Man-animal

 We moved from Delhi to Mumbai in 1987, due to a Government job transfer of my father.  The huge official quarter, allotted to him, also included some Government type furniture along with it. The old wooden Sofa set with a cotton cover. It was very eco-friendly to say the least.  Little did we know, the extent of how it eco-friendly it was. Within the comfi sofa, came along a more comfortably tucked in female rat. She had her empire going on well before and before we realised, we had an army of rats living with us.  As the family of rats began to grown in our living room, I realised, the little Indian field mouse (M. Boduga) bears 1 to 13 pups per litter and breeds throughout the year. And slowly but surely the empire in our house grew upto 50 in number.  When we had guests visiting the house, we all went into a phase of duality, wherein we were expecting some sudden mishaps from the rat infested sofa, now seated by our guests; and none occurred! However we couldn’t keep this duality of emotions for long and hence decided to get away with the rich piece of furniture. 

Parting with the sofa was yet another event, where we expected the inhabitants to fall off the sofa as the porters transported them. To our surprise, they all either quit the sofa the night before or stay put throughout the journey, until they reached their new destination. So no fall outs or sudden panic attacks during their exit from the house either. The peaceful coexistence with the rats will be part of my childhood memories forever. 

Another rodent common in residential places is the Indian grey mongoose (Urva edwardsii): 

When my family shifted from Mumbai to Pune (1995) one mongoose family was found thriving in an empty plot of land that had got covered with wild local vegetation and weeds. As this plot was not constructed upon, all sorts of unwanted things were thrown onto it. There were discarded bathroom fittings, empty bottles of cans, pipes, tyres, and torn gardening tubes etc. these were used by the mongoose family as hideouts and they made it their home. They also served as ready recreation props by their next generation. 

The mongoose are supposed to be very bold and inquisitive, and this  family would roam around freely in all the surrounding residential societies, buildings, and bungalows. They were though very sensitive to any human activity, and would run-off at any slight movement or sound. Although the family did hunt insects, earthworms, lizards, birds, eggs, and other dead and decaying animals, in our area, they were semi-domesticated and even found scavenging on waste in the garbage bins. It was observed to be omnivorous.   They were seen to relish left-over foods from the residences in the vicinity. It included fruits, vegetables and cooked non-vegetarian dishes. 

This mongoose family, at times, were found to be fighting with the snakes found on the vacant plot and would abandon the left over carcases in the surrounding buildings. In other places, in India, the mongooses are kept as pets to keep houses free from mice and other pests. But, in our area, the family lived in the wilderness and would visit the humans only whenever required for food and protection. Most of the vegetation, growing naturally on this vacant plot, was razed off every year by the owners. That would expose the mongoose family. They would stay in the guard’s room until the pruning and cutting was done. The vegetation every year would grow back as per the ecological laws of succession. The mongoose family seemed to have befriended the pet-cats in the surroundings and licked-off any left-over excess food from their plates. One adaptation I have noticed is when the mongoose family took to chapatti and milk left over by the cats! 

These instances show us how wild animals adapt to human lifestyle, and hoping they help them in their ecological growth process as a species.. 

- Manjushri Savadi-Parasnis 

manjushrisavadi@gmail.com