Suiciding birds of Jatinga :: Part I

Akham Bonbirdhwaja Singh *

The author in front of ADC office :: Pix - TSE

(On the occasion the National Wildlife Week commencing from the 2nd October, 2022, I salute all the unsung heroes of forests and wildlife; both serving and retired including those who laid down their lives in protecting our priceless heritage. This article is dedicated to them)

Years after retirement, I embarked upon a trip which I should have undertaken long back. The mass suicide of birds, the phenomenon which we were told in the forest college in 1976 (EFRC, now Central Academy of Forest Education, St. Mary's Hill, Kurseong, Darjeeling) which were of great interest, intrigued me a lot and I thought to witness it personally.

Some mentions were made by wildlife expert EP Gee in his book The Wildlife of India (1957), but the entire details of the phenomenon have not been described there. I was so obsessed with this mystery that every year in the months of September and October I always remember this phenomenon and thought that I should have made it this year.

In the meantime, some pieces of the mystery have been explained with some more studies involving the Wildlife Institute of India. Still, my desire of going to Jatinga has never diminished and last year, I nearly made it but I got infected with Covid. Only this year, I could make it, that too in the right timing. What is right timing is being explained later ? The beckoning of the misty hills must have been quite strong.

A remote village in the North East India, Jatinga is a village located in the midst of low lying rolling hills in Dima Hasao Hill District of Assam near Haflong town. It is about 330 km south of Guwahati and 103 km north of Silchar. It is at a distance of about 9 km from Haflong. The village itself is located on a ridge and very picturesque.

Haflong is a famous hill station, the only hill station of Assam, earlier known as NC Hills and renowned for its beautiful landscape. The altitude (680 m above MSL) however is lower than that of Imphal. All around, the place has lush vegetation and is full of life. EP Gee once remarked about fertile North East that he was afraid to put down his walking stick, lest it might sprout......, the same seems to be true here very much.

The valleys are deep green and fertile. Due to high humidity, there is always mist hanging low along the green slopes. So the hills of Dima Hasao area are also known as misty hills. The inhabitants of Jatinga are of Khasi pnar tribe, a very friendly and innocent people.

The other people of Dima Hasao are also friendly; there are Dimasa Kachari, Kuki, Biate (not Baite), Karbi, Zeme, Hrangkhol, Khasi and others. There is a park near Jatinga, they call it ethnic village maintained by the Forest Department. There the statues of all the indigenous tribes of Dima Hasao with the type houses they build displayed beautifully.

Let me briefly tell you how Dima Hasao district was born. Dima Hasao (Dimasa Hills) was earlier known as NC Hills and in medieval period, it was a part of Kachari Dimasa Kingdom with capital at Khaspur. The Dimasa Kingdom also had its capital at Dimapur, Maibang, Haritakur etc. at different points of time. After the death of Krishnachandra (married to a Meitei princess Induprabha, daughter of King Madhuchandra) his brother Govinda Chandra Hasnusa became the king and he was a weak king.

During his time, the hilly portion of the kingdom was assigned to Kashi Chandra one of the Ministers. Kashichandra started administering the area independently and so, Govind Chandra got him assassinated. Kashi Chandra's son Tularam was incensed by that and he declared independence with the help of British. After his death (1853), British annexed NC Hills, which they later divided into three parts, and assigned a part to Khasi Hills and a part to Nagaon. (Cachar was already annexed to British India in 1832 after the death of Govindachandra in 1830 without leaving a son under the doctrine of lapse)

The third part assigned to Cachar district is what is the Dima Hasao District today. Haflong was made its capital in 1895. Dima Hasao is much truncated in area than the original North Cachar Hills. During British time and later, many people settled here and the district now have many other tribes other than the Kachari Dimasas as pointed out already.

The Haflong town has much better road network than that of Shillong in terms of the width and better than that of Imphal in terms of condition. However, the road from Silchar to Haflong (NH 27) is under repair for widening to four lane along the entire hill section till the Silchar Haflong and Guwahati Haflong road junction (Guwahati Haflong section is said to be very good and already 4-lane).

Everywhere hill cuttings and new bridge construction works have dug up the road and no portion is with black top except in two or three very small stretches. This coupled with the recent heavy rains in Cachar and Dima Hasao has caused a number of landslides all along and has made the condition worse. Cachar and Silchar have seen the worse flood of the century and even the railway lines in Dima Hasao area were buried under landslide debris.

So, when I asked for a taxi at Kumbhir-gram, no cab was ready to go to Haflong. I had to take one which charged exorbitantly (still slightly less than that of "Savaari"). The road was in worst condition and the hundred kilometres was like a thousand kilometres and the trip was back breaking. However, it was not enough to deter my wife and I who were so obsessed with the phenomenon of bird suicide.

I took road journey as I wanted to enjoy the famous Dima Hasao landscape but I could relish only a small part as for most part of my ride, I was trying to hold on due to bumps, twists and jolts and disturbed gyro. But the small glimpses I could savour were enough to create a memory, after all Dima Hasao was not nicknamed "Scotland of Assam" without reason.

