Re-discovering Koraput : Day-2

Route : Berhampur-Srikakulam-Rajam-Rambhadrapuram-Salur-Pottangi-Semiliguda

When in Berhampur Do as the Berhampurias Do:

Though the actual Odia name of the city is "Brahmapur" it has come to be pronounced and written as Berhampur since the time of British rule, as the British had this ill-famed reputation of corrupting every Indian name to suite their tongues. As an unwritten rule any Berhampuria doesn't return from his/her morning walk without having breakfast or tea at some roadside tiffin(breakfast, as we call it in our part of the country) stall, or that is what it appeared to me. Udayan and me were supposed to leave Berhampur as "early" as possible in the morning. However it was not until 7.30 or 8 am that we were awake. Though the alarms were set at 6 o'clock, we slept till 8 o'clock, snoozing the alarms. We finished our daily morning chores hastily, taking turns. The first thing we noticed when we stepped out of the hotel to have breakfast, that it was a great sunny morning, exactly the kind of day you would wish for while on a biking tour. Having said that Berhampur is a pot-pourri of Odia and Telugu cuisines, the morning breakfast can not be skipped at any cost. I am a street food junky from very early days. So we set out to break our fasts with some steaming Idly accompanied by sambar, chutney and the typical Odia guguni. Guguni is not so popular among the Telugu people, but for Odia people it is like water. Especially the Odias of the coastal districts. Guguni goes well with almost anything and everything. Be it idly, puri, upma, kakara and halwa (can you believe it, curry of lentils and potatoes poured over your plate of halwa). The bond of guguni and coastal Odia people is so strong that we(me and my brother Situ bhaina, apparently belonging to hills of Odisha) used to crack a joke on this love for guguni. The joke goes something like this. A person breathing his last, in any other part of the country, will die asking for water, i.e paani...! paani...!(as we often see in our movies). But a typical coastal Odia guy in his death bed will die groaning guguniii....! guguniii...! (No offences meant). However personally I find it a little hard to digest that guguni can be had with almost anything. However a mixed serving of sambar, chutney and guguni with idly, puri, upma, uttapam etc is a combo that no Odia or Telugu guy can say no to. So we scout for a road side stall serving the above delicacies and there is no dearth of such stalls in Berhampur. Very soon we find one and start our gorging of literally steaming idly with sambar, chutney and guguni. What a sumptuous breakfast it was. The sambar and guguni were a little hotter than what I expected them to be. Along with us, some twenty men and women, most of them in their fifties were busy gorging similar stuff at the stall. They all, from their attire, appeared to me like morning walkers. Breakfast was followed by cups of tea. Then we went looking for a cobbler to repair Udayan's Woodland shoe, his trusted old companion of seven years in times thick and thin.
We checked out of the hotel at 9.30 am. Loading and fastening of our bags to the bikes took another 15 mins, In the meanwhile the hotel owner and a few other guys were questioning us like a judging panel. We said good bye to them before they could completely satiate their curiosity. We took the Komapalli-Lanjipalli flyover and were out on NH-5. We filled out fuel tanks at a filling station near Konisi. Right at ten we were cruising on NH-5.

On the outskirts of Berhampur 

NH-5 , The road as straight as a die:

We had to cover nearly 170 kilometres on NH-5. The roads as straight as a die and the excellent surface could not contain the teenagers with in us and we let the two REs run full throttle. When a RE goes all guns blazing on a highway it is a sight to behold, and there were two of them for the admiration and bewilderment of the onlookers. We went past each and every vehicle plying on the highway. Constantly clocking speeds of 110 and 115 kmph was an amazing experience. In certain patches we kept cruising at 120 kmph for kilometres together and our bikes responding to the throttle like the most docile horse. Tekkali was the pit stop for tea and re-hydration. At exactly hundred kilometers from Berhampur, Tekkali was the right stop for a break. We had covered the 100 kilometers in just one hour. At the tea stall which was inside a filling station we drank some water and sitting on the verandah of the shop praised ourselves for the zippy progress we had made. We knew that we were running 4 hours late from our schedule. Sitting there I clicked some pictures for the memoir. Two-three pariah kites(scavenging birds) were flying low near the filling station, offering good shots. When I was trying to get one of them into focus I spotted three more birds flying much higher. Initially they looked like open-billed storks. But a closer view through the view finder of my camera revealed something else. Alas. They were pelicans. Spot-billed pelicans in every probability. I motioned to Udayan that they are pelicans. In the excitement of the situation  I could not take a good photographs of the birds though. I clicked two photographs, one was out of focus and the other one was grossly against the sun. Anyway that was a lifer for me. Pelicans on the highway. The Telineelapuram bird sanctuary is located close to the town of Tekkali where Spot-billed Pelicans and Painted Storks arrive from upper reaches of our hemisphere in winter. Unfortunately the place was not on our itinerary.
Twenty minutes of rest and again we were on the roads with the exception that we had swapped our bikes. Once again we were cruising at three digit speeds till we reached the Chillakapalem tri-junction. We took a right turn from this junction to enter the Chillakapalem-Pondur-Rajam-Rambhadrapuram road. Here we stopped again to check our baggage and refastened them. Here the first glitch of the trip surfaced. We had swapped bikes for only 70 kms. Our backs having accustomed to the riding postures of our respective bikes did not take it too well. I felt the pain in my lower back and Udayan felt the pain higher on his back. We mutually agreed not to swap bikes any more through out the trip. The bikes did not take the swapping very agreeably as well and responded with punitive measures later in the trip, at least Udayan's RE did. To start with, Udayan's RE won't start with the self starter when we resumed our journey. It sprang to life with the kick starter but the electric motor starter did not work. His battery had run low. Udayan's heart sank at the juncture. I cheered him up saying that its fine and we will get it fixed at Jeypore.

