Wildbuzz: Saving fish from God
Since the staff prepares specialised foods for fish, the pious offerings inflict digestive problems on them and they even die. To complicate matters, these blinded ‘fishy pilgrims’, often ‘influential’ and ‘very educated’, throw tantrums and threaten staff
The staff at the government fish seed farm near Sukhna Lake’s regulator employs tact and wit to combat ‘fish lovers’, who descend on the breeding ponds with inappropriate foods. These are offered as ‘daan’ to the fish on pandits’ instructions. Such as, 108 atta balls!
Since the staff prepares specialised foods for fish, the pious offerings inflict digestive problems on them and they even die. To complicate matters, these blinded ‘fishy pilgrims’, often ‘influential’ and ‘very educated’, throw tantrums and threaten staff.
A woman with her daughter arrived in their car and brought two litres of mustard oil and a kilogram of jaggery. The pandit had instructed her that the ‘daan’ will remove the ‘greh’ (inauspicious stars) hanging over her family. Such offerings to earn brownie points from the divine powers aspire to resolve personal problems, such as a child not getting married, children not finding jobs, marital issues, or business losses.
The woman’s plan was nipped in the bud very artfully by the staff, which politely pointed out that the water in the fish ponds was stagnant. The ‘greh’ would remain stuck even if she offered the ‘daan’. The woman was advised to release the ‘daan’ in flowing waters so that the ‘greh’ moves on and takes leave of the unhappy family. The ‘obliging’ staff provided a solution close at hand: the ‘daan’ be offered from the Panchkula bridge to the fish of the flowing Ghaggar.
Unlike her lot, the mother gracefully accepted the advice. She thanked the staff for sharing its ‘immense spiritual knowledge’ and putting her on the right track to salvation. However, she lamented that her pandit had rendered half-baked advice as he did not warn her about the unsuitability of still waters. To which the staff replied, tongue firmly in cheek, “If the pandit revealed everything at one go to you, ma’am, you would not need to keep going back to him!”
{{/usCountry}}Unlike her lot, the mother gracefully accepted the advice. She thanked the staff for sharing its ‘immense spiritual knowledge’ and putting her on the right track to salvation. However, she lamented that her pandit had rendered half-baked advice as he did not warn her about the unsuitability of still waters. To which the staff replied, tongue firmly in cheek, “If the pandit revealed everything at one go to you, ma’am, you would not need to keep going back to him!”
{{/usCountry}}Rarely spotted, not rare!
A wild species may not actually be a ‘very rare’ one. Due to its diminutive size, camouflage, cryptic habits and nocturnal activity, the species may instead turn out to be a ‘rarely recorded’ one! It may have dwelt right under our noses till an unfortunate event such as a roadkill at night brings to light its presence in a region, hitherto not marked as falling in the species’ ‘official’ distribution maps. Further, the increasing usage by researchers and naturalists of camera traps, which are autonomous and triggered by infrared sensors, has significantly enhanced our understanding about actual distribution of ‘rarely spotted’ species.
In the last week’s column, I had showcased the laudable initiative taken by the Siswan siblings -- Himmat Singh Guram and his sister Naina -- to deploy five Cuddeback camera traps and capture images of ghostly leopards roving at night around their Baans Bagh farm just off the Siswan-Baddi highway.
The Gurams’ camera traps also succeeded in capturing the rarely recorded rusty-spotted cat (RSC), which is the world’s smallest wild cat species. The male RSC weighs no more than 1.6kg while females are smaller. The African black-footed cat comes second to the RSC in sheer tininess of global cat species.
Authentic records of the RSC from our region are few and far between. Last December, quite by chance, another record came from the same submontane Shivalik tracts. A roadkill specimen was discovered on the road leading to Kasauli village (Mohali), about 20km from Chandigarh. Balkar Singh, the wildlife savvy driver of Chandigarh-based wildlife conservationist Narbir S Kahlon, had brought the vehicle to a halt while taking Kahlon back to Chandigarh from the latter’s farm at Karaundiawallah village. The driver’s keen eyes, cognisant of his employer’s interest in wildlife, had seized upon the sparkle of a dead RSC’s eyes in the headlights.
Unlike leopard pugmarks, those of an RSC are not easy to identify in the field. So, the RSC’s presence may go completely unsuspected. Also, due to the mainstream’s mania for big cats such as tigers, lions, leopards and cheetahs, the globe’s tiniest cat remains an under-researched species.
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