Village by the river: Chapter II

Of pigs and men

Before the rice crop is harvested, men from the entire village gather round the ‘Naamghar’ (marked in the google earth image earlier) and show off and cut their pigs. I am often referred to in the village as an “Aying” which means a non-tribal. So being an Aying I wasn’t to be present in this feast but later I was given a large slice of meat which I gladly ate.

The next day as I was learning a bit of Adi language with a local kid, I asked him why I saw some pigs in the bathroom whereas others are free-ranging. Oh, by the way, Adis rear their pigs in the bathroom, the poop drops right into the mouth of the suids which grunt in thanks I suppose! Heres a picture of the bathroom.

So when I asked about these pigs in the bathroom and those I see outside, Gekut (the kid) told me the male pigs are reared in bathrooms. So well, for five to a maximum of 11 years all the male pigs have only seen the four walls around them and often pair of bums above them. Shux, what a life! The pigs that I have seen roaming around the village are all sows with their kids. Well, so I politely asked Gekut why don’t they prefer eating the pigs that roam around and he said “Shee, who will eat that, these pigs roam around everywhere and eat all dirty things, better to eat clean pigs from our own bathrooms”! This statement is a classic I think I will never forget! And well the other reason for eating only the pigs from the bathroom is that they also develop a large chunk of  fat, which I may agree does taste good, yux u might say!!!