Many homes and flats in Hazaribagh town have a new accessory hanging from their front gates, a blue bottle. A mixture of liquid blue fabric whitener and kerosene is mixed and poured into an old plastic soft drink bottle and hung to apparently stop stray dogs from defecating nearby, though there is no scientific evidence to prove the fact.
Apparently a totka (charm) popular in Hazaribagh recently, it is a rage in Bengal, separated by Bokaro district. But, people of New Area, Okni Mohalla, Adarsh Puri, Shivpuri, Boddom Bazar and Ramnagar, to name some of Hazaribagh's most prominent, feel the blue bottle works.
"No one likes to wake up in the morning to see a pile of dog poop," says homemaker Sneha Sharma of upscale New Area who has started hanging blue bottles on the boundary walls of her house facing the road. "I saw people in Adarsh Puri doing this, so I started it too." She believed the strange smell of neel (fabric whitener) and kerosene scared the dogs.
"Earlier, we had too many stray dogs defecating in front of our house. Since municipal corporation workers don't care to clean the roads in such cases, the awful task falls on the house-owner. Now, mysteriously, after I hung the blue bottles, the problem seems to be gone," she smiled.
Sharma was not alone. Subodh Kumar of Okni Mohalla also endorsed the blue magic. "Some people in Ramnagar told me it was effective. So, I gave it a shot. It seems to be working," he said.
He added he did not know from where people in Hazaribagh came to know about it. "Internet?" he wondered. "Whatever it is, it's a cheap solution adopted by many homes and flats to deter dogs from defecation."
The efficacy of the blue bottle has been debated in newspapers and popular online forums like Quora.
But, vets and experts are baffled.
Contacted, director of Jharkhand state animal husbandry department Rajnikanth Tirkey, based in Ranchi, told this reporter he was hearing of the practice for the first time. "I haven't seen this in Ranchi," Tirkey said.
"It's a misconception. The municipal corporation must work for safe sterilisation of stray dogs and keep the city clean," he said.
Contacted, Hazaribagh municipal corporation chairperson Anjali Kumari did not comment on the blue bottle but admitted stray dogs had increased. "Their numbers have increased but we don't have a plan to deal with this menace as of now. If complaints come from residents, we will definitely think of a plan to tackle this problem," she said.
Do you have any explanation for the so-called blue magic to deter dogs? Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com
