BIRD CLUE

?CHINCHOLI RESIDENTS (even the 1000-year-olds) claim to never having seen the dead body of a peacock.

?The peacocks start shedding their lovely plumage post monsoons (mating seaon) and by the time Diwali comes, they're bald and plain looking as the peahens. Their vanity takes a severe beating, and they hide inside tamarind groves, refusing to come out until the feathers grow back one by one.

One of the chosen few from 14 villages in India reporting natural peacock inhabitation, the government has granted Rs 1.5 crore to develop Chincholi as an eco and agro tourism destination. Along with the Gram Bazaar and Mahila Bachat Gat initiatives (where local produce by women will be sold through retail outlets in the villages), they hope to see a shift in their fortunes. The village has suffered a prolonged three-year drought, during which neighbors donated sacks of grains and dug artificial ponds for the birds. This was when a group of students from Pune formed an NGO to take care of the peafowl, something the villagers have been doing as a matter of routine for over 100 years.

One male peacock wandered about with an entire stalk (feather attached at end) falling off his tail. Later, the girls would pick up the silky, almost perfectly crafted, feather and add it to the office collection to be given away as tokens to visitors. As the rather large and aged peacock hopped towards a female, he temporarily traded grace for comic awkwardness. This brought attention to his crooked and ugly legs. Marathi folklore goes that the mynah wanted to go to a wedding so she borrowed the peacock's feet but never returned them. An alternate story says that God took away the peacock's beautiful feet to punish him for his vanity and remind him that his beauty is not perfect!

GETTING THERE

Get on the Ahmednagar highway from Pune and after 50km, turn left off the highway at Shikrapur and follows the kaccha village roads to Ganegaon and then Chincholi- approx 10km.

WHEN TO GO

June to August, the mating season.

STAY

Agro Tourism Cottages

SHOP

Local handicrafts from Mahila Bachat Gat

EAT

As you can imagine, nothing fancy is available, so pack supplements for midnight feasts.

SEE

When you've had your fill of peacock sightings, the nearby area affords other magical delights. At Malganga in nearby Nigoj; you can see natural craters in the riverbed, which miraculously sends up ghaghars (earthen pots) to the surface!

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