange humble cash prizes for the winners. But the tournaments, Bajracharya says, has been more for the love of the game and seeing their pigeons set records or simply fly high.
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