The High-way

Udayan Rides On

Biriyani and Sambar

At one thirty in the after noon we were at Ramabhadrapuram. The dhaba at Ramabhadrapuram is a crowded place as most of the vehicles plying on NH-26(previously NH-43) beween Vishakhapatnam and Jeypore stop there for food or refreshment. Again our bikes parked out side the dhaba with the baggages tied attracted onlookers and admirers. My order was Chicken biriyaani(Andhra Style) and Udayan wanted a plain Andhra thali(meal) that included liberal helpings of  sambar and rasam to go with it. Udayan wanted me to try some sambar and rasam with the biriyaani. I hesitatingly took a morsel and found its taste quite amusing. After finishing off the meal we left the town of Ramabhadrapuram. Let me tell you for the information sake that Rambhadrapuram and Salur are among the filthiest towns of northern Andhra Pradesh. The lesser time you spend there, the better you will feel. Just outside the town we found for ourselves a shady place, on a culvert, to snatch some rest and stretch our backs. The pain acquired from the swapping of bike had waned to a great extent by now. We lay stretched on the culvert for sometime, listening to the calls of parakeets, bulbuls and copper-smith barbets in the fields near-by and  travellers passing by were giving us bewildered looks. 2.30 pm saw us back on the road.

Here come the Hills

Riding High

While travelling on NH-26, just prior to entering the small town of Salur, the faint outlines of distant hill ranges appear before you. These hills are the eastern face of the great Eastern Ghat mountains. Closer you approach them, they present a more imposing and majestic view. The NH-26 winds its way through these hills for around 40 kms. These 40 kms are a bliss to the traveller seeking picturesque view and a nightmare for the less fortunate ones having travel-sickness tendencies. There is a temple right at the beginning of the ghat from Salur side. The vehicles stop there to pray for a safe journey and passage through the ghat roads. I had my camera hanging from my neck when we began our ride up hill. The Classic 350 negotiating the curves like a hot knife slicing through butter. It was an ecstatic feeling. On earlier occasions I had driven cars along that road and it was great fun. But riding a RE Classic was something far more euphoric. The torque of the motorcycle urging hard to me to speed up but I kept a restraint on the throttle to make it a safe ride. Since Udayan had buried his camera somewhere deep inside his cavernous bag I had to do all the photography for the memoirs. We stopped now and then to click. After negotiating the first range of hills,  which are in Andhra Pradesh territory, we came to the top of a ridge. I was video-graphing the ride, with one hand on the throttle and the camera in the other, when we reached the ridge and the hills of my state appeared in front. Many a times I have seen them appear before me on earlier journeys along that road but the feeling I had this time to see them is beyond my words. The hills that I can call my own were welcoming me with arms wide open. The view from the border of the two states is bound to take one's breath away. It did take my breath away, one more time. There after the progress was very slow. We would stop often to take photographs, of the landscape and of ourselves. This continued till we reached Pottangi. Its worth mentioning here that the highest highway road point of the state is on this route. The point from where the descent to the western face of the hills begins, is the highest highway road point in the whole of Eastern Ghat. The altitude at this point is nearly 1100 metres from mean sea level. The peak of Deomali is clearly visible from this place. Many travellers stop at this point to enjoy the vista for a while before proceeding on their way. So did we. The expansion work of the highway is on(since last two years) near this part and is probably the roughest patch on the entire length of the highway.

Hills that Talk to You: View from the roads of Salur-Sunki Ghats

Winding Roads : Ride to Unwind
On Salur-Sunki Ghat

ME

Parked Beauties(Somewhere near Sunki)

Our Own Valley of Flowers(View of Deomali from highest road point)

We reached Semliguda at about 5.30 pm and checked into a hotel named Bright Star. We washed ourselves clean and set out to go to Sunabeda town where the aero engine manufacturing facility of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. is located and my friend Udayan had grown up. It was time for him to get nostalgic. We roamed about the town for sometime. Udayan showed to me his school, hang outs, play grounds and the house in which he lived. We also went to the aeronautical museum which houses a few photographs of the initial days of HAL and a "flying coffin" i.e a MIG-21. The MIG had participated in the 1971 war with Pakistan. The jet engine had been removed from the body and is on display separately. The body along with the cockpit is placed outside for the public to see. One thing that we noticed was, the MIG's body was full of patch works like a poor fellows rags. Small patches of metals riveted to the body at a hundred place. I wondered if the pilots who flew it knew about the patch works or were brave enough to take those machines out into open sky despite knowing the risks involved. My respect for the brave pilots of our nation doubled after seeing this for myself.
We went back to Semliguda as it was dinner time. There is a restaurant named C'n'C at the heart of Semliguda. We went in to it and ordered soup for the starter. Paratha and chilly chicken followed the soup. The food was good, but the place was too crowded. A noisy family was dining along with us and they appeared to be good enough to beat the size of the families from a Suraj Badjatya flick. A noisy end to Day-2.  The cruising on NH-5 and the Salur-Sunki ghat were definitely the high points of the day. I went to sleep  thinking how many souls get to travel through these heavenly landscapes? And how many of them get to ride on a Royal Enfield on those ethereal roads?

Lucky ME, huh?

Re-discovering Koraput

What will be the apt  quote to start a  travelogue? 

"The ride to the destination is as interesting as the destination" ? 

