IN & AROUND
THE SUBCONTINENTAL MENU
DEVILLED EGG
THE titihari is a bird that lays its eggs in the ground . It ’ s also sacred , at least in the hamlet of Haripura in Rajasthan ’ s Bundi district . Recently , when children were queuing at a school there for a glass of milk , a five-year-old girl stepped on a titihari egg , and all manner of devilry ensued . The girl ’ s father claims the caste panchayat demanded the repayment of a loan and a bottle of liquor in exchange for absolving the girl of her ‘ sin ’. As he couldn ’ t pay , the panchayat allegedly ost ra cised the girl from their caste and ordered her not to enter her house for 10 days ; her parents say they have been forced to sleep outside with her . When the authorities learnt of this , they arrested 10 men from the village — but these men claim they didn ’ t order any ostracism and only prescribed simple rituals .
LITERALLY A BEAR
NOT a dog this time . The sloth bear makes its In & Around debut . Two such animals had been pressed into service as dancing bears — illegal in India since 1972 — near the India-Nepal border till Dec ember 2017 , when Indian non-profit Wildlife SOS received a tip-off and moved to rescue them . But the traffickers smuggled the animals into Nepal , where the practice is legal . But the two men and two bears were detained by Nepalese authorities ; the bears were taken to Kathmandu Zoo . One did not survive long , but Wildlife SOS and Nepal ’ s Jane Goodall Institute worked together to clear bureaucratic hurdles and repatriate the surviving animal , 19-year-old Rangila . He is now on a 1,000-km odyssey to the Agra Bear Rescue Centre , home to about 200 rescued sloth bears .
CLEANLY GODLINESS
LISSFUL hygienic offering
Bto God , or BHOG for short . It ’ s a somewhat tortured acronym , but this initiative of the Union health ministry seems to be making progress . The Shi romani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee ( SGPC ) has decided to send the langaris ( cooks ) of the Golden Temple to a workshop being conduc ted by the ministry in the last week of July for training on complying with the hygiene norms of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India . The SGPC will be imp lemen ting these norms in the Gol den Temple and other gurdwaras under its control , with the committee ’ s Delhi branch having done so in at least 10 of the capital ’ s gurdwaras . The cooks will now prepare their ‘ bhog ’ with their heads covered , wearing aprons and gloves . Even those who serve food will be wearing gloves , for added bliss .
UNEARTHLY POWERS
INDRA guards his throne jealously as thunder harries Bhubaneswar ’ s helpless shrines . Odisha has seen many casualties caused by lightning strikes in recent months — and the state capital ’ s historic temples stand unguarded . A report says there are 11 temples in the city under the purview of Odisha State Archaeology , 23 under the Archaeological Survey of India ( ASI ); none has a functioning lightning arrestor earthing system in place . Only Lingaraj temple has the necessary wiring , but even this is at present disconnected from the main earthing on the ground due to ongoing work on the floor for over a year , with servitors complaining that the shrine is prone to lightning strikes . However , the ASI has plans to revamp the system and install advanced machinery to protect the temple .
8 OUTLOOK 6 August 2018
Illustrations by SAJITH KUMAR