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World after 5th Extinction

Arnab Basu

Foraging Armies

Until recent times armies lived off the land; their logistical

support systems were so rudimentary that nothing else was

possible. This process provides the key to much of the damage

caused by wars, from ancient times onwards. Classical Greece

exemplified the process. The Mediterranean borderlands feature

long hot summers and short wet winters; their topography is

mostly mountainous, with soils that are light and easily eroded

once natural vegetation is removed. Armies of the Greek city-

states pillaged their enemies' farmlands, destroying annual crops

and olive groves.

Rural people fled to safety in the hill forests or fortified towns

ahead of advancing military columns. In the Peloponnesian War

(431–04 BCE), which ended the golden age of Athens, the Spartan

army repeatedly ravaged the farmlands of Attica, Athens'

agricultural base, destroying crops in an unsuccessful effort to

starve the city into submission. These campaigns were the grim

precursors of modern "total war," obliterating the distinction

between civilian and military targets. The short-term impacts

were obvious to everyone involved; the longer-term environmental

results are more difficult to measure.

Southern Italy suffered similar damage to its agricultural lands

on a larger scale two centuries later, when the Carthaginian

� Featured Topic : We are at…. WAR RISK (Part – 8)

� Editors’ Desk : Who made them “Vermin”!!!

� Upcoming Exploration Programmes

� Story Room : Delightful Dooars

� Theme Poster : Martial Eagle

general Hannibal invaded the

Roman Republic in the Second

Punic War (219–01). In a long

military stalemate, thirteen

years of annual summertime

fighting in southern Italy

impoverished the land, as both

armies attempted to deprive

each other of provisions. The

environmental result was

neglect of tilled lands, forest

depletion in hill regions and

watersheds, soil erosion into

streams and rivers, and coastal

siltation. In the disturbed

coastal zone malaria became

endemic, throughout the

region's subsequent history

until the DDT campaign that

followed World War II.

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In the monsoon climate belt the Indian subcontinent saw similar

impacts of military movements. In the upper Indus and Ganges

river basin, the Mughal empire's armies (1524–1707) led by

elephant corps and cavalry devoured the food and fodder

resources of the land. The imperial army was a mobile city of

nearly a million fighters, camp followers, and suppliers, who

stripped wide areas of everything useful as they moved. Cavalry

swept the countryside, depopulating villages; rural society and its

biological base could take decades to recover from the disruption.

Medieval European history showed similar patterns on the land

during wartime. Until the late 1700s a perennial problem was

how armies were recruited and compensated. Lords on manorial

estates and the serfs who worked their lands were both warriors

whenever military campaigning demanded. In the age of chivalry

mounted knights on heavy horses dominated battles. Foot

soldiers were of two sorts: local militias of impressed peasants,

and mercenary bands organized by military entrepreneurs. Their

rewards most often came in the form of booty, a chaotic process

always disruptive to agro-ecosystems. The Hundred Years War in

France (1337–1453) was a major example of undisciplined armies

ravaging crop lands, marshlands and woodlands. Many

campaigns were renewed for years, devouring both woods and

croplands in the process. In the twilight zone between mass

violence and peaceful times, including after campaigns were over

and temporary troops were disbanded, brigandage (hardly

distinguishable from regular soldiering) festered. Lands deserted

when rural people became refugees reverted toward natural

woodlands and wetlands, with concomitantly increasing species

diversity. The short-term damage to partially domesticated

landscapes was evident to anyone with eyes. The long-term

ecological transformations of the early medieval period are

difficult to assess, since the long term was a matter of peacetime

recovery processes.

Editors’ Desk :

Who made them “Vermin”!!!

In the last week, a new controversy aroused when Hon’ble Madam

Maneka Gandhi questioned her colleague in Union cabinet for

declaring some wild animals as vermin in different Indian states

and allowing people to kill those freely. Some bytes and

newsprints have been spent on the controversy in social as well

as formal media. Conservation activists raised their voice once

again and some petitions got signed. But what it was all about!