Or "The journey not the arrival matters"(T.S.Eliot) 

or "Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the one less  travelled by"(Robert Frost). All above lines make sense to travellers in their own way.

The broad categorization of the travellers according to me goes something like this

1. the one who takes the age old beaten path as earlier taken by many
2. the one who takes the path less travelled, the path full of adventure and anticipation

Strictly speaking this is a broad categorization. However there is another breed of travellers, to which I belong. The traveller who doesn't shy away from the beaten path. Rather he takes the same beaten path but comes out with a list of things that the Category i) travellers failed to see on the way.

And I can say with conviction that I am one of them. The travelogue I am going to narrate here for you is based on the very essence of the above lines.

It took me nearly six months to zero in on the motorcycle that I should buy. The only bikes that came to my mind back then were the TVS Apache RTR or Yamaha FZ. I had not in my wildest imagination thought of buying another Royal Enfield, as I had already spent a fortune on  acquiring and restoring a 1965 Royal Enfield the previous year. Since I needed a bike to commute between home and office and occasional touring, the old Royal Enfield, I knew, would fail me miserably given its poor fuel efficiency and highly unreliable mechanicals/electricals. A timely pay hike and a test ride of a 500 cc Royal Enfield Desert Storm(belonging to my friend Aditya) did the trick. Then there was no stopping till the a Royal Enfield Classic 350 stood at my door step on the evening of 4th April 2012. It was a impulsive as well as a well weighted decision to buy a Classic 350. A 350 Classic costs nearly 1.5 times as much as any other RTRs, CBZs or Unicorns do, gives nearly the same  mileage in spite of flaunting a 350 cc mill and most importantly much more comfortable than any other Indian bike when it comes to long rides. To cut a long story short I finally gave in to the temptation of owning another Royal Enfield and join the breed of motorcyclists who consider themselves a  league extraordinaire . I was indifferent to the burden that it would pile on my monthly balance sheet for at least a year to come.  Anyway, I was a proud owner of a Royal Enfield Classic 350 by I was 26. Sounds like quite an achievement. While I was running the bike in during the first 5 or 6 thousand  kilometres I started hatching plans for the tours that I would be taking in the winter. And the first thing that came to my mind was that my Royal Enfield must tread on the soil of Koraput this winter. First things first. Subsequently I gave a definite shape to the plan and attached an objective to the plan.

Koraput needs no introduction to someone from Odisha. But let me give a brief introduction of Koraput for the benefit of our outsider friends. Koraput is a district in the southern part of Odisha. The district is divided roughly into two parts by the Eastern Ghat hills viz a hill range running north-south, ranging between 700-1650 mtrs above mean sea level and another plateau 300-600 mtrs high from sea level but mostly flat country with little undulation. The lower plateau lies due west to the high hill range. The hills give Koraput a climate that is comparable only to a few other places of the state and a beautiful landscape that is comparable to none. The hills and dales of Koraput are the home to a number of aborigine tribes such as Poroja, Kondh, Dhurua, Bhumiya etc. who have been inhabiting there since time immemorial. Nature has bestowed Koraput with immense beauty and bountiful resources. In spite of all the bounties of nature Koraput has remained an underdeveloped district of the state. Most of its population live a life that revolves around a square meal for the family, completely at the mercy of nature. The tourism potential the district holds is good enough to make the district a tourism centric economy. However as is the case in the whole state of Odisha, we don't have anything in spite of having everything.

Coming to our travelogue I hatched a rough plan during the month of July-August to ride all the way to Koraput from Bhubaneswar on the Royal Enfield and return. A visit to Deomali peak(the highest peak in the entire Easter Ghat hill range) had always eluded me. So it was a must visit place for me during the trip.  To undertake the feat alone was not a wise thing to do I thought and explained the plan to a few trusted friends who could give me the kind of company I needed. It was not just the company I was looking for but a person who had the right kind of temperament as I have and one who must be able to soak in the beauty of Koraput rather than complaining about the bad roads. The right man on my mind was my friend Udayan. He, having grown up at Sunabeda in Koraput is an avid lover of nature and the right kind of person one would like to be friends with. During a casual conversation I revealed to him my desire to take my Royal Enfield to Koraput and especially Deomali. Right things said at the right time do have the right effect. He jumped at the proposition of going to Koraput and that too on a bike. He instantly made up his mind to go on the trip with me on his Royal Enfield Thunderbird Twin Spark. TBTS in short. Till mid September the plan was just a vague idea. To give it some definite shape we choose to attach an objective, and the task we choose was to photograph Koraput landscapes extensively. Aditya, the owner of the Desert storm was also supposed to go with us but he had to back out as his bike had some serious electrical issues.

The Plan in Short:

To ride on two REs to Koraput district. Visit the most visited tourist places of Koraput over a weeks time. Take photographs at those places from a different perspective. Keep a look out for interesting bird species. Collect information on wildlife if going to a wild area. Eat well. Ride Safe and Pheel Good.

The Preparation:

The preparation for the trip started with making a monetary provision for the week long sojourn. Next came the thought to make ourselves and the REs fit for the long rides. Me and Udayan being grossly overweight and not too athletic we decided to hit the jogging track every morning for at least a month before the trip. But the month of jogging had hardly 15 days in it instead of the usual 30. Then came the riding gears. Gears were sourced from a store in Bhubaneswar at a price little higher than what they should be.(thankfully the city has at least two stores to choose from). Udayan took care of the packing list as efficiently as a good housewife would, thus I was relieved of that chore. First aid, Swiss knife, scissor and hordes of such other items were very meticulously packed by him. I had taken leave in advance from our my job stating "Personal Work" as the reason behind the absence.

