Tokalo : Day One

Some of us, some years ago, walked the boundary of a Wildlife Sanctuary, in South Mizoram, where India meets Burma, these few weeks will stay with most of us for long ~ In this and following posts I share the day-wise experience ~ 

We began our trip to the amazing forests finally, after multiple days of delay! We shopped in the morning session for the survey and I made frantic jumps into shops for procuring odomus! Some of these jumps were to the tune of my mobile ringing – almost incessantly! A long bye to mumi – the trip would take around 3 weeks without phone connectivity.

Jo and Ja reached office on time while the ‘pick-up’ came without announcing to pick us up – on time – but this meant disposing the half cooked eggs and leaving on an empty stomach. Loading ourselves, colleagues for the trip and all the purchases of earlier in the day we were ready. As I awaited NT – Forest Range Officer and ‘partner’ (as he nicely put it) for the survey; a ‘Hindi speaking’ Forest Department personnel (whom I had met earlier) came forth for a chat. Talking of the survey he said he had been to the area during his army days. During those days, 1972 – 1974, food was dropped by aircrafts plying from Assam. This was at Tokalo (Tongklong) and the containers were then carried on foot to Tuipang. Tokalo is the Mizo and Tongklong the Mara name for the same place; this being a common phenomenon across the landscape! Phura he said was a very dense forest then with lot of ‘keechad’; till they decided to cultivate rice there. Odomus was unavailable at Zero and Kalchaw as well. Cold Shillong Chow (read noodles) was what we put in for the journey.

All set in the all-purpose vehicle 

As the vehicle moved towards Phura I realized the work on the road had made progress since I had last been on rolling wheels here. We reached Laty; the place I have been referring to as having the best puris in Maraland (Saiha or Mara Autonomous District Council area). Birds we saw on the move include drongos, doves and sunbirds!

This is I recall the soonest I have reached Phura from Saiha. The Forest Range Officer has changed since my last visit, the place was clean and awaiting Deputy Conservator Forest - Saiha and Divisional Forest Officer - Aizawl.  One working with the Mara Autonomous District Council, the other for the Mizoram State Forest Department. We had a brief chat over the boundary poles and meeting (proposed following day) at Tokalo.

Evening at Phura again has me eagerly and hungrily await the dinner call. As I sit to discuss the woodpecker that Jo and Ja saw, a member of Phura Village Council drops in. It was his house we visited when the argument over tortoise took place. I promptly took over a copy of the report that had his picture depicting the incident. He sure was glad on seeing it; how I wished it was in Mizo!

Food over the large table was followed by confusions over drinking water. Save the Children representative from United Kingdom is gracing Phura currently and this means I don’t get the usual room for the night. 

Rat population had gone up many times on account of the gregarious (and staggered) bamboo flowering. The phenomenon locally referred to as Mautam. These rats were eating the crops. As a result we had famine in an otherwise green landscape dotted with hills and streams– very different from the notion of famine I had grown up with. I entered the new room disturbed. Here they had come to distribute free food (primarily rice and oil) on account of the famine and the dinner generated so much waste! Why? To What end?

The Forest Range Officer previously posted at Phura was kind of certain that we would encounter the ‘underground’. To this I asked him if they were Indian or Burmese underground and I got to know that not only was he confident of their being Burmese but also of my being safe and sound in their presence.

Day Two here.