Something to crow about?

Raipur, Sept. 22: This village in Chhattisgarh has never been “blessed”.

Strange as it may sound, residents of Silphili village in Sarguja do not know what a crow looks or sounds like and so, have never seen the dreaded droppings. The winged scavengers, for some unknown reason, have never “graced” the village with their presence.

The village, 350 km north of the state capital, has a population of around 2,000 people. It produces high quality vegetables, along with a dozen other villages located in a 5-km radius, and boasts of some of the most fertile plots in the state.

Baidu Gond, a middle-aged villager, told The Telegraph: “Not only the present generation, but even our great grandfathers and the generations before did not see a crow in the village.” There is a forest cover near the village but no crow has ever flown in from that side as well.

Teachers at the lone primary school find it hard to explain the features of a crow when students ask about the bird. “We have to get a picture of a crow to describe the bird and even make the ‘caw caw’ sound to make the students understand,” one of the teachers said.

Explaining the no-crow phenomenon, a village elder recalls a legend, which dates back to the Ramayana era. Crows, it seems, do not enter the village because of the wrath of Lord Ram.

Bholaram, in his 80s, narrates the story he heard from his grandmother.

“During vanvas (exile) Lord Ram happened to pass through this area. One day, a crow hit the toe of Sita with its beak. An angry Lord Ram shot an arrow, which hit one of the eyes of the crow. Since then, crows have never come to Silphili,” he said.

The matter has given ornithologists a topic for research and the state department of forests, too, has decided to look into the matter.

“It’s surprising that crows are not visiting (Silphili). We will send a team there to study the matter,” said divisional forest officer of Sarguja K.K. Bisen.