The D-Day:

The evening of 26th was when we shopped for bungee chords, ear plugs for Udayan and such stuffs. Both of us were fighting the mixed emotions of excitement, anxiety and fear with in. This continued till we rolled out of Udayan's place the next day evening.

Udayan Smiling Behera

Ready to Roll 

27th of October in the last week of October was the day we set out on the trip. The plan for day one was to start from Bhubaneswar late in the afternoon(say 4'o clock). Reach Balugaon by twilight. Kill the time of twilight there and start for Berhampur after complete darkness. Twilight time is the worst time to ride on a highway they say. Reach Berhampur and spend the night there and start for Semiliguda early next morning. Again schedules/plans are made either to be skipped or deferred. The starting point was Udayan's place. Udayan's mom was really concerned about our safety and kept telling us the do's and don'ts till we left the place. By the time we fastened our baggages to our pillion seats and got ready to roll it was 5.15 pm. A halt near Khandagiri to fill petrol in the TBTS, check air in the wheels and meet Tanuja and we hit the open highway. National Highway No-5, the life line of east coast of India. I let out a hurrah out on the highway. The dream was coming true and the feeling had yet to sink in that I was really out on a tour on my RE.   Gangapada toll plaza was the next stop. It was getting dark rapidly and we decided to halt for 15-20 mins to allow complete nightfall. What can be a better way to kill time than sipping a cup of tea, must say a glass of tea, in a way side dhaba or stall? There for the first time we got an idea of what is going to happen through out the trip. A few truck drivers and the tea stall guy fixed their gaze at our REs and us alternately. Then came the volley of questions like where are you coming from ? , where are you going to ? such a long distance ? what mileage does your bike give? etc. There was no escaping from this during the whole trip, wherever we went. 

The ride up to Berhampur was a smooth one. When we were totally out of the city limits and onto the less crowded parts of the highway we unleashed all the 23 horses beneath us. The progress we made was pretty quicker than we had anticipated and we reached Berhampur by 9 pm with stop overs at  two or three places to have chai and to re-fasten our bags. Udayan's bag was a thing to see. The bag he was carrying could very easily accommodate two 12 year old kids. I had no idea then what things he had stuffed into it. Carrying ones home along I thought.

Now Berhampur is a town that has a Nandan hotel in every second street. We had a difficult time finding the one we were looking for. After twenty minutes of search we found the one we were to check in to. We checked into a decent looking room that had the furnitures of 1980s. Only the LCD TV and split air conditioner looked like the things in the room that have some connection with our era. We didn't mind the antique nature of the furniture until the tariff was light on pocket, the bathroom clean and the mattress pest-free. It was getting close to ten when we set out of the hotel room to have dinner.

Of Chicken and Chicks :  

Berhampur offers a wide range of choice for a foodie. The food here is an unique amalgamation of Odia and Telugu flavours which is sure to tickle the taste buds. The style of preparation of food here is famous in Odisha as the Ganjaam style of cooking and all the Ganjamia people are very fond of non-vegetarian food. Personally I like the biriyani prepared in Ganjam style which actually is not biriyani but pulaao with a liberal dose of chillies in it. But Udayan wanted to have roti for dinner. So we went to the Girija restaurant near Ramalingam Tank in the heart of Berhampur. The restaurant is a land mark itself in the city. It is some 50 years old and is famous for its various dishes of chicken, pakoda being the most famous of all. My father used to be a regular to the place while he was a student of Berhampur university in the late seventies. We ordered chicken pakoda, chicken curry(the Ganjam special) and tandoor rotis. The curry and pakoda were real delights. The dessert that followed was the Girija special pudding and was awsome. To top it all, a family dining on the next table had two girls and the girls or at least one of the two girls was giving us cursory and sometimes long glances. I guess it was our roadie appearance that appealed to her. A truly happy meal I can say. 

Then it was time to take rest for the long day that lay ahead. We went back to the hotel and tried to snatch some sleep before six. The plan was to leave Berhampur as early as possible the next morning. Unfortunately there was only one double blanket provided in the room.(I guess it was a typical honeymooning lodge!). Now don't let your imagination run wild. We had to adjust. That's it.

A peaceful end to a day full of anticipation. According to us the ride from Bhubaneswar to Berhampur was the toughest most dangerous one. Firstly because we had to do it in the evening and secondly the wretched highway is home to drunk half-dead small vehicle drivers and even more dead truck drivers as Aditya puts it. The road diversions due to ongoing four-laning work are hardly visible even in broad daylight, thanks to NHAI. Night is night after all. We covered the 170 kms without any untoward event, it was a great relief.  I went to sleep feeling happy and satisfied. All anxiety and fear had vanished into the moonlit highway night. Eager to hit the roads again next morning. 

Day-2 to continue in the next post.

Awsome NH-5, Pelicans. Salur Ghat etc in the next post. 

