Sept 22nd 2022

Random Rubble

 

It is a lovely clear morning and the rains have taken a welcome break in the last fortnight.  The stand of grass across the farm is over four feet tall after a vigorous monsoon and we – a team of four – move about cautiously, clearing up a couple of paths and uprooting invasive weeds.  Seenappa takes a step sideways and yelps in surprise as, in a flash, a hare darts out of a clump of grass and dashes into the undergrowth behind him.    We wait motionless for another to make its move, for they often move in teams, but there is stillness.

My day is made.

 

I have said this before: the Indian Hare (the South Indian sub-species is the Black Naped Hare, but you can leave these details for the specialists) is an unusual, astonishing product of evolution, with extraordinary power in its very long hind legs. Watching them bounce-and-sprint is sheer delight: they are Usain Bolts On Energy Bars and they change directions in sharp and unpredictable ways (which reminds me of the Centre’s trade policy, but let’s not get carried away), twisting and turning their way out of trouble - of which there is no paucity - with a speed that can leave you breathless and overawed. They are, in a phrase, Nature’s great dashers.  If otters are mesmerizing to watch, hares are equally so. 

And they are as beautiful!  Their bunnies, ah! they are unforgettably cute and endearing too; I have seen them just once as they bounded away, bundles of bouncy fur and nervous energy.

Photo by Nagesh Rao

They seem to love this time of the year at the farm as much as I do and I understand this is the breeding season; they make their cave-like creations - multiple ones - in this case using the lantana that had been cut at the farm in mid-Oct 2020.  A pair hung around and helped themselves to some ragi stems, depositing the nibbled grass neatly to one side and prodigious quantities of droppings – again, neatly - on the other. I can, in my mind’s eye, see them nibbing rapidly away, with the male standing up and sniffing nervously ever so often and looking around all the time, with his long, narrow, upright ears twitching like vibrant antennae.

 

Nature built them for speed but if they need protection against anyone, it is us, for hares are hunted in the ghastliest ways, with snares and packs of trained dogs and Heaven knows what else.  Perhaps in response, they have become ever more elusive and nocturnal. 

For now, my hares are safe and I know they will be around but it’s unlikely I’ll see them much. Because big boys, you see, play at night. Others write on Facebook.