Wildbuzz: Don’t get into a pretty pickle!

As winter deepens, some of the tongues in elite circles salivate at the thought of relishing wild boar pickle or “soor da achaar”

As winter deepens, some of the tongues in elite circles salivate at the thought of relishing wild boar pickle or “soor da achaar”. Long used to hunting boars for pickling, the culinary delight has become difficult to come by as hunting is banned and permit shooting of boars ravaging crops in Punjab has been tightened to prevent its misuse by VIP shikaris masquerading as “friends of farmers”. However, poaching by night using powerful searchlights and rifles has not been eradicated fully as such gourmet fanciers cannot resist the lure of pickles downed with hefty pegs of Scotch. Boar pickle as a gift/bribe to government worthies is also known to work wonders!

Wild boar from war history: Soldiers of the German Reserve Infantry’s Regiment 233 with a humongous boar they hunted with Army issue Gewehr 98 rifles on December 17, 1916, during World War I. This regiment, while operating under the 51 Reserve Division, would have taken part in the Second Battle of Ypres (Belgium), which involved the first large-scale use of poison gas. The realistic colorisation of this archival picture was undertaken by Italian artist and author Roberto Costanzo who works under the brand name of ROCOlor.

But boar meat is itself turning hazardous. The shrub jungle ecology of Shivalik foothills is under stress due to colonisation by agriculture, village expansion and farmhouses. Being indiscriminate omnivores, boars can virtually eat anything under the sun. At night, displaced boars have taken to frequenting village garbage dumps, which extend to jungle peripheries. Human faecal matter discharged by villagers/farm labourers on the peripheries is relished by marauding boars. Garbage heaps have meat scraps infected with parasites.

This leads to the hazard of boars picking up matter infected with parasites such as roundworms. In turn, when boar meat is eaten raw or if not properly cooked, roundworms enter the human body. The larvae initially settle in the small intestine, but grow and travel through the bloodstream to lodge in the lungs/brain leading to ailments/mortality. Roundworms can grow quite a few feet long and sit coiled like cobras within the human body. This parasitic infection is known as Trichinosis.

Parakeet chicks peer from their nest at Nagrota military station. (PHOTO: ANJUPANKAJ)

A thrush in the dawn’s hush

Army life affords a rich sampling of India’s diversities as families traverse infernos to icy deserts. Army couple, Anju and Lt Col Pankaj Saini, an EME officer who has also served with the Infantry on attachment in the Naushera/Poonch sectors, chose to taste India’s incredible avian variations. The bird-watching couple have recorded 621 species during Saini’s postings in places such as Secunderabad, Nagrota, Assam and are currently at Pathankot. Add to this impressive bag of twittering delights, the silent sighs of wings gracing 60 butterfly species. At Nagrota, the couple recorded 200 bird species within the station and brought out a volume for the Army’s internal circulation.

Anju grew up with birds in a McLeodganj bungalow perched on a lonely, verdant hill. Her alarm at dawn was not the dreaded jingle of a mechanised clock jarring her out of dreams and signalling it was time to study for damned exams. Her ears had got attuned to the punctual vocalisations that parted the veil of the night: of the Blue Whistling thrush, the enigmatic and sweet songster of the sagely Himalayas. She had in those years of innocence mistaken the thrush calls to be that of a koel. But correct identifications were secondary, an abiding connection with nature had taken root. After marriage, Saini adopted her passion and they have happily turned birding buddies since the last 10 years, not hesitating to wake up at 3 am to drive off for a tryst to hear the whistle of the wings.

Army postings have allowed the couple to access elusive birding spots such as Eaglenest sanctuary and the Bumla/Sela passes in Arunachal Pradesh. “We don’t focus that much on securing perfect photo-shopped bird pictures as we are keen on observing bird behaviour. The mother bulbul that took a bath for 30 minutes after delivering her eggs or the male Weaver bird who got so frustrated with the female rejecting his nest that he tore up his construction. Our son, Hemant, observed egrets flying to their roost at dusk and said it was like my telling him to be home before nightfall. When I would scold Hemant, I would justify it by drawing his attention to the mother bulbul who would also admonish her young ones and keep nudging them to take flights,” Anju told this writer.

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