This time I had reached a village close to the northernmost national park in North-east India, the Mouling National park. Mouling in the Adi language means red blood that signifies one of the tree species found in the park that has red latex. The villagers and department officials have chilling stories of people being bitten by poisonous snakes, chased by vipers, among others, and I was getting more and more excited! The park is remote and few surveys have been undertaken by the Forest Department and a single herpetofaunal survey in 2002 by Samrat Pawar. However, the two days I spent were outside the national park discussing with the villagers about their shifting cultivation practice.
A hunting festival was on in the village during my visit; each Adi (the local community) hunts as many animals as he can and gifts the meat, dried over fire, to his in-laws. During an evening rice-beer session with the Adis, the village leader invited me over to his house for some millet beer, so I obliged. At his home, I saw skulls of several wild animals, amongst the ones I could recognize; few monkeys, few barking deers and many wild pig. I was offered millet beer and I was heady already!
Then, the head-gaam brought a hunted monkey and laid it down in front of me; I was startled but quickly gathered myself to try and identify the species. Perhaps, it was a test to see my reaction; I kept calm. I was hoping it wasn’t one of the rarer species such as pig-tailed, stump-tailed or assamese macaques and was glad it wasn’t. It was a rhesus macaque male. The Miok (the leader, in Adi) smoked the body in fire to char the fur following which he would skin the meat. I was shocked but remained silent sipping the beer. I soon figured I was invited actually to taste the meat and I admittedly told the leader that I can’t eat it because it looks too much like a human and he did not force me further.
Later we got back to the Ramsing camp and cooked our meal and slept. This memory will remain fresh in my mind; I did not need a camera to record this.
Then, the head-gaam brought a hunted monkey and laid it down in front of me; I was startled but quickly gathered myself to try and identify the species. Perhaps, it was a test to see my reaction; I kept calm. I was hoping it wasn’t one of the rarer species such as pig-tailed, stump-tailed or assamese macaques and was glad it wasn’t. It was a rhesus macaque male. The Miok (the leader, in Adi) smoked the body in fire to char the fur following which he would skin the meat. I was shocked but remained silent sipping the beer. I soon figured I was invited actually to taste the meat and I admittedly told the leader that I can’t eat it because it looks too much like a human and he did not force me further.
Later we got back to the Ramsing camp and cooked our meal and slept. This memory will remain fresh in my mind; I did not need a camera to record this.
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