Pigeon-racing, remnant of 19th-century Babu culture in Bengal, on its last wings
Times of India | 2 March 2025
1234 Kolkata: The city that once ruled the pigeon racing circuit with several clubs vying for coveted trophies now has only a couple of them and a handful of pigeon fanciers who are continuing with the passion of nurturing racing pigeons. It has also relinquished the honour of being the capital of the racer Homer breed in India to Chennai.
The number of serious racing pigeon fanciers in the city has dwindled to less than 50 from around 500 in the 80s. From the early 50s until the mid-90s, Chinese living in Kolkata used to rule the pigeon racing circuit of India. Still active in long-distance pigeon racing, Calcutta Racing Pigeon Club (CRPC) — the oldest pigeon racing club in India, was founded by PS Lee, a Chinese, in 1953. During the peak racing times, a Homer pigeon would travel back to its city's loft after completing a race within a day from Allahabad to Kolkata (814 km), which is faster than any express train. It is still a mystery how these pigeons found their way home over such long distances. Studies say the compass mechanism of a homing pigeon likely relies upon the Sun. Some researchers believe it uses magnetoreception, which involves relying on the Earth's magnetic fields for guidance.
In 1993, KK Lee's bird ‘Mischievous' returned from Allahabad to Kolkata in a record time of just 9 hours 30 minutes. It started at 7am and reached Kolkata the same day by 4:30pm. In 1983, Y S Chen's pigeon ‘Snow Ball' became the Delhi champion with a record timing of 23 hours 37 minutes from Delhi to Kolkata. In 1988, William Ku's ‘Foreign Currency' shattered the record and finished the race in 18 hours 17 minutes.
Debjit Mullick, a third-generation young pigeon fancier and a member of CRPC, said: "Due to my job pressure, I have been unable to participate in long-distance racing over the last few years." Mullick still has more than 120 Homer pigeons at his century-old house's rooftop near Lebutala Park. "The cost of a certain bloodline of a Homer pigeon can cost up to a lakh," he added.
"City's flat culture and the ever-increasing costs of upkeeping a Homer pigeon, followed by impediments of rail booking for transporting the pigeons and recent stringent law on aviculture, are taking a toll on the century-old hobby," said Pratip Nandy, president of the Calcutta Racing Pigeon Organisation (CRPO), another homing pigeon racing club in the city. The member strength of CRPO has now reduced to 7 from 50. Even CRPC's member strength has also been reduced to just 28, whose recent president, Y S Chen, is also a Chinese.
The average speed of a Homer pigeon is 60-80 km/hr. "The training for young pigeons usually starts in late Nov by short-distance release of birds from Dankuni to Kolkata and followed by Galsi and Tarakeshwar," said Sanjoy Das, the organising secretary of CRPC. The long-distance individual races start afterwards, usually from mid-Dec until the scorching summer sets in. The races are usually conducted with both young and old birds from Kolkata to Asansol (200 km), Hazaribag (333 km), Gaya (458 km), Mughalsarai (661 km) and finally Allahabad. "Our birds are trained in such a way that during daytime long-distance flying, they hardly halt, except for rare water breaks," said Shyamal Das, secretary of CRPO.
Kolkata's racing pigeon clubs stopped extreme long-distance races (1,000 km and above) like Kolkata to Kanpur (1107 km) and finally Delhi (1441 km) for old birds because these pigeons need an overnight halt after sundown. "The pigeons are unable to navigate in the dark and often fall prey to owls at night, which leads to many injuries and the missing of the highly expensive Homer pigeon," said Baranagar-based fancier Ashim Mondal.
It was assumed that the British first brought this special breed of domestic pigeon to Calcutta for its unique ability to find its way home over extremely long distances. It used to carry messages and was referred to as a "pigeon post", and the particular breed was used during wars. Nurtured by zamindar families during World War II, the British Army seized all the homing pigeons from them for their own use. This resulted in the discontinuation of the pigeon racing events in Calcutta for many years. Fortunately, Abani Das, an ancestor of Rani Rashmoni, managed to hide some he had imported from England. Later, P S Lee, the Chinese shoe businessman, bought four such pigeons from Das and established CRPC at 75 Bentinck Street.
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