In my beginning, is my end.....

Hi Friends, It took me a while to get back to writing. It was fanned by a kind soul who could perhaps see so many feelings and emotions flickering across my face, that to not be able to capture them would be a waste of precious moments in life. For life is best, when lived! I always take to pen when my cup runs over..... thoughts, feelings which have been aching to be penned as words, to express what I have been thinking. But before I begin, I quote T.S. Eliot's words....to explain the flavour of the moment!

"Home is where one starts from. As we grow older The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated Of dead and living. Not the intense moment Isolated, with no before and after, But a lifetime burning in every moment And not the lifetime of one man only But of old stones that cannot be deciphered. There is a time for the evening under starlight, A time for the evening under lamplight (The evening with the photograph album). In my beginning, is my end."

Jungle Ride on Shantikali

It has been a few days of exasperation following the complete shut down of a nation so much so that its effects can be felt in the remotest corners of the country. This includes the Bardia district where I am based at the moment. Law pervades every aspect of the Nepali society and so when the majority decided to call it ‘quits’ there is no way that a government could resist the will of the people. However, there is one law that cannot be interfered with, i.e. the law of nature. For the jungle and the wild have their own laws and do not abide by the ones that we mere mortals create. Upset as I was to learn that most of the Nepali people were blaming India and the Indian government for fuelling this Maoist uprising, I think I decided to take a non-political stance and used this as an excuse to indulge in another wild escapade.

Living next to pristine nature for the past several weeks has unleashed in me a lot of aversion for humanity not to exclude my endless scepticism stemming from my personal life chances. Identifying with the jungle law and perfectly synchronised to the miniscule movements of animals, birds and even the tiniest of creatures I could intuitively guess patterns of behaviour around me. For instance, I saw loads of black and red ants carrying food next to the food store house and started guessing that the rains are not very far. Indeed, we have had a couple of tropical showers the last few days which has been a respite from the hot and sultry day temperatures.

It was one such morning that I was woken up by the local boy who informed me that the mahout and the elephant were ready for their morning venture into the jungle and I could join them if I so wished. It was a little before 6 and as I left my little hut I saw dull grey clouds in the distant horizon. Thrilled to see some clouds and with the prospect of getting wet in the hot tropical summer rain I climbed onto the elephant (Shantikali) along with my escort and the mahout. Off we went into the jungle moving from cleared grassland area to the dense forests crossing small rivulets and stony river banks. The elephant seemed to plod along quite happily grazing and eating all the way until we reached an area where we saw a rhinoceros grazing quite happily. My guide informed me that she was pregnant and so they were there to count the rhino numbers as part of their daily chore. I watched the rhino graze and then realised that it was watching us. Being watched by people on elephant back must have aroused her apprehensions and so she gradually moved away to safer grounds. Our mahout steered into another direction where the jungle became dense with a thick canopy above preventing the sun from penetrating the forest floor.

Nature has never stood still here even though the world outside has. Birds of different kinds have their own choir going on as part of the jungle music. Woodpeckers, doves have their own chores to do with the occasional monkey swinging around from tree branches as they seemed more fearless than the shy cheetal or the hog deer. Shy creatures have their own charm, they peep a little, hide a little, and then run around a bush or a tree in order to hide but at the same time feed their curiosity of who is watching them. The hog deer is the funniest of the lot. It sees you from a corner and then jumps and skips into another part of the forest much to the amusement of the onlookers.

Amidst all this chaotic activity in the jungle, I could see the skies turn grey with a strong cool breeze blowing across the green meadows and grassland areas. Rain at last, was my thought! Moving on elephant back crossing the river bed I could see the reflection of the black clouds and little droplets falling on the sand bed. Our mahout anxiously looked at me and asked whether I would like to return as it seemed that it would be heavy rains for certain! My immediate response was “Let’s get drenched!”

I asked the mahout whether it would be possible for me to have a quick dip inside the river. I think that must have made them realise that I was not giving in to nature’s threat of rain or high water. At the same time, my guide anxiously said that it was not a good idea to bathe in that water as we were inside the jungle and perhaps we could try that on another day when it was not raining. Even as we were having this conversation, huge big droplets fell on us, cold droplets of sheer joy and I had to refrain from jumping with joy as I was placed very delicately on the elephant back. I must admit that twice I almost fell off and my guide became my ‘Hero for the day’ as he held on to me so that I did not slip and fall off whilst the elephant climbed up and down small hill tops.

I must admit that I was quite impressed by my guide’s sensitivity, although he came across as a very shy individual initially. I was completely unaware that I was sliding down the elephant back until quite late and it was my escort who had to grab me and held me from my back to prevent the deadly fall! As is always the case, I was too engrossed, in watching the rains so I was totally unaware. Quite undaunted by this event, as I trusted my escort to look after me, I started to enjoy my early morning shower.

Heavenly bliss in the form of rain drops refreshed the rest of the journey and wiped off any anxiety among the three of us as we returned back to our safe haven, unscratched and rejuvenated!

Romancing with Nature

Most of my time is spent working and the little leisure time I get
either I go to feed the elephant some bananas or just walk around
forest villages seeing how rural people live or going for bike rides!