I started off from Kumbhirgram Airport by 2 pm and reached Haflong at around 8 pm and by the time my back was in pain but I did not regret. I could have taken a train journey, the train journey is less strenuous and the Haflong Train Station is one of the most beautiful Hill Railway Stations in the country.

Of course all the Railway stations in the hills be it of Darjeeling or be it of Shimla, they are all beautiful (readers might remem- ber Rani Gaidinliu Station which went viral in the social media). The train to Imphal are in fact going to come via Haflong. I actually planned it for the return journey as train timing was not right for my flight timing for the forward journey.

The Dima Hasao District is a hill range contiguous to our own Tamenglong district having similar topogra- phy and vegetation. In fact, Tamenglong and adjoining area became a part of Manipur through a treaty by British (commonly known as Jiri Treaty) in exchange of a large part of Cachar district which was under Manipur.

They also have annual visit by Amur Falcon and King Chillies are also grown. They have annual Amur Falcon Festival like we do in a place called Umrangsu (small village of in-laws) and have pitcher plants (Perhaps, Dima Hasao and Tamenglong are the only places where rare Pitcher Plants are found outside Meghalaya). The landscapes are quite similar. So, Tamenglong district also have a good chance of becoming a "Scotland of Manipur".

Actually, Oinamlong and Nungba are the points having same altitude with Imphal and other places have altitude below that of Imphal. Ngaprum Chingjin is the highest point along NC Road. So altitudes are also similar with that of Dima Hasao. But the difference is, Assam is way ahead of us. The Dima Hasao have a wonderful Circuit House, slightly less than that of Cachar Circuit House, Silchar but much bigger than any of our Guest House.

The Dima Hasao Autonomous District Council office is a place to see with the imposing gate and ethnic elements in its campus and compound walls. The district also has even a botanical garden and district museum. Haflong of course is a small place; roads are not crowded at all.

During my morning jogging there, I could cover the ADC office, the Haflong Lake and Circuit House which are among important landmarks of Haflong. The care taker in the lake park wished me warmly in English and I responded with a smile.

We had a small chat and he said that I must be new here and I nodded. I felt good after the chat, what a friendly people ? Very similar to us, they brew local wine which they call 'Ju' (Judima=Dimasa Wine) like we call it 'Yu' (Judima is now GI Tagged, first in the North East); they call bamboo 'Wah' and we call 'Wa'.

Later, I met another elderly person with two dogs in the leash, he came forward and wished me profusely and asked what places I have seen and told a few landmarks I must see here and of course about bird suicide. Friendly, no doubt and proud of their place too, I liked that.

Now let me come to the purpose of my visit, to see the suicide of the birds. The most unique wildlife mystery the world has known is the mass suicide of birds at Jatinga. I have not heard of any other phenomenon more mysterious than the Jatinga phenomenon. What is more mysterious is that the mystery remains unsolved for over a century.

There were some reports of similarphenomenon elsewhere in nearby Mizoram and far away Philippines, but I could not authenticate the same as the literatures are limited. My contact in Mizoram replied in the negative. People often quote another mystery, the lemmings jumping of the cliff in to sea in mass suicide; lemmings do not commit suicide. They are good swimmers and jumping in to water is no unnatural phenomenon.

So, the bird mystery is greater mystery than the lemming's suicide (???). There were other mysteries like black offsprings, white offsprings, hybrid alterations, deep sea animals, healing powers of animal parts etc. There is also case of mass deaths of sea fishes. With the advancements of science, these mysteries have all fallen apart, many were found to be myths rather than mysteries. But the Jatinga Bird Mystery persists, this have been an unsolved mystery for more than a century.

Do the animals have suicidal instinct ? This has been a highly debatable question ? Can the rise in stress level compel animals (including birds) to commit suicide ? In humans, due to some external factors including high stress and anxiety level, a situation is created in mind where thinking becomes truncated and coming back to rationality is blocked, going to oblivion becomes the choice.

When animals are in extreme grief or stress, can they stop eating or jump into flames and lose lives ? Are there any similarity in the near end point mental state of animals and humans giving up live ? An argument is power of taking the crucial decision that going to oblivion is better option is not in the animals.

In evolution, the survival instinct is very strong instinct of animals, so their cognitive capacities are to find food, avoid predators, find shelters so that they are safe and they reproduce. Sometimes we call some of their actions suicidal but the action is a reaction not conscious decision to give up life to go to oblivion.

It is fight, flight or freeze response for animals to any external stimuli. Anyway, I am not an animal psychologist and there could be more arguments still.

Birds are the most beautiful creatures on earth. They are in all colours and hues and the animal kingdom would have not been so perfect without them. What Jawaharlal Nehru said "… life would become very dull and colourless if we did not have these magnificent animals and birds …." is more true in case of the feather friends. They are marvellous singers and dancers par excellence in the animal world. In addition, they have a very important niche in any ecosystem and the world cannot exist without them.

The number of avian species in our ecosystem would be more than the number of species of mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fishes put together. So, the bizarre phenomenon of birds suicide is a concerning issue not only for the environmentalists, but also for all of us. More concerning is that this has been happening in our backyard for over a century.