Reuben, who lives in Kudremukh forest area.
Credit: Special arrangement
Chikkamagaluru: A mechanic who has dedicated his entire life to animals, feeds them and among his animal friends, there is a wild boar which is connoisseur of his eyes and visits him every day.
Reuben, who lives in Kudremukh forest area leads a life in complete harmony.
A mechanic by profession, his only source of income is the few bikes that come for repair.
Reuben had come to Kudremukh from Mumbai in 1979 and started working as a mechanic. With the money he earned, he took up the habit of feeding stray dogs and cats, along with looking after his own life.
After the Kudremukh iron ore company shut down, the workers’ camps slowly turned into forest. In one such roadside camp area, Reuben built a small shed for himself. Along with him, dogs and cats live there too. A wild boar that came to eat the leftover bones from the dogs and cats began trusting him and started visiting every day. Though he is a vegetarian, he brings fish and meat especially for the dogs and cats.
Over the years, apart from pets, many wild animals too, visit his house for food. The rarest of them all, is the wild boar, which is often considered as a dangerous animal and not so friendly with humans.
Reuben lovingly calls the boar 'Chinniputti', which visits every evening at around 5 pm, after living in the forest during the entire day. It has been visiting him daily for the last 11 years.
The boar comes running and eats along with the dogs and cats.
The boar sleeps nearby at night, and at around 4 am, Reuben feeds it again. After eating, it goes back to the forest and wanders around all day, only to return again at 5 pm. If people are standing near Reuben’s place, the boar hesitates, but the moment he calls “Chinniputti, come,” it runs to him and stays close by.
Another wild boar also used to come from the forest to eat, but some miscreants killed it. Reuben sadly recalls that they also killed more than 200 rabbits he had raised.