Mesmerizing Morachi Chincholi

In the famous childhood story of the pied piper, the pipe player manages to attract the rats and then the children out of the village. We experienced that feeling when we entered the Morachi Chincholi village. The children in the story were being attracted out of the village by the sound of flute; we were being attracted into the village by the sounds of peacocks. Morachi means Peacock’s and Chincholi means tamarind. This small village is home to over 1000 peacocks and is full of tamarind trees, hence its name. As soon as we entered the village, the beautiful voices of peacocks started driving us. The sound was so clear and loud that one would think that a peacock is nearby. However there was no peacock in sight. Slowly, the sounds started coming from all directions and we were looking all around. The village itself is very beautiful with fields on both sides of the main road. The usual farming activity was going on at its own pace. Beautiful gulmohar trees with its red flowers were hanging down the road on both the sides. The sounds of peacocks continued and finally I spotted a peacock at a far away tree.




The peacock is a very shy bird. If you go close by and aren't familiar, it will run away. We decided against going close by and let the peacock enjoy his rest. By this time the cool atmosphere of the village was getting onto us and we were enjoying the surroundings completely. After spending some time looking at the peacock on the tree from faraway, we moved ahead into the village. I spotted another peacock on a narrow lane and we stopped to have a closer look. A farmer spotted us and called us towards the other side of the road telling us that there is a peacock close by. We went towards him and surely there was another peacock on the ground, enjoying his walk. This time the peacock noticed us and moved away from us quickly and elegantly.



We moved back on the main road and the peacock I had spotted on the lane turned out to be a blue cloth ;-). We went a further ahead to chance upon other peacocks. The time was around 4:00 PM in the evening and we came back to the main entrance of the village from where had started. A new tourist center has come up here which has created facilities for tourists to view peacocks from the close quarters. We had checked that place when we entered and the person there had told us that the peacocks will start coming after 4:30 PM. We checked into the center after making the payments and started exploring the center. The first was a small museum related to astronomy. It is a thoughtfully developed museum with models of planets, space rockets, and astronauts. There are pictures of scientific personnel from old timers to Kalpana Chawla with brief description of each. It also has some 3D pictures which can be seen through special glasses. Kalpak had a good time over there and we decided to move on with promise to him that we will return there. The next was a beautiful rose nursery with rows of rose plants of various colors like red, pink, white, yellow. I had a good time clicking some close-ups of the roses.




The next was a small traditional village type hut. The interiors were painted beautifully in Warli style. We appreciated the true meaning of Warli paintings in this hut. The usual Warli paintings that we see outside can not convey its true meaning as they are usually displayed as stand alone paintings. The location of each painting in relation to the place of the house like kitchen, temple illustrated its true purpose.




We continued exploring the place and found a play area for kids. It has some usual and nice playing stuff like slides, tree swings, and trampoline (which Kalpak enjoyed a lot). It also has a rain dance area (!!!).

It was about time peacocks would come out in the open. While I went to the main office to inquire about the place to watch peacocks, I got a call from Deepal to come fast. They had spotted a peacock very close by. I went and joined them in enjoying the peacock. It was on its way to the platform which has been set up with food grains such that they are away from the main center but at the same time visible from the place. I took some pictures of the peacock and followed its each and every motion without disturbing it. Peacocks are shy as well as very patient birds. This peacock was standing at the same place for close to 15-20 minutes without moving a single bit. We moved into the main area of the center which has been setup for viewing the peacocks. Deepal had a brief chat with two women who were doing farming over there. The peacocks are familiar with the people of the village. While they move away from the tourists, they recognize the village people and do not mind coming close to them or interacting with them. The two women went about doing their job and in some time, the peacock moved past them towards the eating place.



Meanwhile, I spotted another peacock coming from another direction towards the platform. This peacock once did its famous plumage while on its way to the meal. Soon, there were 2 others with a peahen coming to have their meal. In no time, the platform was buzzing with all the peacocks and peahens. We moved towards the terrace of the building to have a bird’s eye view of the birds :). Once the meal was done, the peacocks started moving back to the directions they had come from. It was a treat to look at the peacock walking. It is a slow and beautiful motion. We had another close look at the departing peacock. There were still a lot of peacocks visible and Deepal was not ready to leave. We had to finally bid good bye to the place with satisfaction that we will surely visit this place again in future.

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