Hunter Blood

Once upon a time, long before Kerala was a modern state of India, it was part of a coalition of little kingdoms. The old palaces and princely buildings are still there with the descendants of the old Maharajas still going strong today, living regular citizen lives.

My ancestors were among the King's hunters. Obviously today, there is no "need" for hunters, and so the role faded away long since those old times. But the blood of a hunter isn't going to just "fade away". It is a very natural trait that comes with masculinity, and those who have honed their skills over years will have a higher chance of passing on those skills not just through teaching, but literally through their genes.

We know that ancestral traits are a thing and that they sometimes appear in us while skipping generations. Perhaps that could explain my own "Spirit of Adventure" - my travels, my motorcycling, my interest in guns and knives, my fearlessness in the face of danger, my own dangerous persona and aggressiveness... It really does explain a lot!

But when it comes to actual hunting, I'm still very much green. I may be an excellent shot with the rifle, and even with the ancestral bow and arrow. But all that is only on the target range. To actually kill an animal? It had been something I could never bring myself to do in my youth as I was quite the little softie.

But time and experience changes a person. I am certainly not a softie anymore! In fact, my previously open aggressiveness needs an outlet, having being silenced for too long. Being a descendant of Indian hunters, and being a husband to a wife who herself comes from a long line/race of hunters, it's only natural that I take up the mantle.

So yes... The time has come.... To "blood myself".