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I
looked at the dark greyish-brown, tennis-ball sized
creature in my palm. It was soft and warm. I could feel
its heart beating fast in the tiny cage of its ribs. I ran
my fingers along its back. It was not afraid, or perhaps, too
new in this world to know what fear was. With a slight
movement of its body, it settled itself comfortably in the
hollow of my palm.
And the attachment began...
One spring day, during the morning ‘kamjari’ round, I
happened to rescue it from a paniwallah’s bag. I was told it
was a ‘khera-bachcha’ (baby rabbit).
Later, at breakfast,
we discovered to
our utter surprise
and excitement, that
it was not a baby
rabbit, but a baby
squirrel. A dropper
and bowl of warm milk had been arranged by then. I
started to feed it - a few drops at a time. After that, our
baby squirrel slept happily for hours, covered with a warm,
soft cloth spread on a bed of dry hay in a shoe box.
At Mahakali T.E. we were close to the Borjan forests.The
wildlife around was a great source of pleasure and
excitement in the seclusion of an interior estate. Even in
our own bungalow compound, two old trees in a corner of
the lawn were frequented by squirrels. But they were not
‘flying’ squirrels – our ‘Chickchick’ was. Yes, we named him
‘Chickchick’ as His Excellency made his presence or his
hunger known to us with this shrill call, “Chickchick,
chickchick.”
He was kept in the ‘jaali-verandah’ which was airy as well
as safe for him. Soon we found that Chickchick was smart
enough to come out of his corner to inspect his new-found
‘home’. Sometimes, the whole family, along with the
bungalow staff, would go crazy searching for him until he
was found half asleep, hidden in some pot plant!
From the very first day we all loved him from the core of
our hearts. He was as welcome as a newborn baby in the
family and till today, when he is no more, we feel we had
some deep, unknown connection with him, perhaps from
a previous life – such was the bond.
Chickchick grew up very fast. Within four months of his
arrival, he measured almost one foot from nose-tip to tail-
end, weighing around four hundred grams. His species is
commonly found in the north-eastern region of India,
Bhutan, the Indo-China border area and Myanmar. On
both sides of his body he had the ‘gliding skin’ (the
‘patagium’, a furry parachute-like membrane that stretches
from wrist to ankle) which made him look almost like a
bat while gliding. His back was covered with shiny grey
and brown fur, with white borders on both sides, while his
~Amlan Jyoti Chakravarti
Bordubi T.E.
CHICKCHICK
22 JULY 2015
World
Wild
It’s
a