panaji its not uncommon to find a rooster occupying the seat next to you in the reception area of the casualty and emergency services building of the goa medical college and hospital bambolim or keeping you company as you offer prayers inside the sai baba shrine next doorof late the adventurous gallinaceous birds are also making their presence felt in the already overcrowded outpatient department patients admitted in the hospital are woken up at the break of dawn and repeatedly during the day courtesy the shrill crowing of the brood of roosters the otherwise aggressive birds appear tamed with the flood of visitors that the hospital sees on a daily basisoffered by relatives of patients who have passed away at the hospital the roosters are often seen perched on the roof of the shrine on parked bikes and when the sun gets too hot even in the drivers seat of ambulances that are on standby a certain section of hindus believe that the dead persons soul remains in control of the folk deity of the area where relatives offer roosters to please the deity with the belief that their relatives soul will be released only after this offering do some families proceed with the post cremation rites of their loved ones in other cases roosters are also offered once a patient has recovered we beg the families to release them anywhere else but here near the casualty building but they dont listen says one of the class iv employees at the hospitalover 30 of them have made the gmc complex their home the employee added they enter the shrine and mess it up what do they know about the sanctity of the place even the resident dogs dont attack them i suspect labourers rob them why wouldnt they when they can get around rs 400 for a gaunti chicken once released the birds are left to fend for themselves but when little chicks are born on campus its a different story we end up feeding them grains its additional work for us but how can we just leave them hungry he says a security guard has recently been stationed at the entrance of the casualty building with the sole purpose of ensuring that the birds and stray dogs dont enter along with patients gmc dean dr pradip naik told toi we have tried to relocate dogs on campus but they have been vaccinated and sent back were working out a solution the number of roosters and hens have increased and as there are religious sentiments attached its beyond our control the only option would be to shift the shrine he said clearly amused by the chickens strutting around a relative of a patient from vasco says she is seeing the roosters for the first time it would make more sense for the family to give a chicken to a poor person rather than leave it here she says