Countless bats hang from the trees on the bank of a pond at a house. Not for a year or two, but for nearly 150 years they have lived here. Doves, crows, mynas, waterhens, cormorants, magpie robins, kingfishers, sparrows, woodpeckers, lapwings, barn owls and other birds whose names are unknown can also be seen here.
Montu Babu's house in Mirsarai, Chattogram, is like a sanctuary for bats and birds. Every morning, people wake to their chatter. Bats and birds have made their homes in the trees around the house for nearly 150 years, and local people have named it the "Badur Bari" (bat house).
Masterpara is a small village in the upazila's Magadia union, where bats and birds live in tree after tree at Montu Babu's house. The owner, Nihar Kanti Roy, former headmaster of the local Abutorab Government Primary School, said the bats' way of life is truly strange. They harm no one apart from gathering their own food, and they have lived in various trees at the house for nearly 150 years, he said.
Since his grandfather's time
Talking to Nihar Kanti Roy, it emerged that the bats have nested here since the time of his grandfather, Nanda Kerani. Other birds too have made themselves a safe home here.
Others in the household said the bats set out in search of food every evening and return to their roosts before dawn. Many natural disasters have come and gone over the years, but they have not left their home.
Local resident Md Sheikh Farid said: "Bats have lived here since my grandfather's day. My father saw them, and we see them. Generation after generation has seen this bat roost."
He said: "Village boys sometimes try to break the bats' and birds' nests. We do not let them. If the bats' or birds' roosts are damaged in a disaster, we repair them on our own initiative to make them habitable again. Nobody is allowed to cut the house's century-old trees either."
Mirsarai upazila livestock officer Dr Zakirul Farid said: "The bats seen in this area are commonly known as the Indian flying fox. They have made their home here for a long time, seeing the trees at Montu Babu's house as a safe refuge."
Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
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