Shri Subrata Chakrabarti, a flight purser with Air India, was an incredibly passionate aviculturist who devoted his entire life towards the cause of Indian aviculture. From the time he was a kid till the moment he breathed his last, aviculture occupied his entire heart and soul.

It was in the early 1990s when Debashis came across an interview of this legendary breeder in Anandabazar Patrika, the most widely circulated Bengali daily. Debashis was instantly attracted to “the Birdman of Bengal”, as Subrata Chakrabarti was generally referred to and wasted no time in paying a visit to his home cum breeding facility “The Abode of Birds” at Baguihati, in the Northern part of the city of Kolkata. It was this visit which proved to be a life changing moment for Debashis and the defining moment in the relationship between the two. Debashis was mesmerised by the beauty of the exotic birds owned and bred by Subrata Chakrabarti and was enchanted with the humility and modesty of their breeder. There was an instant magnetic attraction between the two, which became stronger and stronger in the decades which followed. Soon Chakrabarti became his “Kaku”. Chakrabarti threw open his doors to Debashis, who spent hours at “The Abode of Birds”, watching the birds, reading the unending volumes of books and journals owned by Kaku, listening to the stories of his personal experiences about Indian and international aviculture while devouring delicious food from Kakima’s kitchen. Kaku indulged the young man and made him a part of his own family with great affection. In the years that followed, Debashis completed his masters in Endodontics and when it was time for him to set up his own clinic, he could think of no better place in the big metropolis of Kolkata other than Baguihati, at a building adjacent to The Abode of Birds! By that time Debashis’ personal breeding collection was also growing by leaps and bounds. He himself shifted to a nearby place at Baguihati with all his birds and his entire family. It is this place, at a stone’s throw distance from Kaku’s home, that till date remains the city office of Sunshine BirdWorld and houses the current clinic of the dentist couple Debashis and Anindita.

Kaku was an inspiration in the lives of hundreds of aviculturists across India, but his relationship with Debashis, Anindita and Sunshine BirdWorld was special. He loved and indulged Debashis as his own son and groomed and mentored him till his last breath. There was an unspoken bond of love, sweetness and intimacy between Kaku and Anindita, whom he always called ‘bouma’. There have been and will be many aviculturists around the world. But the traits that defined Kaku : diligence, industriousness, righteousness, modesty, humility, a unique power to captivate people and lend a helping hand to everyone around, a power to build bridges across hearts, to fight relentlessly against injustice and bear everything with a smile in the face……will be difficult to find in one person. It is indeed true that people like him are no longer created! Kaku will be missed by Sunshine BirdWorld. We will keep him alive forever through our work and in our hearts.

Author : Sunshine BirdWorld