Black Partridge Competitions

Publishing Date: Wednesday, January 19 2005

Hobby :: hob�by n. pl. hob�bies; An activity or interest pursued outside one's regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure

A balanced activity.. but what about those who are excessively involved in their hobbies? An outsider only looks at them with two perspectives; either of admiration, or completely disregarding them as nuts. One such hobby that can lead an individual to such levels is that of partridge keeping.

Black partridges are a beautiful breed of wild birds. As the name suggests, they are black .. so are crows. But their beauty is distinguished by small patches of gold, red, and white in their feathers. The bird is mostly found in the mountains of the Frontier, Punjab, and Balochistan. There was a time when these birds were so abundant that their high-pitched chirping could be heard throughout the countryside. But the increase in population, neglect of ecological factor in development works, and unchecked hunting has badly affected the abode of these birds.

Despite these threats, nature has its own ways. The birds are still abundant in selected pockets of the country. And in some area are protected by the Wildlife Department of Pakistan at least in legislation. Black partridge chirping competitions are held throughout Pakistan and thousands of men; young and old take part in them along with their birds. The birds chirp from sunrise to sunset and the most vocal of them are given various prizes. These "All Pakistan Black Partridge Chirping Competitions" are held regularly in cities & towns but the most lively events are the ones held in Kohat, Mianwali, Bhakkar, Peshawar, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan & Lakki Marwat.

Licenses are issued to the participating partridges in these events. This ensures that all these birds have been acquired legally. A single license can cost up to Rs 950 and is valid for a year only. Subsequent renewals cost Rs 60 per year. The events are decorated with great zeal, snack and drink stalls are setup by the organizers, and �Degmars� [1] are assigned to prepare meals to feed the thousands of visitors.

The contestants bring their partridges in bright and colourful cages. Some of these cages can cost in their thousands and are usually hand made. The contests start at 8 in the morning and the first half hour is just for bringing the partridges in the �mood�. It is the nature of these partridges to respond to the calls of other partridges. A such, the calls from thousands of these birds resemble sea waves that strike land layer after layer.

After the first half hour, there are 10 minute rounds for the birds till 11. Then 5 minute rounds till 2. 2-3 is reserved for lunch & break. By this time, most of the birds have been marked out of the competition and only the "champion" birds are allowed to continue to the next final round which lasts for 1 hour. Any bird that can chirp the most in this 1 hour timeframe will be entrusted the different prizes. The prize constitutes a trophy as well as a cash sum ranging from Rs 8,000 to Rs 15,000. Entry of other animals like dogs, cocks & hens, quails, cats, etc. are strictly forbidden within the vicinity of the event.

A simple event � but the most interesting and challenging part of it is counting each call made by the thousands of birds. The birds call simultaneously and it is not possible to tell the birds to be quiet while the others are busy. So a �counter� is nominated for each participating bird. These counters take an oath before the event that they will do the counting with honesty and sincerity and that if they fraudulate even one call, they will not be considered muslims. 42 judges & 9 referees are appointed to ensure fair play. These judges and referees are appointed from different areas of the country to ensure that they will not take sides.

The birds themselves are brought up with great care by their owners and are feeded a regular diet of pistachios, almonds, & locusts. It is an irony that some of these owners who come from poor backgrounds may themselves not have the privilege of such a healthy diet (minus the locusts). It is famous regarding black partridges that they are a very ungrateful bird. As soon as it gets the opportunity, it flies away and completely forgets about the owner who brought it up with so much care. Even then these owners spend thousands of rupees caring for their birds.

But all this dedication does pay in the end. If a bird is successful in landing a trophy, its popularity fires up and like-minded hobbyists from throughout the country come to see the bird and give the owner due credit. Within minutes, the price of the bird increases manifold from thousands to Lacs. Some of the price-value for the birds rises as far up as 3 Lacs. [2] The bird is then open for bidding by other aspirants. While some of these birds are selt by their owners like hot-cakes, others prefer to keep their birds which they have brought up with so much dedication.

Recently, such a competition was held in Peshawar where a partridge from Kohat landed the first, the one from Bannu a second, and the one from Swat a third prize.

Notes

Degmar; a term used for a person who prepares food for large gatherings in huge pans (known as Degs)
Lacs is a local denomination in currency. 1 Lac = 100,000