Animal Instinct

I walked into the ARRC on a breezy morning looking forward to my day with the wild ones. Curator Shriram Shinde put me under the wing of volunteer Baba Patwardhan, who immediately introduced me to my indispensable companions for the day8212;a broom, a bucket and a brush.

Following Baba into the tortoise enclosure, I was immediately assigned the exhausting task of emptying the pond, scrubbing it and refilling it with clean water. Soon, I was jumping over a wall, straight into the monitor lizard territory. Baba informed me that there were 16 of them. He pointed to the water hole in there which I attacked with surprising glee. So far no fear.

Then came the clincher. 8216;8216;The snake pit needs to be cleaned. Just sweep out all the skins they have shed and the leaves that have fallen in,8217;8217; smiled Baba. I looked doubtful. But my idol was Mowgli, who played with Bagheera and knew no fear even from vicious Ka. Compared to that, did simple rat snakes count as menacing? Nah! And I plunged in without a thought. Till I saw four three-feet long creatures uncoiling themselves from a tree. Oops! I looked back at a confident Baba urging me on. So I swept, absolutely unconcerned about the crowd watching my brave efforts and the crawly ones moving around their home turf. I realised they wouldn8217;t come close except to glide by. I wasn8217;t a threat, just another human who kept their home clean. So I finished, drenched with sweat and delighted with my effort. But Baba was unimpressed. So it was back to the pool again. This time round, four snakes dozing in it merely threw occasional bored glances at me. Whew! Later, I found out there were 70 of them in the pit!

Shriram walked in to take me to the kitchen, situated in a quiet corner of the six-acre ARRC. The task at hand8212;to shell a tonne of boiled eggs. 8216;8216;They are for the monkeys who have come to us from the National Institute of Virology and Institute of Research and Reproduction, Panvel,8217;8217; he revealed. In another corner, volunteers Medhavi and Hemant were busy sorting carrots, groundnuts, spinach and fruits into separate feeding boxes. Then it was time to roll out the food trolley loaded with an assortment of fruits and vegetables to the monkey cages. That8217;s where I fell in love with Zulu, a spirited baby langoor, who happily polished off the banana I offered him. 8216;8216;He was with his mum, running away from stray dogs when they fell on a transformer. She died. He survived but lost his fingers,8217;8217; said Shriram, pointing to the little one8217;s hands.

During lunch, volunteers came together and topics of conversation ranged from antics of the respective charges to what was happening at home. Finishing my dabba, it was time to bathe the cute starback tortoises. Scrubbing their hard exteriors was quite a task and just like naughty children, they would rather play in the water than bathe.

By then it was teatime, followed by the much-awaited treat. Manager Rajan Shirke announced it was time to clean their prized possession8217;s regal room. Out came a humungous cobra. Eleven feet of sheer power drew visitors to her and as cameras whirred, she coiled, uncoiled and towered8212;as if striking a pose. While she was being moved into the poisonous snake enclosure, the gaping crowd hurriedly cleared the path.

And then I had to bid farewell to my new friends8212;from the man-eating leopard who snarled at me, to Gauri, the white wild boar piglet, and the laughing hyenas. Next stop was Bittu, the timid month-old barking deer, who did not trust anyone except his foster parent Aniket.

One thing8217;s for sure. I know I8217;ll be back as I8217;m game for yet another wild time!