Predicament of Pachyderms

Undivided Koraput district of Odisha is known throughout the state for its rich forest resources and biodiversity. Most of the major fauna of peninsular India are encountered here with the only exception of the Asian elephants. The movement of elephants was confined only to Chandrapur forest range of present day Raygada district due to its proximity to forests of Phulbani and Kalahandi district where these huge beasts are found in good numbers. Strangely enough pachyderms were never sighted in any other part of the district in last hundred or more years, although the habitat is ideally suitable for them (abundance of bamboo). But in a startling turn of events few elephant herds have been found straying into the Koraput and Jeypore forest divisions in last three years. Elephants were alien to these forest divisions or at least this is what the record of forest department says. A herd of about thirteen elephants had ventured into the Koraput forest division from Kalahandi district(most likely from Karlapat WLS area). During past few months this herd caused a lot of damage to crop and property in Dasmantpur and Laxmipur block of Koraput subdivision. Even more alarming is the fact that within last one month itself four adult elephants of this herd were reported to have died. Similarly another herd was spotted depredating Borigumma and Jeypore blocks. One adult from this herd was found dead in a paddy field near Bsinghpur village of Borigumma block. At least three people have lost their lives to this herd. Most of the districts of Odisha witness similar episodes everyday. Pathetically poor and ineffective forest management by the state government is only to be blamed for this. Last one decade saw a huge loss of forest cover due to mining and shifting cultivation. Except for a few Vana Surakshya Samiti formation and planting few acres of plantations, the forest department is literally doing nothing in the state. Though the state is singing songs of own praises that forest cover has increased, the real picture is something distant from that. En bloc the forest cover might have increased but natural forest cover (pristine forest) is disappearing rapidly, especially in the districts of Koraput(Undivided) and Kandhmal. Last summer was the summer of most number of forest fires in the state. Even the well protected Similipal Biosphere reserve could not pass the worst. The elephants, in specific, are worst hit by this loss of habitat as they require large tracts of forest that can fulfill their need of green pasture. This has also resulted in widespread migration by these beasts. People from the area to which these elephants migrate resist the arrival and starving elephants have no hesitation whatever to forage on the crops of these folks. Subsequently loss of life follows from either side. If the area to which the elephants migrate turns out to be a land where elephants were never heard of or seen, then things can only get worse for the people. As people are unaware of the ways to tackle with pachyderms, they end up being the victims. On the other hand elephants also become the victim of the counter violence; either they get injured by gunshots fired by some irate villager or die due to starvation if people choose to guard their crop instead. Though region we are discussing here has forest cover but the forest is mostly fragmented and moderately dense. This directs the elephants to paddy fields and villages. Here in Koraput three of the four deceased elephants are said to have died out of hunger and dehydration. Every now and then forest official shoo away the herds towards Kalahandi forests but only to find them back after 10-15 days in the same forest. Though people have not caused any harm to the elephants so far but their patience can not be put to test for long. It is pointless to add here that such migrations have disastrous implications on man, animal and the environment equally. 

The above case is yet another reminder to us that it is us who ravage the home of wild animals first. Hence everything else that result will be considered our own handiwork. We, the Homo sapiens, are the only creatures on earth who have been blessed with the ability to think and foresee the future with deft precision. Tagged as most intelligent of all living beings, we manipulate and stage-manage things expecting results that go well with us, but unfortunately in many cases things don’t go that well as we want them to, at least not in the larger scheme of things. Our damned dams kill rivers, our industries mar wetlands, our factories poison lives in every form, our highways spell doom for wildlife, settlements we build for ourselves deny food to many other creature and the list goes long. We must ask ourselves-Is this what we should be doing to prove ourselves befitting for the Most Intelligent tag? I have this view that a Life lived is dubbed well lived only when it has succeeded, even in the smallest way, to make this world a better place for others to live in. I write this last line remembering the legendary Jim Corbett who lived his life following this simple mantra. Can’t we?

An Appeal

In the great epic of Ramayana there is reference to a densely wooded region of India where lord Rama, his spouse Sita and his younger sibling Laxmana spent a major part of their exile from Ayodhya. This great forest was described as ‘Dandakaranya’ where many dramatic events were encountered by these three. Mythology apart but this forest were believed to be one of the densest jungles of India and harbored many wild animals. The forests of present-day Koraput, Malkangiri of Odisha, parts of East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh and the Bastar district of Chattisgarh are believed to be the same as ‘Dandakaranya’ of Ramayana. Till the late fifties this vast expanse of jungle was literally untouched and virgin, aborigine tribes such as the ‘Koya’,‘Bonda’,‘Poroja’ and ‘Kondh’ being the only dwellers. It is said that just prior to independence, when a major chunk of this region was under the princely state of Jeypore, the Maharaja of Jeypore used to pay a forest revenue that was more in comparison to the agricultural revenue he was paying to the British government. You can very well imagine the forest scenario then. Though the ‘Koya’ and ‘Bonda’s mainly survived on hunting and collection but the ‘Kondh’ tribe lived on shifting cultivation or ‘Podu’ as it is known in colloquial language. Podu way of cultivation harms the jungle to a great extent. However till that time the jungles were not at all adversely affected owing to these practices by the tribes. The simple reason was-the population was meager. Then with independence came the various projects which could not have materialized without much damage to the flora and fauna.

First of its kind was the Dandakaranya project under which the Bengali refugees(displaced by the formation of new East Pakistan or existing Bangladesh) were given a new home in our big nation with even a much bigger heart. The procedure was to clear off the priceless pristine forests, convert them to agricultural land, and distribute them to the countless homeless refugees. This process of denuding the forest was very idiotically termed as ‘reclamation’. As if the forests once upon a time were fertile agricultural land and then the forest had swallowed them for some reason. In the whole process hundreds and thousands of square kilometers of Sal and bamboo forest came crashing down under bulldozers, rendering thousands of wild animals homeless and finally falling prey to the guns and arrows. Great beasts like the Tiger (Panthere Tigris), wild Buffalo (Bubalus Bubalis) and the majestic Indian Bison (Boss Gaurus) were part of this list. Better not to mention of other innumerable small creatures. The forests near Umarkot, Raighar of present day Nowrangpur district, most part of Malkangiri district and parts of Kondagaon area of Bastar almost disappeared, thanks to the Dandakaranya project. It is not possible to assess the damage that must have been done to the ecosystem throughout the process of clearing forest to settle more than five hundred villages for the rehabilitation of refugees. This was one heart ripping tale of destruction.

