Mark's Blog

My Hut is an ecosystem

Every morning when I wake up, two birds come flying into my hut through the windows to the nest they made in the roof before I even moved in. They arrive each day at the same time, just before I leave for flute class. .

Keeping them company are the gekos who camoflage themselves among the thatch in the roof, where the spiders drape their webs. All of them help to eat the mosquitos who come in off the fields at dusk. Then you have the little jumping, biting spiders, the very odd cockroach and a very persistent wasp who tries to get in every day. The other day I saw some kind of flying insect more than an inch thick making a buzzing sound like a small B52 bomber.

Outside, Pushkar is an ecosystem. Apart from plastic, everything which gets thrown out on the street gets eaten, if not by the roaming cows, then by monkeys, dogs, pigs, squirrels or insects. The cows eat puja flowers, cardboard, old chapatis, scraps and turn it all into dung which then gets uses as fuel or building material. The cities have worked this way for age, there is little waste.

Dogs, no matter how cute, are just one step above vermin here and are treated as such. They're wandering scavengers mostly who feed on things which you don't necessarily want to come in contact with. Puppies get run over on the main bazaar by motorbikes now and again, which is a bit grim to listen to and the odd cow will occasionally snap and start bucking and butting everyone around. A bit of a dilemma as to what to do when a holy animal goes berzerk. Most stallholders opt for the firm bonk on the nose with something blunt if a cheeky cow decides to start nibbling the produce. .

The cows here are smaller, more graceful and have a lot of character, walking around the streets like the stately queens that they are. They bring a slower pace with them to the bazaar, as people and bikes jostle around them in narrower parts of the street.

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Posted by Mark at February 21, 2004 03:32 PM