Shivpuri: This might sound strange, but for last three years, a person identified as Shiva Kewat, a daily wage earner by profession in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri, has been dealing with an unlikely enemy. But! They aren't human beings, but instead, a bunch of crows.
Interestingly, these crows wait outside his home, ready to attack him as soon as he leaves
The strange story goes back three years when Kewat found a crow chick stuck in a net and rushed to rescue it. But unfortunately, the chick died in his hands and there was not much he could to do revive it.
"It died in my hands. If only I could explain it to them, I was only trying to help," a hapless Kewat told media while looking up at the skies and bracing for the fleet of swooping crows. Kewat now carried a stick everywhere with him and is careful to never attack any crow. "I just wave it around to shoo them off. Poor things, they believe I killed the chick," he said.
This one-sided fight has left Kewat with scars. Kewat explains that assaults are sudden and frightening.
According to an eye witness, "The crows attack him like they show fighter jets diving towards a target in movies." Kewat's suffering has caused amusement amongst locals, who along with the crows, wait outside his house to see the spectacle.
Kewat is still surprised at the face recognition power of these crows, which is a new discovery for him.
Meanwhile, Professor Ashok Kumar Munjal, who teaches genetics at Barkatullah University in Bhopal and researches bird and animal behavior said that this isn't unusual. He believes that crows are more intelligent than most other birds, and like humans, they tend to show signs of revenge.
"It may not be as complex as in humans, but they do have a tendency of remembering individuals and targeting those who have wronged them," he said.
As for Shiva Kewat, he now hopes that the crows forgive him after all these years.
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