Kerala - Kochi   

A life devoid of colour

NO LADY LUCK: The lone peacock at the Hill Palace museum in Thripunithura. Photo: Vipinchandran

Finding a peacock feather, according to popular belief, brings good luck. But lady luck seems to be evading the lone peacock at the Hill Palace museum in Thripunithura,

Its display of startling plumage and loud calls - courtship rituals - has been going unnoticed for years together. There is no peahen at the museum to watch the enchanting display by one of the most beautiful birds.

Legend has it that peacocks represent fidelity. The bird dies of grief, or remains single, if it loses its mate. Will the peacock at the museum too meet a similar fate, wonder visitors.

The peahen that was brought along with the peacock from the Thrissur museum in 1992 died a few years later.

Caught in the cumbersome formalities of procuring a peahen, the peacock has become a symbol of melancholy for the visitors to the park. Yet, when the rain clouds hover over the skies, its colourful plumage comes alive. It's mostly in the morning hours that the peacock spreads it feathers, zookeeper K.S. Sidharthan says.

Strangely, in the absence of a peahen, it is the deer herd in the park that is keeping the peacock company. The camaraderie between the two unlikely companions was recently discovered by Sidharthan.

The peacock holds up to full glory its beautiful iridescent blue-green plumage when the deer in the park stray near its cage. At times, even humans are allowed to take in its rare beauty, as the peacock struts around in half-circles as if greeting the audience watching his performance.

Efforts by the Hill Palace authorities to provide it a female companion for the past decade have gone in vain.

A series of letters to the authorities ranging from the District Forest Officer of the Konni Forest Division in 1999 to the Director of Museum and Zoos and to the Central Zoo Authority in 2000 have yielded no results.

Yet another rainy season is here. And the wait of the peacock for a mate seems to be unending.

K.S. Sudhi

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