Second to follow was the construction of an ambitious hydroelectric and irrigation project at Balimela in existing Malkangiri district. This claimed the home of the wild buffaloes along with many other herbivores and carnivores as the Kondakamberu valley submerged after the construction of a dam at Balimela on the river Sileru. This project was being vehemently opposed by environmentalists yet the government went ahead with the project. One of the finest but lesser known tiger habitats of the country went under water and subsequently the buffaloes were wiped out of the face of the district. Gradually other wildlife such as tiger, sambhar, spotted deer etc. faced similar fate. One can refer the book authored by Er. Balkrishna Sheshadri titled ‘The Twilight of India’s Wildlife’ to have an insight to the topic. The author was a member of the Environmental Impact Assessment committee formed to report the effect of the project. 

Now whatever was left after this could have been saved. But the lack of farsightedness in the then governments was exemplary and this lacuna resulted in continuous exploitation of these forests and wildlife. Huge forest resources attracted many people to the region. Every one wanted to make a quick buck out of timber. Then some paper industries started to take advantage of the abundant bamboo that was available in the region. These semi deciduous forests constitute of a variety of trees that have many industrial and domestic utility as timber, fuel etc. Nexus between forest officials, timber mafias and some big names in local politics proved to be a force too much against Mother Nature. There are instances where some irresponsible and dim-witted politicians for the sake of vote bank gain encouraged tribals to encroach and cultivate forest land so that they can claim a right over the land and a valid right of record would be issued to them afterwards for the extent of land they have under their possession. The outcome was all but obvious. Every one wanted to have a piece of land as big as possible under their possession. Once again the forest and thousands of its denizens were at the receiving end. 

Such molestation to the forest continues till date. Another problem that has come up in recent time is the naxal menace. Fear of naxalites has adversely affected the forest conservation as the forest officials are apprehensive of going on regular beats in to the forest which has turned home to the naxalites. The poachers and timber mafia take this opportunity to carry out their depredation. 

Apart from all these factors another thing that has a telling effect is population. Mainly the number of forest inhabitants has grown exponentially over the years and so has their demands and dependence on forest. With so many people residing inside the forest and depending on shifting cultivation, it has taken its toll on our forests. To make both ends meet people have started cutting trees for commercial sale of wood which is not at all good news. These people earn a decent sum by the sale of charcoal and young trees which are transported clandestinely to urban centers for house construction. All these activities are carried out right under the nose of enforcing authorities and sometimes with their aid. Had the dependence on forest been confined only to fire wood collection and house hold use of the forest dwellers, the forest would have recuperated itself easily. However the commercial exploitation has made matters still worse. In the month of March-April every year people set to fire the forest carpet which is full of dry leaves owing to the fall. This is a practice rampant in most part of the Dandakaranya region. These fires play a very detrimental role for the health of the forest as they turn the dry leaves and undergrowth to raw ash which otherwise, on decomposing, could have nourished bigger trees as rich bio fertilizer. Apart from being a major source of Carbon dioxide the fires kill innumerable other organisms of the forest floor which are the foundations of the crucial food chain of which we are also a part. Sometimes these fires take the shape of inferno and result in the destruction of hectares of prime forestland and countless wildlife, small and large. 

All these things collectively have led the Dandakaranya to shrink only to a few pockets. But still there is a lot that can be saved and protected. The pronouncement of Kanger Valley of Chattisgarh as a National Park really was a commendable gesture in this regard. More than 200 square kms of virgin forest has been protected under this park. This forest still is the roaming ground for tigers and herds of bison. A healthy population of bison and a considerable number of tigers can be encountered here. The park harbors a rich biodiversity. This is evident from the presence of a balanced mix of herbivores and carnivores .The river Saveri or Kolab forms the eastern boundary of the park and also serves as the border of Chattisgarh and Odisha states. Though the forest on Chattisgarh side is highly under protection, situation on the Odisha side is too gloomy. If we follow the river downstream from the Kotpad block of Odisha it has a very good forest growth on both banks. For the first 10-15 kms the river flows through Odisha. After this it traverses a good 30 kms through dense forest and crossing a few rapids in the course. The holy limestone cave of Gupteswar is situated on the eastern bank and mid way on this 30km stretch. On the Odisha side there is a contiguous belt of dense forest that follows the river from north to south. First comes the Sindhigaon RF. Bordering it and separated only by the road from Boipariguda to Gupteswar is the Dandarkol, Dharamgarh RF, adjacent to these is the Sarangapalle RF. Dandarkol, Dharamgarh and Sarangapalle are the name given to three different areas of a single tract of forest by the forest department to lay down the jurisdictions. The first four reserve forests are in Koraput district. Tulsi RF belongs to Malkangiri district. Except the Tulsi RF, the other four lie on the Eastern bank of the river. The landscape here is breathtakingly beautiful. From the plateau at an altitude of 600 mtrs above mean sea level, the undulating hills after a series of descent give way to the 200 meter plateau on the western side of the great eastern ghat mountains. These hills are a major source of water that feed the important river of Godavari that is a life line of south India. Sal is the predominant tree in these forests. There is also representation of valuable timber like bamboo, Mahogany, Indian Rose wood, Ivory Wood, Ptero Carpus, Sterculia etc. Put together these forest cover a good five to six hundred square kms of contiguous forest, which is rare to be found anywhere in the country today. Small hamlets and villages are scattered in remote corners of these forests. Clearings have been made in between for cultivation but mostly on grounds that are relatively flatter. A major chunk of Dharamgarh RF has, over the years, fallen casualty to the-hunt-for-cultivable-land. Only the hills have been spared from this denudation. Main river that drains the plateau is Saveri. Saptadhara is a major tributary of Saveri. Saprtadhara itself is fed by numerous hilly streams and flows in a roughly east-west direction before it empties into the main Saveri river at the end of the Sarangapalle RF. It can be said to have formed the southern boundary of the Sarangapalle RF and also the vast stretch of forest we are talking about. 

