His shrill whistle pours out in quick, short waves. As the whistling sound pierces the quiet air, the waters of the river Tiracol crease into ripples. ¡°Look, a crocodile¡¯s gliding towards us. There, another one,¡± says Ramchandar Charatkar. About half a dozen crocodiles swim close to the bank, a couple of snouts sticking out of the water as the whistling continues to rend the air.
Charatkar of Insuli village in Sindhudurg district has a rapport with the crocodiles. The 38-year-old poultry trader says he has been feeding crocodiles chicken meat for more than a decade. He feeds the crocodiles twice a week. ¡°There should be at least 25 crocodiles around this stretch currently. It¡¯s a floating population as some get flown by the current to other parts of the river after the rains,¡± he says.
The Tiracol snakes from Maharashtra into Goa. Right on its banks, Charatkar has his ancestral home. Standing the river bank perched about 15 feet from the water, he wolf-whistles. ¡°When I throw a dead chicken, they grab it, rip apart whatever they can and vamoose,¡± says Charatkar, a mathematics graduate. ¡°Whether it¡¯s leftovers of chicken or an entire dead bird, it gets discarded anyway. So, I feed it to the crocodiles.¡±
When TOI met Charatkar, at least 10 crocodiles were basking in the sun. About 20 feet away, on the other side, sat an elderly villager sifting through sand. Charatkar reels out information about the crocodiles:¡°You know, there is this huge one that emerges once in a while late at night. And when this one surfaces, he scares the others away.¡±
Charatkar¡¯s relationship with the reptiles started when he spotted two babies close in the river and started feeding them. The babies grew and so did the numbers. ¡°I feed them on Wednesdays and Sundays when many in the village and thereabout eat chicken,¡± he says, adding that the closest he has come to them is about 6 feet.
Soham Mukherjee, a herpetologist, says crocodiles are ¡°trainable¡± creatures. ¡°Crocodiles responding to this Konkan villager¡¯s whistles is a case of behavioural conditioning,¡± says Mukherjee, who was earlier assistant curator at Madras Crocodile Bank. ¡°Crocodiles have also been trained to follow at least 25 target behaviours using operant conditioning though such things are more practised in the West.¡±
mycostaricanews.com/Representational Image
Doesn¡¯t Charatkar fear them? ¡°So far they¡¯ve never ever harmed anyone here,¡± he says. ¡°Buffaloes plod through the waters to graze on the other bank, but none has ever been attacked.¡± His wife, Riya, echoes the view. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to fear. We¡¯re used to them,¡± she shrugs.
Charatkar¡¯s father, Vishnu, says villagers go fishing and mining sand. ¡°They won¡¯t attack unless they¡¯re starving or you attack them,¡± the elderly man says.
Deputy conservator of forests (Sindhudurg), Samadan Chavan, told TOI they plan to promote the place as a ¡®Magar Darshan¡¯ (crocodile viewing) point. ¡°We plan to set up a watchtower on the banks where telescopes will be provided to visitors,¡± Chavan told TOI Already, Charatkar¡¯s rapport with crocodiles is drawing tourists from Mumbai, Goa and even Delhi. ¡°Some insist that I whistle out to the crocodiles, not willing to believe what they¡¯ve heard,¡± he says. Some try to whistle ¨¤ la Charatkar, hoping to draw the crocodiles. ¡°They return disappointed,¡± Charatkar smiles. ¡°It doesn¡¯t work like that,¡± says Charatkar. ¡°I have a bonding with them. And it¡¯s straight from the heart.¡±