On a different occasion, I have spent leisure time simply watching how nature works at it’s own pace. Have you ever seen a butterfly romance another butterfly? Simply fascinating, as I watched a dark chocolate coloured butterfly with white spots chasing its partner. Through the dark green leaves, off it went setting its own musical trail for its partner to follow with an upward movement and a downward toss as if responding to an inaudible orchestra of music. The female (I am guessing that the other one is a male, as in the animal world it is usually the male who calls for the female) would simply dance to the tune and engage into a frenzied ballet dance with its partner, simply enamoured, dancing to its own “fleetly flee I fly” tune! It was as if there was a sudden burst of energy in this dance of nature and one could see the purest form of romance in which one butterfly would follow the other and respond to its movement in perfect unison.

I myself have been seduced by a particular call of nature! The first time I heard it, my heart skipped a beat, and the second and a third time. Then I realised it was a constant call of the cuckoo, but so musical and enticing that the first time I heard it, I thought it was for me. Lying in bed, in the dark, eyes closed I heard a distinct call, a beckoning of my name through the dark and unquiet woods. Sitting upright, my first instinct was to chase the call and to find out where it came from. I did not hear it for the next few minutes so my natural reaction was perhaps I may have heard it wrong. As I started to dismiss my imagination and settled down to reading a book I suddenly heard it again! This time it was loud and clear and it was as if there was an invisible someone in the woods seducing my mind every time by calling out my name. It was unfathomable and I was seduced. The next thing I remember was walking towards the woods chasing the sound expecting that imaginative someone to come out with open arms. But the subsequent surprise and gleeful joy was in the discovery that it was a cuckoo who was trying to entice me with its enchanting call. I knew I had fallen in love with it and do wait for it to call out every evening when I usually finish my day’s work and am in a pensive mood. I secretly named it “mon petit ami” as indeed it had made me skip my heartbeat quite a few times. Yes, you would also love the call of the cuckoo, enchanting, musical and enigmatic!

Mornings are also times when the weather remains very cool and there were quite a few occasions when I was required to travel on the field site for work. I must admit these were moments when I had let my imagination loose. Sitting behind a bike letting the cool misty, morning breeze soothe my face whizzing past open fields and small streams with the morning sun kissing softly, you could happily close your eyes to a musical tune and imagine a world full of colour and shimmer. Colours from the lovely trees and shimmer from the morning sun streaking out from the trees as I moved past in high speed. It did light up that inner self within me and I could easily set myself free from those inner shackles. It is all a matter of perception which I am trying to pen down for my readers.

Eyes closed you could see hayfields and green grasses beside you and imagine that you have reached a world where you are waving at someone who seems to be moving towards you. A light touch, a soft brush and you open your eyes to see that someone gazing at you. The distant sky turns blue and white with the sun rising and the cool morning breeze caressing you, you immediately realise that you are the protagonist of this love story! Gliding through time towards that invisible someone you wish to see his face and yet as you get closer all you seem to see is that he is farther away. You seem to be chasing a mirage and never get to see the face and as the journey continues, the endless pursuit continues and when you open your eyes, the sun has come out and everything around you is stirring back to life. The new day had begun!

Dear Friends,

The idea to blog my jungle adventures didn’t occur to me until a friend of mine encouraged me to record them here. Ideas do come and go but to be able to re-account and store them with exact precision is an interesting exercise. So here I am blogging about my experiences with nature or should I say my romantic excursions with nature. After surviving the initial heat wave (resulting from a sudden shift in temperature from 6 to 36 degree centigrade) and nature’s harsh reception as is always expected when the urbane and civilised creature encounters nature for the first time I started experiencing the softer side of nature. It was the first test of nature trying to gauge the resilience of the modern individual which slowly gave way to a much softer side with its occasional delight of a fleeting butterfly coming to greet you as you walk down the little stony pathway. Butterflies of different colours, shapes and sizes just flying over you with every little step you take on the stony pathway, as if welcoming you to their abode of peace and colour and above all nature’s paradise.

Surely, Bardia is beautiful with its green fields, little brooks and different kinds of birds creating their musical symphony as I started exploring nature just after my arrival. Here much removed from the modern amenities of a so-called civilised world I discovered a different set of protocol within which nature worked. Every step was a discovery and a step closer to paradise.

Day time depicts a much harsher reality compared to a gentle early morning or a blissful evening. For my readers, the Terai arc landscape where I am currently based does get very hot and dry during the day with temperatures as high as 45 degree centigrade. In other words, a slow roast for those not accustomed to such high temperatures. Before I shift to my first sense of adventure in Bardia, a little description of my little abode of peace, which is quite a contrast to our urban concept of modern luxurious dwellings.

I live in a thatched roofed hut with very basic facilities enough for an individual to survive whilst living so close to nature. A little discomfort but a huge pleasure in terms of blissful nature, huge clear skies lit with a thousand diamonds at night and crickets singing their own song of nature. Not to exclude the animals living around me, feels good to see a monkey sitting next to a tree watching you, literally gazing at you and the chirping of cuckoos and a hundred different kind of bird making their noisy musical symphony creating a sheer haven full of bliss and yes above all the peace that I was looking for!!