And to talk of wildlife there are still considerable number of Leopards(Panthera Pardus), Wild Boars, Barking Deers, few Sambhars, Sloth Bears, Hyenas and Langurs. Tigers occasionally visit the adjacent parts of Kanger Valley NP. Spotted deer are found in small numbers upstream and downstream of Gupteswar and in the Sarangapalle region. Smaller animals such as Porcupine, Pangolin, Indian Jungle cat, Red Indian Fox etc. are commonly found throughout. The region really is an Ornithologists paradise. Some of the rare birds like the Paradise Fly Catcher, the Racket Tailed Drongo, both the Lesser and the Pide Hornbill, the great Serpent Eagle are also seen. Peafowl and Red Indian Jungle fowl can be easily spotted foraging the clearings inside the forest. Water of river Saveri is the home to many Mugger crocodiles and they are found at various places in the river course. Entire district of Koraput is a rich biodiversity in itself. It is evident from the fact that it was very recently declared as a bio diversity hot spot by United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization. It was one among the three places on earth selected for this rare distinction. 

But absence of any kind of protection has facilitated indiscriminate poaching of animals and birds alike. People from the villages near forest make liberal use of their matchlocks(country made gun/muzzle loading gun) to kill Boar, Barking Deer and Spotted Deer. The difference in wildlife between a protected area and an area where no protection has been offered can remarkably noticed in a place called Kechlakadak in this region. This place is about 10 kms upstream of Gupteswar. On the Chattisgarh side of the forest, which falls with in the Kanger Valley NP boundary, there is a teeming population of Cheetals where as just on the other bank of the river, on the Odisha side, there is hardly any spotting. All that we have to do is to offer protection to the forest against felling of trees and poaching of wildlife. This can be done by declaring the forests on Odisha side as a wildlife sanctuary. This patch of forest is already there in the state government’s list of proposed wildlife sanctuaries under the name of ‘Gupteswar Wildlife Sanctuary’. This step can definitely save one of the few remaining patch of forests of Orissa. The Kanger Valley NP and this sanctuary put together will be one of the finest and largest protected forest corridors of India. Apart from protection that it would offer to the many animals and plants, this will also serve as a much crucial extended corridor to the tiger population that exists in the Kanger Valley NP. 

It’s a matter of pity that nothing noteworthy has been done so far towards conservation of forest and the diverse wildlife in the region. Rather we can say that the conservation action is in a state of doldrums. There are no sanctuaries or national parks in the very district which is known through out the country for its unique biodiversity and forest resources. This is high time that some drastic measures have to be taken by the central and state governments, without much ado and delay, to establish at least one wildlife reserve in this part of the state to protect the wilderness that otherwise will perish right before our eyes. This, from the tourism point of view, will also be an added attraction to the eco tourism of the region. The Gupteswar cave is already a famous tourist destination. A wildlife sanctuary around it will undoubtedly draw more number of tourists and more tourists mean more revenue for the state. The tribals and residents of the region will certainly reap the benefit out of it. Active involvement of NGOs and conservation forums is highly called for in this matter. Cooperation from institutions like Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Wildlife Institute of India (WII) can give a positive direction to this cause. Their help may come in the form of a master plan for the establishment of the sanctuary. Filling up of vacant post in the forest department cadre and deployment of special task force to prevent poaching and illegal timber peddling also has to be done in a resolute approach. Stern action has to be taken to prevent and discourage people from setting the forest fires. The Koraput and Malkangiri being amongst the most backward regions of the state the majority of tribals are illiterate and unaware of the dire consequences the destruction of forest and wildlife can have on their lives. To make them literate and aware will also help a lot in saving our forest resources. This is where various NGOs can play an instrumental role. 

Some governmental policies also need to be rethought of. Sustainable development is the order of the day. Governments at the centre and states are emphasizing on sustainable livelihoods, sustainable energy generation and everything sustainable. On the contrary the government also has passed an act (Forest Right Act) to provide right of record to scheduled tribes cultivating forest land. Such a step, apart from not being a sustainable way to development, will further provoke widespread destruction of forest in the lieu of agricultural land. This act should be revoked if we are to board the train to sustainable development because we are damaging the same track that can lead us to our destination. Natural forests serve as the sink for the carbon emission that occurs due to industrialization. In order to balance or neutralize the carbon emission from rapid industrialization we are bound to increase the natural forest cover and simultaneously prevent their degradation. For this We have to act well before the point of no return is attained. 

Ultimately it is us the people of Koraput and Odisha who must care for this cause. We have to save the beautiful forest and animals of our state for our descendants so that they don’t have to see them only in lifeless pictures or who knows whether they will be there to do so. We already have lost a lot but let’s not lose anymore of it. We have to make sure that, one day, lest we, the human beings, not be the only creatures left on earth. Because, Alone, we cannot survive even for a day. For all that the plant and animal kingdom has been giving us all these times, its our turn now to pay them back A little space for them on this vast earth of ours. A little space for them to live, to grow, to roam about and to make our lives a lot easier. Let us come together to protect our forests and secure a greener and blissful tomorrow for ourselves and our children and their children to come. 

