{"id":282,"date":"2010-02-18T00:28:01","date_gmt":"2010-02-17T18:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/?p=282"},"modified":"2026-05-14T08:28:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T02:58:52","slug":"arguing-over-a-folktale-bird","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/?p=282","title":{"rendered":"Arguing over a Folktale Bird"},"content":{"rendered":"

While googling backlinks to kashmirnetwork.com, I stumbled across an online disagreement<\/a> <\/b> over the existence of the Tota<\/b> in Kashmir . Tota<\/b> in India refers to the parakeet<\/b> which is also called Shoga<\/b> in Kashmir. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To put the record straight, there are three species of parakeets native to Kashmir. The most common species is the Rose-ringed parakeet<\/b> that breeds in Kashmir and is a year-round resident. Rose-ringed parakeets often nest in hollows in chinar trees.
\n<\/p>\n

The Alexandrine<\/b> and Slaty-headed parakeets<\/b> are relatively less common. <\/p>\n

Alexandrine parakeets [Hindi: Heeraman<\/i>] are quite popular in Indian folk tales, and can be observed in Kashmir in the Zabarvan foothills. The Mughal gardens especially Nishat and Shalimar are good places to observe these birds even in winter. Alexandrine parakeets can be distinguished from their rose-ringed cousins by their larger size and striking red shoulder patches.
\n<\/p>\n

Flocks of slaty-headed parakeets can be observed in summer in the Royal Springs Golf Course.
\n<\/p>\n

I am quite amazed by the refusal of one of the participants to believe that the Tota exists in Kashmir – disregarding both its presence in folk tales [that he himself quotes !] and scientific proof [including my photographs] presented by his co-arguer. <\/p>\n

The gentleman in question propounds the classic ostrich-defence: "I have never seen it myself, so it does not exist". Not surprisingly the argument escalated to the usual levels [Azadi, Hindu-Muslim,Islamists] and beyond [Nietzsche!]<\/p>\n

All is forgiven, however, because the original post included this following gem:<\/p>\n

athe travtohan janavar<\/b>
\nathe travtohan janavar
\npheri bagas te kari guftar
\nathe travtohan janavar
\nchavi yavun te vure shehjar
\nathe travtohan janavar
\nye chu nagman hund tandar
\nathe travtohan janavar
\njanavar chu vanan zaar
\nathe travtohan janavar
\nmate haitav ami sund baar
\nathe travtohan janavar<\/i> <\/p>\n


\nRelease the bird from your hands<\/b>
\nRelease the bird from your hands
\nIt wants to fly around the garden
\nand speak out its heart
\nRelease the bird from your hands
\nIt wants to celebrate youth under shady trees
\nRelease the bird from your hands
\nIt is a chronicler of songs
\nRelease the bird from your hands
\nIt is singing a sad song
\nRelease the bird from your hands
\nDon't bear the onus of his captivity
\nRelease the bird from your hands <\/p>\n

Bonus:
\n hariya thavak na kaan te lo lo
\nzaar mein totas van te lo lo<\/i> <\/b> <\/p>\n

haari wanakh na totas si
\nkya ilaaj kari na mautas si<\/i> <\/b> <\/p>\n

Here's a video <\/a>of a Tota pillaging a walnut tree in my garden.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While googling backlinks to kashmirnetwork.com, I stumbled across an online disagreement over the existence of the Tota in Kashmir . Tota in India refers to the parakeet which is also called Shoga in Kashmir. To put the record straight, there are three species of parakeets native to Kashmir. The most common species is the Rose-ringed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kashmir"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=282"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1937,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282\/revisions\/1937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirnetwork.com\/justju\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}