Was this anything new in India or in the world? Queries popped

up in many minds. When we, Indians are cherishing ourselves,

with the very popular slogan “सबका साथ सबका िवकास” (Everybody's

company will help in everybody's growth) and India has achieved

a more or less unprecedented GDP growth, though some of the

higher ranked bureaucrats are sceptical about the calculation

process and some are questioning the abnormally low industrial

production growth rate, what is this new issue all about where

Union cabinet is not unanimously agreed upon! The answer lies

in the process of that “िवकास” itself.

We, Indians, have never had a

consistently strong nature and

wildlife conservation policy.

Many of you can jump up, seize

me by the collar and start

arguing about WPA 1972. Yes,

that was of course the first ever

proper safeguard to the wildlife

in India in post-colonial era.

Launch of Project Tiger in 1973

was indeed a very positive

approach towards the

conservation of wildlife. The

project was one of the pioneer

conservation programme in the

world. But what happened in

following years were not as

promising as expected but

much more devastating. If we go

by the tiger count only, though

it was initially rising, but the

number of the biggest felid hit

its lowest since 1972 in the year

2006 (as per the census in

2006, Project Tiger). The

famous Sariska Tiger Reserve

suffered a heavy poaching and

lost its all tiger in 2004. Not

only in Sariska, has tiger

disappeared from many of its

former habitats across the

country with all its signs and

tracks due to a massacre. It was

the total failure of a pioneer

project and of an act due to the

lapses in implementation. We

never took the issue very

seriously.

The same thing happened with

other wildlife also, but the

lesser tiger count has led us

towards another big problem. In

absence of the top ranked

predator, large wild bovines and

antelopes started growing like

anything beyond control. These

wild grazers started coming out

of the forest in large numbers

and sharing the same grazing

area with our domestic cattle

and the completion for food

begun. They also started

feeding themselves on our crops

resulting a more intense human

wildlife conflict. Human

Leopard conflict is another

serious issue of concern these

days even in outskirts of metros

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like Mumbai and Bengaluru along with villages and towns across

India. This is also because of, in my view, due to lack of tigers.

Leopards being the top order predator in many forests of India

these days in absence of bigger felid, are moving more freely. As

they characteristically prefer to live near human habitat and to

prey upon domestic cattle and stray dogs, human-leopard conflict

has been persisting since long back. Now a days, as leopards are

moving more freely and their numbers are increasing in absence

of larger cat, the same conflict is getting more intense.

Now you may argue that wildlife must stay in wild. When we have

been gaining forest cover area continuously for the last three

decades, they shouldn’t come out and involve in a competition

with human being. I’m fully agree with you on this. India has

gained more than sixty thousand square kilometre forest cover in

past thirty years. In last two years we have earned an area of

impressive 3775 sq. km and unfortunately lost only 654 sq. km

of our dense forest (data source : FSI report 2015). But if we look

into the assessment process with a little more curiosity, we will

find some discrepancies. Take Delhi, for example. The first FSI

report recorded only 15 sq.km of forests in the capital. The latest

report found 189 sq.km, an over 12-fold increase in three

decades. Nearly a third of this is recorded under the “dense”

category. Actually FSI analyses and finalises its result on the

basis of Satellite Images to identify green cover and does not

discriminate between natural forests, plantations, thickets of

weeds such as juliflora and lantana, and longstanding

commercial crops such as palm, coconut, coffee or even

sugarcane. Now will we allow wild animals to habitat in our

commercial crop fields, coffee and tea gardens and those artificial

urban forestry? Moreover, another fallacy of this statistics is in

the 1980s, satellite imagery mapped forests at a 1:1 million scale,

missing details of land units smaller than 4 sq km. Now, the

refined 1:50,000 scale can scan patches as small as 1 hectare

(100 metres x 100 metres), and any unit showing 10 per cent

canopy density is considered forest. So millions of these tiny plots

that earlier went unnoticed, now contribute to India’s official

forest cover.

