Tokalo: Day Eighteen
Day Eighteen is about
replacing the missing posts.
I see that rice
and other items are being readied – for the rest of the survey - by new
colleagues from Lopu. I do not feel the need or urge to meet them. In some ways
I am also learning to function in a detached manner (unlike how I have been in
the office).
Hat at the Hut
I discuss the Wildlife
Sanctuary with the Village Council President. The villagers want their orchards
and rice- fields to be exempted from the boundary. I then get to know, on
questioning, that neither has the Forest Department informed them of the Wildlife
Sanctuary (and its boundaries) nor have they visited them. And this, is one of
the larger villages from amongst those which will be affected. Why the
forest-department has espoused this attitude is beyond me and that too when the
pressure (on forests) from people in the villages is not at a level that warrants
conservation attention. The village has not been informed of the Wildlife Sanctuary
by the Tokalo village either. Tokalo has allocated the land that they currently
exist on. Also I get to understand that these villages are more or less
independent and don’t get into consultations with one another. But, how much of
these dynamics can one comprehend in a short trip as this? All decided on desks
without trips? Some aspects here are not very different from rest of our country.
There is
confusion regarding posts and I get agitated. I speak my mind aloud - moving on
makes more sense than other actions; all agree. At 9.30 am we proceed.
The resting tree
We had taken a
short cut when we had entered Lopu so we go in the reverse direction for putting
the first post of the day. We walk along the Sala river. We then put up to post
55 and rest in a hut in the fields within the Wildlife Sanctuary. Two of us have
gone to fetch the missing posts. We have a short rest after taking some jaggery.
When they return we get to know that those posts are lost and we move
immediately and put up to post 61 before we reach the next camp, little after
5.00 pm. A hunter from Bymari overtakes us as we put up post 61. He is carrying
a battered looking bag and a gun that looks as ancient as the forest. On
reaching the camp I see him chatting with others. As he disappears into the
rain forest darkness I sit down for a cup of tea. The meal is simple – rice and
dal; no salt, no oil and no spices. After meal the group bafoon rejoins and
dances around the fire. He was temporarily lost.
Ja has been very
‘unmannerly’ and I have tuned on to a silent mode for most times.
Resting in shade
The walk today
has been fun. Some part I walk barefeet - holding the shoes with hands. Rest I put
the shoes to use as I jump from one stone to another as we cross and re-cross
the flowing water. The experience of recent days comes to use. I jump without
holding branches, with free hands, and on 2 confident feet. I am glad. I also
finally take a couple of butterfly pictures where they can be identified. I
have the field- guide but do not try identifying them – keep the task for office.
Multiple water pools
teased us with colours. Strange yet pleasant. Couple of us had different theories
on these ranging from poison to catch fish to colour from the plants around. In
‘Out of Doors in February’ Richard Jefferies writes, “Pure colour almost always gives the idea of fire, or rather it is
perhaps as if a light shone through as well as colour itself. The fresh green
blade of corn is like this, so pellucid, so clear and pure in its green as to
seem to shine with colour”.
Writing on stumps in lieu of the missing iron
The absence of
posts has us getting creative and also going fast. We put up a tree stump in
lieu of the post. We write on the stump after chiseling the bark and we also
write on stones. Will they last asks a colleague? We are not sure if the iron
posts will last either says another. If we have come so far they will surely
last says yet another.
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