– Sugam Tamrakar
In the past the oriental magpie robin birds were domesticated by Newa farmers of Kathmandu valley. It was a status symbol for these farmers and kept them in fancy cages.
They took pride in these birds and looked after them well. An ironic practicality of having these birds was that they took them to the farmyard as these birds were trained to fend off other birds, picking on the harvest.
They were also made to fight other similar domesticated birds for entertainment then, just like the modern day cockfights.
This tradition is long lost now …. for good I suppose ! But I still like to imagine how it must have been then … A morbidly sweet overtone I guess !