So the argument of increased forest cover to refuge increased

wildlife doesn’t stand correct and on the contrary human

encroachment in forest area are increasing day by day. As we

often cherish ourselves for increment in in tiger count in last 10

years by 30% we never mind that we have also lost 40% of Tiger

Habitats in this period. We the human being are actually

encroaching in their home in the name of Industrialisation,

Development and Human civilization as a whole. Union

Government has cut off Forest “No-Go” area by 10%

(approximately 6000 sq.km) in Western Ghats, which has a very

rich bio-diversity, in last year for Power and Mining Industries.

Unprecedented under mining for coal in famous Tadoba Andhari

Tiger reserve, hurdles like electric fencing and canal digging in

the ancient migratory route of Dalma Elephants, roads and

railway tracks crossing wildlife reserves and sanctuaries across

the country and many other measures taken by human being to

protect “our” resource are making the life of wildlife miserable.

But we don’t care about this. Tigers, poached in first four months

of 2016 are more than those during whole 2015 (WPSI data). We

have been destroying the ecological balance and snatching

wildlife habitats in the country

for decades and compelling our

wildlife to involve in competition

for resources with us. But as

the supreme race, we are not

ready to give them a fair chance

to live. In 2015, Government

has eased out the process of

declaring a wild animal as

“Vermin”. As a result, more

than 250 Nilgai, which is India’s

largest antelope, were killed in 3

days in Bihar. Now it’s the time

for our National Heritage

Animal, The Asiatic Elephant,

in West Bengal. The State

Government already appealed

to Union Government to declare

Asiatic Elephant as “Vermin” in

West Bengal for certain time.

Uttarakhand Government

wants the same for Rhesus

Macaque and Goan

Government has targeted our

National Bird. Black buck will

be named next, I’m afraid. In

the game of “Food Bowl”, they

are always to loose. We are the

supreme race after all and we

rule this time, The “Holocene”.

“W

hat

we a

re d

oin

g t

o t

he f

orests

of

the w

orld

is b

ut

a m

irror

refl

ecti

on

of

wh

at

we

are

doin

g

to

ou

rselv

es

and

to

one

an

oth

er.”

-- M

ah

atm

a G

and

hi

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Upcoming Exploration Programmes :

� 14th January 2017 to 20th January 2017

� Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve

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Story Room :

Piyali Ganguly

It was Shasthi evening, the city had already descended on the

roads for its customary ‘thakur dekha’. Our Royal Cruiser inched

its way in a snail’s pace through the city chock-a-block with

traffic. It took nearly 1.5 hrs to cover a distance from Esplanade

crossing to Salt Lake Stadium. And by the time we reached the

highway, we were already way behind our schedule. This is the

second time we were travelling to NJP by Royal Cruiser. I was

mighty impressed with their service the first time.

The bus screened

one Bollywood movie

after another but

who is interested in

films? My mind was

already wandering

in the Dooars.

Forests are my

addiction. You may

call me a perfect

‘junglee’; I would

take it as a

compliment. My

body temperature started soaring again; time to pop up another

paracetamol. I have been running a high temperature since the

previous day (later, on returning to Kolkata was diagnosed as

chikungunya). Turning a deaf ear to the repeated warnings of my

mother as well as mother-in-law, I decided to go ahead with the

trip. Cancelling a trip, especially one to the forests, was worse

than death. But the new & disturbing development that I noticed

was the numerous small swellings emerging on my cheeks, jaw

bones & neck.

At the dead of night we reached Krishnanagar (normally reaches

by midnight). I was hungry & thought it would be safe to have

roti-sabzi. But I puked immediately after. I knew that ‘aal ij not

well (all is not well)’ with my body but it was probably getting

worse. The journey was also taking a toll on my already fragile

health. The condition of NH31 was pathetic, to say the least. The

entire stretch of highway seemed to have suffered an earthquake

the day before. A few months back I had the good fortune of riding

a motor boat on the Indian Ocean, but, trust me, the rolling of

the ocean was less

uncomfortable than the jerking

felt in a multi-axle VOLVO bus.

