A VISIT TO KHICHAN, RAJASTHAN

Khichan is a small village located in the district of Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Being a village in the arid landscape, it does not host the majestic sand dunes nor does it have any imperial ruins. All the village has are a few ‘feeding grounds’ and a whole lot of very dedicated folks!  Feeding grounds for birds.

Every morning from the end of November to March, the people of Khichan are woken up by the ‘krok-krok’ calls of the demoiselle cranes. The Demoiselle crane is a winter migrant to India. They migrate from the colder countries of Mongolia and Russia during their winters to enjoy the complacent winters of ours. In no time, the silent morning wanes off and all you can see are thousands of chirping birds in the sky.

But why only this village? Furthermore, why, in the feeding grounds situated right in the centre of the village, do the birds come and eat? The answer is expressed by any villager proudly. It’s all because of them. The people of Khichan. So, the thing is, most of the population of Khichan are Jain. Feeding the birds is a righteous virtue according to the Jain community. This tradition is passed down generations in every family for hundreds of years and since its commencement, the number of birds coming to the village increased as the years passed.

I was lucky enough to meet the most proactive person in the village. His name was ‘Sevaram’. His house was just next to the largest and the oldest feeding ground of the village. The house being ramshackle was filled with the welcoming and gratifying vibes of his and his family’s. He led me to his terrace which had no safety rails (good for me to have a view) and served me a cup full of hot chai. Looking up in the sky, it was still full of cranes flying here and there. So I asked him about the time when the cranes would land and start feeding? He calmly replied, “At 8:03 am, by my watch”. I was in disbelief! I needed to have an explanation as to why he was so confident about the exact time of the landing of the birds. So I questioned him in detail and I was truly impressed by the answers he gave me. He had maintained a daily record about the activity of birds during the season for about 20 years! His notebook had daily timings when Sevaram saw the first bird in the sky, when the first bird landed and when the last bird departed from the feeding ground. Looking at the previous records of past years he predicted the timing of arrival of the first bird in the ground! And yes it sure happened! The first bird landed around 8:05 am, of course by my watch. On getting into the detail of the matter, I asked him about the feed which the villagers fed the birds. I was astonished to know that the village in total, fed the birds with around 1000 kg of Jowar daily! Everyone in the village donates whatever he/she can and all the villagers take the collective responsibility of these birds (nearly 18000 in number) with minimal help from the forest ministry.

Demoiselle cranes

One of the feeding grounds, with demoiselle cranes!

Coming to another note, regarding the accommodation, Khichan has only 1 hotel. The name of the hotel is Kurja (name for demoiselle crane in Hindi) resort. And I must say, this was one of the best hotels of my tour of Rajasthan. The hotel demonstrated its hospitality to the best and it had the tastiest food of all!

There was one other thing that I noticed. I along with my companions, were the only Indian visitors to the village. The rest were all foreigners (around 10 of them). This made me think, why we the fellow Indians don’t know about such an extraordinary place when many of those people do! But on thinking retrospectively, I asserted myself, "such an amazing human-wildlife relationship is possible just because the village is remote and not known to many.” The next day I concluded my stay in Khichan with exquisite memories of this experience which I would cherish for my entire life.