Col Smith

If not for this one man – Lt Col. Freddy C Smith, popularly known among pigeon circles in Bangalore as Colonel or Colonel Smith – I would never really have gotten into the sport of racing pigeons.

When I heard of him from Uncle Henry, my only interest in meeting the man was to interview him for the Saturday supplement of The Times of India. So I looked him up in the book and called him. The man on the phone was as curt as the man who opened the gate to let me in. It was obvious this man didn’t need the publicity and wasn’t looking for it. If this is what I sensed, Col Smith for his part saw more than a reporter in me. He saw a fancier. He insisted I join the Karnataka Racing Pigeon Club, of which he was the president, and even offered me some pigeons to get me started.

And so I joined the club. My first meeting was a disaster, as I witnessed what Col Smith called a fish market scenario unfold right before me. I decided to quit. But the colonel insisted I stay on. He said, “These things happen. One must learn to manage them.” – My first lesson in man management.

The Colonel loved me and I him. In the years 1997 to 2001, almost every evening I found myself free I spent with him. Colonel Smith taught me how to drink, not that I didn’t drink before I met him, but he taught me to drink rum with less water. “DON’T KILL THAT DRINK,” he’d holler if I poured too much water into the drink. He drank his 60 ml of rum or whisky with 60 ml of water. And when he drank he spoke.

We spoke and spoke not just about pigeons, about guns, the army, wars, big bikes and even an avalanche. Col Smith was once caught in an avalanche but managed to burst out of it in one piece. He was strong and would often challenge me to arm-wrestling contests -- he 70 and me 27.

It was this relationship that we shared that spurred me on to grow in the hobby. He told me all he knew about racing pigeons and even sold me some he wouldn’t give anybody. Every bird he gave me was a winner!

He took me with him to train our pigeons. He showed me his secret spots, first marked out meticulously on a Survey of India map and then located professionally with a compass. The training tosses were always fun. Apart from our birds we also packed our guns and he brought along some amazing sandwiches and tea. He always drove. He never trusted anybody with his vehicles or his pigeons. “If I’m not driving and training my own pigeons, I’m not racing,” he used to say, and he didn’t.

Like he had his favourite people, Col Smith had his favourite pigeons, and the one he loved the most was this red Newcombe (Calcutta) hen called Rusty Girl. “It’s a prepotent hen. You can pair her to any male and she’ll produce winners.” And she did. However, she produced most with another favourite bird of his called Black Storm. Now Black Storm was a Dias Bird and this was also his favorite crossing – Dias X Calcutta.

He also mixed the Dias birds well with the Catrysse birds. His daughter helped smuggle some eggs for him from England and he had one Catrysse bird out of the 12 eggs she brought. “I’ve made my own breed out of this cross,” he would say. “The Catrysse birds have great homing but are poor on longevity, the Dias bird live long and breed longer and are fast. I’ve mixed the two to produce birds that race better and live longer.”

He gave me two birds from this crossing. Gentleman Jim (Dias) was paired to Blue Mist (Catrysse) and went on to produce two pieds. He gave me both. They turned out to be cocks. One I called Columbus and the other Napolean Bonaparte. (More on them later)

The One-third Rule

Col Smith lived by rules. When it came to pigeons the one rule he adhered to strictly, and one I’d recommend any pigeon fancier, was his ‘one-third rule’. “You have to, have to, follow this rule, if you want to move ahead and grow as a fancier, and also not get your pocket pinched too much,” he’d say. And his one-third rule was to, every year, give away one-third of your birds. “You can do this after your breeding or after your racing season. But you have to give away one-third of your birds, birds that don’t fit into your scheme of breeding and racing. This will keep your team sharp,” he’d say.

So if he had 100 birds at the end of the racing season, he’d keep 33 birds in the racing team for the next year; keep 34 birds as breeders and give away 33 birds. Further if his bred 34 breeders proceeded to breed 100 youngsters, he’d select carefully and get rid of 33 of the youngsters that didn’t fit the standard. This is what gave him the edge. This is the reason his birds were always the ones to beat. This is also why you could blindly pick a bird from him and rest assured it’d breed winners for you.

To be continued…