Pigs have long had a reputation for dirtness they roll in mud, eat garbage and root in the dirt. They wallow in mud in order to keep cool rather than because of any natural affinity for dirt. Ironically, they are by nature quite clean when given. the opportunity, and their intelligence is said to be higher than that of dogs. George Orwell, perhaps, made a beginning in changing the image of the pigs by giving them a leading role in his satirical fable, Animal Farm. A television programme in the United States has also projected a favourable image for pigs; Miss Piggy of the Muppet Show is well known and loved.
In 1979 1 undertook a project in eastern Nepal and Assam to study the habitat of the smallest member of the swine family, the Pigmy Hog. I immediately swept aside an age old image that pigs are unclean. During my trip to various parts of the jungle in connection with the Pigmy Hog Project I recalled a lot of memories from the past. I jotted them down and soon found a very rough manuscript. But, somehow in the middle of it all, I abandoned the project. A long but expected battle of my heart and mind took place, a personal and agonising ordeal.
At the end of 1983, my son Rajan came back to Kathmandu from a boarding school in Darjeeling for three months winter vacation. I seldom gave time to my children and although Rajan was my favourite I had not seen him for almost a year and a half. He had changed a lot, a bit older and wiser. He spent most of his time with me talking, joking, caring and loving more than even before. Both of us were deeply touched by the overwhelming feeling of togetherness; how rewarding to answer the endless questions of a growing boy! He wanted me to take him into the jungle.
Things that persist may or may not exist. For things unexplainable, folk imagination conjures up Loch Ness monster, Abominable Snowman and the Buru. On the other hand, creatures known to exist, some are already extinct while others are endangered. The Mountain Quail (Ophrysia superliosa) was last reported in the 1880's near Mussoorie. In 1949, S. Dillon Ripley came to Nepal in search of the Mountain Quail and instead found the Spiny Babbler (Acanthoptika nepalensis). The Pigmy Hog, the smallest member of the swine family, was said to be extinct, or nearly so, by no less a renowned naturalist Edward Gee in 1964. It was, however, found to exist both in captivity and wild in Assam.
This book is about the quest for the Pigmy hog in the Nepal Terai. The diminutive creature eludes the author but the adventure reveals a wide canvas of rich experience. It is also the story of an enterprising Nepalese. Karna Sakya was born in a 'baha' (core of urban Kathmandu) and he opted for the wild. Trained as a forester and wildlife officer, he contributed his early enthusiasm to the creation of the first national park in the country. He found the bureaucratic jungle suffocating and left government service early. He diverted his Sakya propensity for trade and industry into tourism business and the slums of Thamel were transformed into a tourist centre. Yet he retained his interest in wildlife and conservation. His interest in nature ranges from the blue sheep of Dolpo to biotic community of the tropical Terai, be it Shorea robusta or 'Pudke Bandel.'
The author goes searching for 'Pudke Bandel' (Pigmy Hog) in Chitwan and Kosi Tappu, he considers two probable places in Nepal. There is no Pigmy Hog waiting for him in these expanse of verdure but only old memories. Three are interestingly narrated. First is about plantation work in Chiliya (Bhairawa 1967) where he ingeniously employs a vivacious belle named Jungali (Forest Nymph) to attract more workers. We are told that those Chiliya teaks have since grown extremely well but not how domesticated Jungali is. The second incident took place at Jaimangala (Chitwan) in 1971 where the author was an eye witness to a chance encounter between a woman and a rhino. The woman was somehow saved but the unique drama imprinted a belief in fatalism and what he calls 'what ever will be, will be.' The third incident took place near Sukla Phanta (Kanchanpur) where the author and two companions lost their way in a swampy wilderness in the dark. But then there would be no forest lore without such incidents.
The next theatre of the quest is Assam, at least 1,300 kilometres east of Kanchanpur. Some places in Assam were the last domain of the Pigmy Hog where the author could see the animals and their habitat. He first travelled to Gauhati and then visited Bernadi, Barapeta and the Manas Sanctuary in the 'duars.' He seemed to have acquainted himself well with this frontier region. What better imagery could there be to summarise the political turmoil in this area than to state that the Brahmaputra appears like a giant question-mark carved on the map of India. He deals adequately with the history of Assam, similar folk traditions of Kathmandu and Ka-marup (Assam), tea plantation and opium smuggling economy and the too visible military activity. The plight of migrants from Nepal in Assam is illustrated as being 'neither here nor there'.
In Assam, the author confronted his subject of pursuit in three different settings. The Gauhati Zoo had five Pigmy Hogs that had even bred in captivity. He could not touch them but studied their characteristics for some hours. At the forest divisional office at Barapeta was a young one kept as a pet. He was allowed to cuddle it and even counted its four pair of teats, thus exploring another myth that the Pigmy Hog have only three pair of teats. Finally, two wild ones were sighted at Kasim Daha but they knew too well their rarity value and disappeared fast into the undergrowth. A return search at Kosi Tappu was again unrewarding.
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