We had to endure this journey

for 18 long hours (compared to

the usual 12hours).

By the time we reached the

Tenzing Norgay bus stand in

Siliguri I was feeling quite sick

& hungry too. We had an entry

permit for Jaldapara National

Park for the same evening but

there was no way we could

make it on time. Day 1 of our

trip was already ruined,

courtesy NH31. Chandan Da

(Chandan Mitra, who arranges

all our trips to North Bengal)

picked us up from the bus stop

& after a Chinese lunch

somewhere off Hill Cart Road we

headed for Jaldapara. It was

another 4hrs of arduous

journey & the roads were worse.

We reached Jaldapara Jungle

Camp nearly at 9.30pm. I liked

it immediately. It was here that

the cast & crew of Goutam

Ghosh’s critically acclaimed

film ‘Moner Manush’ had stayed

during the film’s shooting.

Many other celebrities had also

stayed there. The reception area

had a celebrity gallery complete

with photographs & newspaper

cuttings. Since we were tired we

rushed through our dinner &

hit the bed.

The resort staff was pleasantly

surprised to see us getting up at

4 o clock the next morning. We

had woken up even before their

wake up call. The staff admitted

that after the ordeal we went

through in the last 24hrs, they

did not expect us to get up at

the crack of dawn. I silently

laughed. These people had no

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idea how obsessed I am

with forests. Sharp at 5am

our Gypsy entered the

Jaldapara National Park

(constituted in 1941 for the

protection of wildlife,

particularly of one-horned

rhinos). The smell of the

forest & the cool morning

breeze made us forget all

the hardships that we

endured the previous day. A few kilometres into the forest there

was a bridge & there we halted. A huge male rhino was lazing in

the canal, half submerged in water. It was in no hurry to get up

& could watch it & click it to our heart’s delight. As we headed

toward the watch tower we met a group of wild elephants & a few

other rhinos on our way. From the watch tower we spotted a herd

of ‘gaur’ (Indian Bison) grazing in the savannah. The park also

has a healthy population of spotted deer & sambhhars. The guide

who was chattering away with my husband in Nepali (having

spent a good many years of his life in Darjeeling my husband

speaks Nepali fluently), told us that the park was also home to

Royal Bengal Tigers but they are seldom spotted. On our way

back we spotted a few tourists taking elephant ride. The next

thing I knew was to call Chandan da & chew his head. “Ami kobe

haati chorbo (When do I get an opportunity to ride

Elephant?)?”He assured me “arey, ami aro bhalo jaigai haati

chorabo (I will ride Elephant in a better place)”.

We returned to the resort

for breakfast before

heading toward Khairibari.

I discovered that I have

developed small red rashes

all over my body. Now I was

worried. The fever was one

thing but the swellings &

the rashes could not be

symptoms of a simple viral

fever. On our way to

Khairibari we stopped at a chemist shop & bought an anti-

allergic. Driving through the forests of Khairibari was a beautiful

experience. The clear blue autumnal sky & the bright sunlight

played hide & seek through the thick foliage. We visited the

Khairibari Tiger Rescue Centre. When tiger shows in Indian

circuses were banned, the rescued tigers were brought here. After

Khairibari, our next destination was Buxa Tiger Reserve. En route

we visited Chilapata, Rajabhatkhawa & Jayanti.

We were driving through the Chilapata forest. The windows of the

car were rolled down. The guide accompanying us suddenly

asked the driver to slow down. He said there were wild tuskers

around. Even we could identify the smell. We got down from the

car & waited in silence. I could hear cries of hornbills. My

frequent visits to the forests have enriched me with enough

knowledge & instincts. Now I am fairly acquainted with the cries,

smell & footprints of some animals. Our eyes scanned the forests

for elephants. But we were disappointed. The tuskers decided to

elude us. But yes, I could spot a few giant hornbills perched on

tree tops.

