O.N.E.
A grating
cracking sound just beyond the parked car.
It was too loud for me to go back to sleep. The dogs were strangely quiet – well they
were sleeping too. I tried to ignore it
but the sound was too close for comfort.
This, I have got to see. I took my torch switched on the lights in the
hall and porch and stepped out calling
out to the dogs. They followed me
out. I shone the torch in the narrow
area between the parked car and the neighbour’s wall but there was nothing. The
dogs did not seem keen on stepping out further, Come-ON! I goaded them and
stepped out towards the wall. As I shone
the torch over the wall, I spotted it – A Porcupine with its bristles all at
attention, busy crunching away at a fallen coconut. It was least bothered with the light falling
on it - guess it knows its power -Armed
and Dangerous – Stay away it seemed to say.
The dogs had trotted back into the house. I have seen porcupine quills
in the farm and the forest many times, but this was the first time I spotted a
Porcupine!
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| A collection of Porcupine quills found in the forest beyond the farm |
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| I could not possibly click a pic, so this is from the internet) |
T.W.O.
When the
snakes glide over the wall separating our yard from the forest , they barely
make a sound, at most if they displace a leaf and you hear it, then you might
look up from your work and spot it. But
today the sound was louder - a rustling of the leaves seemingly made by a much larger clumsier animal. I looked up from my laptop and spotted it - …..a
monitor lizard!!! I left my desk and stepped towards the door. As I gazed at it from the doorstep, it sensed
my glance and froze. The long neck turned and two eyes looked unblinkingly at
me, And the next instant it climbed over
the wall at an astonishing speed and disappeared!
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| Pic from the internet |
T.H.R.E.E.
The
cacophony of sounds from the tall mango tree in front of the house was a little
different from what the normal langurs make. If it was a fight between 2
male langurs then it was definitely taking a vicious turn. There are often noisy fights amongst the
langurs- probably males trying to show their dominance with loud furious barking sounds, the whooshing
sounds as they chase one another amongst the branches and the high pitched
chattering/squealing sounds that the
rest of the females and young ones make as they probably cheer them on!
Today the sounds were interspersed with some other sound, but I could barely
identify it - what with the added cacophony of the 3 dogs barking full
throttle!
I peered up
at the tree, but could not see anything except the foliage moving
violently. I asked my househelps who were cleaning some spices on
the porch whether they could see anything unusual. My farm hand too was trying to see from a
distance. And then suddenly I spotted it
– a huge bushy tail unlike the rope like tail of the langur. The others spotted it too – It was a Giant Indian Squirrel. The langurs were agitated at the intruder,
but it seemed to have gotten some distance between itself and the langurs -for
they were no longer on the mango tree and the cacophony was tapering off. The langurs leapt over the tree tops and
disappeared into the forest. The Giant squirrel too leapt off in the opposite
direction and disappeared into the farm.
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| Pic from the internet |
Just a
fleeting sighting. But a tell-tale
trail of destruction in the days that followed – holes bored into tender
coconuts – piles of them around the base of every tree. Well, nothing can be done,,,, but I do wish I could catch sight of the
elusive one again.
