"The young Nepali man would emerge from his sleeping bag, perched in the bushes near the bustling tunnel entrance to Sydney's St James station. Lama paid them no mind. He'd return from breakfast, a bag of breadcrumbs in hand, and head straight to the flock of pigeons that also called the St James tunnel home."
"One day last December, as Sydney sweltered through its interminable heatwave, the ritual stopped. The pigeons waited in vain. Their birdman did not emerge. In one of Australia's busiest public parks, he had died a lonely death. No one noticed."
"When he was eventually found by station staff just before noon on 7 December, his body had decomposed to such a degree that police were unable to visually identify him. Erin Longbottom, the nursing unit manager of St Vincent's homelessness health service, says it feels as though Lama's death has been completely unacknowledged."
Bikram Lama, a young Nepali man, had a daily routine of feeding pigeons near St James station in Sydney. Known as the 'birdman', he was a familiar sight to rough sleepers and passersby. However, one day in December, he did not return, and his body lay unnoticed for nearly a week despite the heavy foot traffic of around 100,000 people. When discovered, his body was unrecognizable due to decomposition. His death underscores the neglect and invisibility faced by homeless individuals in urban environments.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]