The Nature Interpretation

Centre at Rajabhatkhawa was

nice. Though small in size, it

was quite informative & had a

fair number of species on

display. We learnt many

interesting things. The curator

of the museum narrated to us

the story behind the naming of

Rajabhatkhawa. Centuries ago,

the King of Bhutan was once

invited by his Indian

counterpart for lunch. It was in

this place that the gala royal

lunch was organised. That is

how Rajabhatkhawa derived its

name. From Rajabhatkhawa we

moved on to Jayanti. The

Jayanti River with the Jayanti

Hills standing tall behind it,

offered a spectacular view. The

remains of a decadent railway

bridge stood over the river.

During the British Period this

place had railway connectivity.

Unfortunately for us, the Buxa

Tiger Reserve (name derived

from Buxa Fort, once used to

keep prisoners during the

Indian freedom struggle) was

closed for the tourists. I was

thoroughly disappointed. How

could a trip to the forests be

complete without a sight of the

big cats? Buxa was the only

chance of sighting a tiger in the

Dooars. Next destination was

Buxa Fort. It was a long road

uphill. After a while it got too

much for my lungs. Even my

Foracort inhaler did not help me

much. I, who had previously

managed to climb the 200+

steps at Nathula (had fainted

afterward, causing some

tension to the army) could not

manage this one. I decided to

stay back. The driver, the guide

& my husband went ahead.

Other tourists were a little

curious to find a young top &

capri clad woman sitting alone

with a backpack & inhaler in

hand. Some asked questions,

some offered help. Being alone

did not bother me, I was worried

about snakes. Fortunately for

me, no snake came to say hello.

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Rather, I was greeted by innumerable butterflies. Butterflies of

such hues, such brightness, I have never seen even on NatGeo or

Animal Planet. After a long time, the three of them returned.

Heard they were attacked by leeches.

Tired & crestfallen, I dozed

off in the car during our

return journey. Near

Chilapata my husband

woke me up. Evening was

setting in & there was a fair

chance of stumbling upon

elephants. But once again,

there was no show. Even

our guide was depressed.

Perhaps he considered it a

failure on his part not to be able to satisfy his tourists. He sat

brooding for some time & then asked “sir, sottii haati dekhte

chan? Rattirbela grame asben? Roj rate haatir pal ase paka dhan

khete. Mathe gele sure haati dekha jabe (If you want to see

Elephant, come to village in night. The herds regularly visit village

to eat crops)” We almost jumped up. It would be one hell of an

adventure! The guide said he would need to hire searchlights &

one more guide. My husband immediately paid up & all was set.

My temperature had returned, my body was aching but how

could I let go of this opportunity? After dinner, we quietly slipped

out. The manager would raise an alarm if he came to know of our

plan. After all, what we were going to do was extremely

dangerous. We drove through the village roads & stationed

ourselves in front of the paddy fields. Each field had a watch

tower like structure locally called ‘tong’. The farmers stay there at

night to keep a vigil on their fields. The Forest Department

supplies them with searchlights & chocolate bombs to drive away

elephants. Ripe paddy is a hot favourite with elephants & every

night during this time of the year herds of elephants descend on

the fields & ravage the crops. The man-animal face-off often

causes casualties on both sides.

We sat in absolute silence, invaded by mosquitoes & other

insects. My sick & tired body found it hard to keep the eyes open.

Way past midnight

we heard a loud

cacophony of

beating drums &

cans, chocolate

bombs & angry

shouts. People

from the nearby

fields were chasing

the elephants. Now

they would come to

us. My muscles tightened, the heart started thumping. It was

excitement mixed with fear. The noise came closer. Our guides

promptly switched on the searchlights. What we witnessed made

our jaws drop. A group of 7 elephants, 3 ‘dantal’ (tusker) & 4

‘makna’ (without tusk), stood in front of us. The one in front,

presumably the leader, was huge. Its tusks nearly touched the

ground. Disturbed by the powerful light, the elephants moved off

to a different direction. Our guide whispered “asun Sir (come)” We

got off the car & started following the elephants. The guide was

almost sprinting ahead. I

always wonder from where the

forest people get so much

courage. This young man’s

father was killed by an

elephant. Once his father (in an

inebriated state) was returning

from the forest after sundown,

when he stumbled upon a bull

elephant. The elephant

smashed him under its feet.

