Murdering Nature for Sheer Greed

Dr Ksh Imokanta Singh *

Eurasian common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus chloropus) :: Pix Courtesy : wikipedia/Danielle Labrèche

'In my village we kill', He asserted. 'This is not your village', I retorted. When confronted he said, 'we have not killed yet.'

For him the act was just plain normal and for me it was a crime. I do not know his name but from the above brief conversation, it could be inferred that he was from a village which has the culture of killing wild birds and animals for game with nonchalance. For him, it could have been something like, 'how could such tasty birds be lazing around so freely in our presence?' But then when he does the same in Rasmandal Pukhri in Manipur University Campus, his culture is misused and is placed at public domain for denigration by people from other cultures.

Here I am talking of the fate of those eight Urels (Common English – Common Moorhen, Scientific Name: Gallinula Chloropus), resident water birds, which had made Rasmandal Pukhri their home. I have been zealously guarding their safety since I shifted my residence just across the historical waterhole. Whenever, I am around I keep on observing their moves and keep counting their number, lest it becomes lesser by chance.

This, in a way, has become an obsession and a source of personal gratification. The first thing I do every morning when I wake up is to have an eye towards the pond from my balcony and see if my winged friends are around or not. There has always been a fear in mind that they would be hurt and, most of all, killed by some greedy people in my absence.

The fear became real when I saw four guys with catapults surrounding and targeting the poor and defenseless birds from the shore of the bushy pond with a sense of sport, celebrating every shot. It was by sheer chance that I came when the gruesome act was going on. The moment I saw the scene I was swept with Himalayan anger and I did not know when I shouted at them. It happened as if my children were under fire.

Yes, they did hold back the fire. In the ensuing exchange of words I came to realize that the act was just healthy for them since they have been engaged in such sport. They turned out to be students residing in one of the University Hostels. My first reaction was how a student could indulge in such act. But then, the second thought dawned on me that they were members of a particular culture first and then students later.

I am not claiming that all the persons who are students may not hurt wild creatures. The pity is that they were least aware of environmental balance. The grim aspect of their act is that greed and gluttony are above anything. The first and foremost thing in their minds could be just to satisfy their macabre tongues and feed their gluttonous stomach.

I don't claim that I am a specialist on environment or an ornithologist. There are people far more equipped to speak, write and act on the importance of wild birds in maintaining a balance in the environment. They can educate us on how these birds serve as natural instruments to identify the purity or impurity of water bodies, so on and so forth. They can also enlighten us on the Wildlife Acts under which perpetrators of crime can be punished. I am as less educated as any other laymen on this topic.

And, I also do not know how rare Urels are on this earth. But obliterating them from this pond is akin to their extinction. There are schedules (I, II, III, IV, V and IV) under which wild birds, animals and plants are placed as per their rarity or proximity to extinction from the face of this earth. I even do not know and care in which schedule Urels are placed.

Does it really matter to know all of these? What matters to me is being benevolent. I love them because they make the place 'natural' and wild which is like a dream these days, especially for those living in urban enclosures. By rejuvenating my mind and body they enhance the aesthetic value of the place. Last of all they infuse fodders to my poetic and creative being. Then, why should I not be a fanatic in safeguarding them, if it is for the sake of my selfish motive.

Why should I allow hurting and killing myself when they are the extension of my existence? I wish these feelings were there with those student boys!

I have been pained to my spine that should we hunt and wipe out anything exotic and put their remnants as trophies in our drawing rooms to show the grandiosity of being a human, rather than conserving and celebrating the beauty of symbiotism of existence. One question which amuses me often is 'how much the flesh of those little birds will fill their stomach?'

Will they really be sufficient to prevent them from skipping a meal? Not really. But why, why at all? It is their sheer greed and haughtiness to satisfy their sinister tongues and boast around that they have hunted and tasted the flesh of Urels, that too in a place like Manipur University Campus.

I know people who boast around that they had tasted the flesh of wild and rare deer. Question would be, can they boast of eating Dodo? The matter of lamentation is that somebody boasted long time back when he murdered the last Dodo in far away Mauritius, not to be seen alive again forever. Why some people/cultures see anything that moves as Achapot (eatables)?

Why don't they perceive the degradation of humanity in the extinction of other creatures? Ah! What should we do? Such people need rewiring of their minds. Something very seriously wrong is happening in their circuits. If you are a lover of wild animals and birds the best second option, to my mind, is to become a devoted vegetarian not to be touched by greed for flesh and trophies. Why because, if you are a carnivore or omnivore, the temptation might push you to cross the Lakshman Rekha, at least once, and commit the forbidden act which you have been guarding against.

Above issue leads me to the wider issue of culture. Is culture all sacrosanct? To change any bit of it blasphemous? Here I am reminded of the very common and old adage 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do'. Most of the problems in the present world happen because people do not follow this.

Taking your cultural baggage along is acceptable and even appreciable but practicing them in public domain of a different culture may invite hostility from other parties. Confine your culture to your private space depending on the openness/closeness of the destination. When your practice commands universal welfare and humanity then Rome may be re-architectured and Romans rewired as per your culture.

But when it is not so, just keep your culture at home and do not show it in Rome but do as the Romans do. Otherwise, in worst case, the shutters of the prison cell is always open for you.