Of pigs and men

Before the rice crop is harvested, men from select households in the village slaughter their pigs around the Naamghar or the community hall. I am often referred to as an Aying in the village which means a non-tribal. So being an Aying I wasn’t to be present in this feast perhaps 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 from my friend Gekut, I asked him why I saw some pigs in the Egin the toilet whereas others are free-ranging. Oh, by the way, the Adi rear their pigs in enclosure below their home.

Gekut told me that the male pigs are reared in the pig-toilets. So well, for two to four years all the male pigs have seen are the four walls around them and everyday few pairs of bottoms above them! The pigs that I have seen roaming around the village are all sows with their kids. So I asked Gekut why they don’t prefer eating the pigs that roam around the village and he said “Shee, who will eat them, these pigs roam around everywhere and eat all dirty things, better to eat clean pigs from our own Egin”! I will never forget this fact from now on! Also the time it takes for a male pig to fatten up depends on how many people live in a house; makes perfect sense! Also, these pigs are fed leftovers from the home meals, tubers (Kochu or wild yam) and chips of a palm species (Tassat) trunk. Perhaps the main reason for eating only the pigs from the pig-toilets is that they put on a significant amount fat, having not burnt it roaming around the village. Its a hog-eat-hog world!