Within a span of thirteen days from December 17 to 30 I had three surprise sightings of a pair of hill mynah in my neighbourhood Laskarpur, Kolkata- 700153. They had been hovering around the area for the last couple of weeks and their calls had since been clearly heard each morning between 7 to 9.30. Doubting that these may be feral birds I visited a place called Garia Haat, on the Garia Bauipur road Kolkata-700084 that houses two bird markets on Tuesday & Friday each week. I gathered from local shop owners that illegal trading of avian fauna continue secretly. And the vigilance team of the forest department patrolling the area is often found selling seized birds to customers ! This of course is no evidence to confirm my doubts. Only one of the possibilities that might offer some clue to the surprise presence of this bird in downtown Kolkata. I checked a list of rare bird sightings in Kolkata till 2010 compiled by an expert which doesn't include this species Gracula religiosa or hill mynah. An Australian nature report claims that this bird is a tough contender and often dodges out other resident birds. I'm still confused. Because the mynah pair I had spotted looks healthy and hyper active, features unlikely to be present in birds which escaped captivity.