Tokalo : Day Five

Fifth day is all about colleagues, me and of course barbecued fish.

Got up in time and realized that we were not moving at the pre-decided time. So visited the neighbours to take a look at their pet – a rhesus macaque and put in time with Ja and Jo.

Kaladan ~ 2 odd kms before Burma ~ 

Ja seems to be having a great time in his new role. He has been amazing in spotting birds, recognizing them in field guides and recalling their Mizo and Mara names. The manner in which he (like some others here) exclaims in Hindi is fun to hear; his writing is best not talked about though. During the coming days he will teach me patience and letting things go. Jo has been confused and conscious and many a time left me surprised with his lack of awareness of Maraland beyond Saiha and his village. Talking of awareness of places my awareness of Gujarat and Baroda, where I have stayed the longest, is a topic better kept away from discussion. Jo works very hard but many a time utters yes before I finish putting across my point and this does not help! During the time to come he will teach me to respect others’ space. This is first such experience for both of them and I recall as I write the experience on Ja’s face when he told me that he doesn’t comprehend languages used in these parts i.e. Meitu and Rakhai; he only knows Mizo and Mara.

Jo went to a school to chat on the hoolock gibbon using the material we had got along and discovered that while young fellows were not aware of the ape - despite them being heard in the village - they were keen to have pet monkeys. Knowing that we had come for the Wildlife Sanctuary the adults had asked him if animals from outside would be brought here and if these could be hunted. We discussed how these parts were different from parts of the district he was familiar with. Here they even ate mustelids for example!

Fish which once swam in Kaladan ~ 

I am learning more of partnership, pace of life, being silent and accepting ~ lack of language familiarity is helping in no small way.

We left much later during the day compared to the earlier estimate and I realize how or the extent to which I have changed! The rods went down first and then our baggage (some on our backs) to the river. The GPS shows 3.5 kms as the distance from the house we put up at Lomasu to the fist post. Ja came across a bird that he said was a pigeon killed by an eagle! I saw the black and white beauties exhibiting grace on the beach and water ~ the spotted forktail and white wagtail. How difficult it is in these thick and green forests to spot and identify the birds; sunlight peeping from the gaps in canopy on occasions helps and on others confuses further!

Walking further down we meet the rest of our group at a makeshift hut. We are to put up with Burmese people. Hut constitutes leaves over bamboo! I move around on the amazingly beautiful location; mesmerized, loving the silence. I feel this sound of water after long. How I love it. How it reminds me of my treks in the Himalayas. Saw one of the fisherman present cook fish on a barbecue and how lifeless the handful of urban barbecues I had been a part off appeared in comparison. The Kaladan gushing few feet away, moon and stars together creating in a silver hue, and this river that bisects the Mara and Lai Autonomous District Councils. All this of course accompanied by teh barbecue fire. 

Jo and NT made fools of themselves by getting drunk and I wondered why? The local youth club which prides on keeping alcohol at bay in Maraland had 2 of its presidents quarrelling over it the previous evening! Strange to be reminded of George Orwell here, ‘all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal’.

Wildlife derivatives ~

I have had a stream of thoughts gushing around. Am surprised by presence of some of these thoughts and intensity of others. Some years down I will experience the same feeling during a meditation camp.

We sleep in another of these huts where 2 walls are shrubs 4 feet high, about 7 or 8 feet in both length and breadth. Three of us with most of our bags and sleeping paraphernalia get in.

I love this sound of water. It entices. It is lyrical. All of this is accentuated by the silences and sounds of the night in a tropical forest.

Day Six here.