After a point we thought it was

getting too risky & we decided to

go back.

The next morning was very

unpleasant for me. Woke up

with a severe pain all over my

body, specially the joints. The

feet too had swollen beyond

recognition. My husband

decided to drive straight to

Bagdogra & catch the very next

flight home. My heart sank. I

cried & almost begged him not

to go back. Finally he said “ja

khusi koro (do whatever you

wish)” I managed to have my

way. Happily or grudgingly, he

was staying back & that was all

that mattered. After breakfast

we set out for Jhalong & Bindu.

Jhalong is a small township

where the Jaldhaka Hydel

Power Plant is located. The view

of the mighty Jaldhaka River in

its full force was awe inspiring.

Some of my best shots of the

trip were taken here. Bindu is a

small village, the last village of

Bengal on the Indo-Bhutan

border. It is beautiful.

From there we headed toward

Gorumara. Light was fading as

we entered Lataguri. The road

ran through the middle of the

forest. Along the entire stretch

of the road there were

signboards marking the ‘animal

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crossing zones’. Yet, animals are often crushed under the wheels

of recklessly speeding trucks. My eyes were busy scanning the

forests. At one point, I felt I saw some movement in the forest. I

asked the driver to stop & alighted from the car. Yes, my

assumption was correct. 3 young ‘makna’ elephants were feeding.

While we were busy watching them we heard rustling of leaves.

The sound was pretty close. A moment later we spotted a huge

tusker, hardly a few feet away from us. I tried to click photos. But

alas, even with the night vision mode on, the photographs were

far from satisfactory. I tried to inch closer but was pulled back by

Chandan da (who had joined us from Maynaguri). Actually it was

somewhere here that a photojournalist was attacked by a male

rhino just the day before. He was battling for life.

Our stay at Elephanta Forest Resort began with coffee & chicken

pakora. Our cottage had a thatched roof & the interiors were

aesthetically done with bamboo work. I liked it. Even the kitchen

& dining area with a little pool (and a bridge over it) was beautiful.

The next morning we visited the Gorumara National Park

(declared a National Park in 1992). The previous night a few

elephants had destroyed a guard house. Out of the 3 guards on

duty at that particular point, 2 fled & 1 saved himself by climbing

a tree. The elephants also tore off a large stretch of electrical

fencing. The cause of their rage was yet to be ascertained. The

DFO, we heard, was scheduled to visit later in the day. We

climbed the watchtower facing a salt pit. 2-3 other families were

already sitting there. Together we sat in silence, watching the

deer, the rhinos & birds. We hoped to see some more animals.

But that was not to be. A richly attired Marwari family with 3

noisy kids arrived to spoil the atmosphere. They were more

interested in photographing themselves than in the animals. The

kids munched on their ‘Lays’ & ran about noisily on the wooden

floor. Forget sighting more animals, even the birds sitting nearby

flew away. Our experience of forests told us that the loud sound

waves had already travelled deep into the forest & no animal

would come out now. Without wasting more time we pushed off.

Before returning to the resort we went to see the Murti River. The

river seemed doubly charming when I heard that leopards,

elephants & other animals come there at night to drink water. My

heart leapt at the prospect of a second consecutive night of

adventure. Back from the Murti we had a hurried breakfast at the

resort & then we set out for Samsing & Suntaleykhola. But my

happiness & excitement were marred to a large extent by the

severe body ache. My legs had swollen so much that it was quite

difficult to manoeuvre them. We hurried through the two places

as I wanted to return to the resort & rest. Our driver Annu was a

very nice guy (tipped him generously while saying good bye at

Siliguri) & he took utmost care in driving so as to make it

comfortable for ‘boudi (sister in law)’. But nothing really helped.

Back in the resort, late afternoon, I slumped into bed. I decided

to skip the tribal dance show in the evening. A little after 5pm,

there was a knock on the door. The man at the door said “Haati

chorben to asun (come here, if want an elephant ride)”. For me it

was a tough call. My body craved for the comfort of bed, my mind

craved for elephant ride. Predictably, my mind won over my body.

