From the archive record
People in the desert village of Khichan in Rajasthan are expectantly waiting for their friends. It must be cold in Mongolia, and the time for the Demoiselle Cranes to undertake their annual expedition. The 7000 odd residents of Khichan in Rajasthan’s Phalodi district take it upon themselves to feed over 3000 kilograms of grain each day to satiate the massive appetite of the hordes of visiting cranes escaping the winter wrath of their home environments, flying across the Himalaya to visit them for the winter months. The cranes often risk their lives by flying as high as 26, 000 feet in altitude to reach the balmy winter climes of western India. In the 1970’s, some 100 cranes used to visit the village. This number has now gone up to over 20, 000 cranes, and the villagers consider themselves