We drove to a place where 4 elephants were waiting. Ours was a

large tusker, its tusks neatly cut & filed. I later learnt it was from

Dalma. We had to climb on a watch tower like structure in order

to mount the gentle giant. But at the last moment I drew cold feet.

Oh God! The arrangement was

totally different from the

previous elephant rides I had

taken. There was no framework

to sit on, no iron railing to hold

on to. In short, there was

nothing to protect me from

falling (this was actually a

patrolling elephant, not a

tourism one. Had no idea how

Chandan da had managed it).

“Na ami chorbo na, ami pore

jabo (No, I don’t want elephant

ride, I am afraid, I may fall)”, I

screamed. But eventually the

mahout coaxed me into

mounting. I sat sandwiched

between the mahout & my

husband.

The sunlight was already

mellow when we entered the

jungle. Movement was slow &

our bodies swung from side to

side in accordance with the

elephant’s gait. We tried our

best to adjust our centre of

gravity. I tried to calculate into

how many multiples my 206

bones would break, in case of a

fall. Silently I prayed to God: “If

you make me fall, then please

let me die, don’t keep me

bandaged all over for 6

months”. Slowly as we learnt to

adjust ourselves with the

rhythm of the elephant, our fear

was alleviated & I could afford

to turn my attention to the

forest. With the light falling

steadily, the forest gradually

looked different. The branches

& leaves brushed against our

bodies as we ventured deeper

into the forest. Soon we came to

a watch tower. It stood beside a

rivulet. Beyond it was a large

patch of savannah. We spotted

rhinos & gaurs there. Soon we

were going to be with them.

Year – 1/Issue – 10/June – July’16

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Navigating up & down the slope of the river bank was really

dangerous. Even my husband got scared this time. It seemed we

would slip off any moment. Fortunately, nothing happened. The

elephants went & stood right in front of the rhinos & gaurs. Some

would look at us curiously, some were not bothered & continued

eating but none of them was hostile. After all, which animal would

dare to be hostile when surrounded by 4 elephants? By the time

we left the animals behind, it was dark. The moon was high in

the sky. Since Kojagari Laxmi Puja (held on full moon) was only

3-4 days away, the moon was big & bright. The river glistening in

the moonlight, the carpet of fireflies along the banks, dense forest

on one side & a savannah on the other- the atmosphere was

surreal. We rode through the dark forest. Faint moonlight peeped

through the foliage in certain places. We engaged in a little

conversation with the mahout. He told us a lot about forests &

narrated to us some of his best experiences. He informed us that

the elephant we were riding was one of the elephants that went

to rescue the photojournalist the other day. As we neared our

resort we thanked the mahout for this wonderful experience. He

took our leave & went back to the forest for patrolling. We reached

our cottage contented. I promptly fell asleep & probably did not

even get up for dinner.

The next morning we took it

easy. We woke up quite late

& had a relaxed breakfast.

There was a long & tiring

bus journey ahead of us.

The plan of spending the

night at the bank of Murti

had not materialized but

surprisingly I did not regret

much. I was already

stretching my physical

capacity way too far. I needed immediate medical attention & for

that we needed to get back to

Kolkata fast. Even then I could

not help feeling a little sad.

Holiday was over & once again

the same sickening routine

awaited us. But finally the trip

did end on an endearing note. I

met Red FM RJ Pooja at the bus

stand. She was waiting with her

friends to catch the same bus to

Kolkata. She is a nice bubbly

girl & a chatterbox like me. We

hit it off instantly, and we

remain friends till date. An

awesome trip & a new friend,

what more could I want?

For Team Exploring Nature

Editors’ Desk : Dwaipayan Ghosh Arnab Basu

Title & Logo Design : Arijit Das Majumder Saitak Chakraborty

Newsletter Design : Dwaipayan Ghosh

Year – 1/Issue – 10/June – July’16

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