A heartfelt appeal from a lover of nature and wild of Odisha. 

Partha P Patra

e-mail: parthapratim25@gmail.com

Killer Red-tapism

Yesterday I went to the news stand to pick a few magazines. The shopkeeper handed me a copy of one of the leading weeklies of India. For a minute I could not take my eyes off the cover of the magazine. The cover had a rare picture of a full grown Royal Bengal Tiger. Many of you may be wondering-What is rare about the picture of a full grown RBT-our national animal, the most researched animal in India, the most talked about animal in India? The photograph was that of a Tiger. Its left paw clutched viciously between the jaws of a crude looking gin trap, pain unmistakably visible in its eyes and the Tiger looked totally disheveled. Description of a Tiger is often accompanied by words such as Majestic, Royal, Large-Hearted etc. But believe me none of the preceding words find a match with the features of the Tiger in the picture. Pain, anger and sheer helplessness are all I could see in the eyes of the King of our jungles and truly helpless have become all our Tigers in their own domains. One look at the photograph is enough to evoke in one the sense of guilt that our national animal is in such vulnerable conditions. If the magazine is to be believed, the photograph was taken in one of the tiger reserves of Madhya Pradesh. Poachers are killing Tigers right inside our Tiger reserves and national parks which are believed to be the safe heaven for these big cats. Thanks to the insatiable demand for dead Tigers from our neighbor China. It is not only the issue of poaching of our national animal; it is a threat to our food and water security and our very own existence. How can we even think of becoming an Asian major when we are not able to protect our national animal, when we are not able to deal with a neighbor that is threatening our survival with each passing day? How can our economy keep clocking a two digit GDP growth rate when our food and water security is at stake?

The cover story of the weekly is about the undercover sting carried out to unearth the ways of organized crime that Tiger poaching has become today. It also traces the poachers- a whole community which is responsible for most of the Tiger deaths of last decade. Most shocking of all facts is that the administration knows who the real culprits are but has turned a blind eye. When our neighbor causes discomfiture to us in the slightest way we do not hesitate to point a finger, then how can we remain as silent spectators while our national animal, food, water and most importantly our survival are at stake? Does the Tiger have to beg the mercy and sympathy of the ever-non- performing Indian red-tapism? I am sure many of these questions are bound to pop-up in your mind when you see that picture. So far the large-hearted gentleman of Indian jungles has been able to pull through, defying all the prediction of its extinction, but a look at the statistics of last one decade point towards more depressing things to come. Let us see how long does it take for our policy makers and leaders to see things in this light and wake up to the bare reality that only the fittest survives. Are we anywhere close to be or be called fittest?

Note: India Today had carried out an undercover sting operation to access the facts of Tiger poaching business in India, its modus operandi, people involved and its effect on Tiger population in India. See India Today issue of June 7th 2010.

Roaming in the Jungles of Koraput

 View of River Saveri from one of the hills

A VISIT TO BADUDI PAHAR

When I joined my first job as an electrical engineer in Lower Kolab small hydroelectric project situated near the border of the Malkangiri and Koraput district I was really elated at the prospect of working in an area having the best forests in the region. ‘Love at first sight’ is the right expression to describe my instantaneous reaction when I came to this place. Surrounded by hills covered with dense forest, this place is no less than heaven for any nature lover like me. Out of my curiosity to know about the forests and the places near by I started to enquire from my colleagues and the local people and came to know of a place they called ‘Badli Pahar’. I heard many people mentioning to this place as a place of tourist interest. Attraction of this place is the cave temple. Hidden deep inside the forest, on the bank of Saveri river this cave is only accessible by forest foot paths. Owing to the inaccessibility of this place by any motorable road, only a handful of tourists have visited the cave over the years.

Badli Pahar- actual name of this place is Badudi Pahar, which means the cave of bats. Gradually over the years the name has come to be pronounced as Badli Pahar. I wanted to visit this place from the very day I came to know of it. But due to some or the other engagement I couldn’t do so. In the month of December I determined to pay a visit. I asked one of my colleagues named N.K.Panda working in Middle Kolab project to accompany me. I opted for him because he was involved in the survey before the construction of our project and has a fair knowledge of the area. He readily said yes to my summon. He suggested that we should take a local (as a guide) with us as we might need him in case of any emergency. So he contacted a local tribal for this. Another young man named Balia, an electrician from my site also was willing to join me. I borrowed a digital camera from one of my friend exclusively for this purpose. I threw some snacks like biscuits and namkeen into my back pack. So thus went the preparation and finally four willing souls were ready.

I zeroed in on the 5th of December as the date for my trip. Nothing can match the delight that a walk in the jungle on a chilly winter morning gives. My colleague Panda thought that the cave must be 12 to 14 kilometers distant from the place where we had planned to start our walk. However from the map of the region I estimated the distance to be not more than 10 kilometers. And later I found my guesstimate to be more or less correct. I wanted to start as early as 5.30 am when it is still dark. But our guide, a villager from Tentulligumma, was of the opinion that we should give a breadth to the nocturnal animals that might be returning to their lair after a night away. Though my plan to start early was just because I might be lucky enough to come across any wildlife, but finally I gave in. The reason-it was the month of December and the season for the she sloth bears to bring out their young ones of the lair and introduce them to the surrounding jungle. And a mother bruin with cubs is the most wary creature in the Indian jungle and attacks without provocation, any man or animal that ventures close enough.

It was half past six when four of us started our walk. Fog had settled heavily on the jungle and a chilly gust of wind was blowing from the hills and down to the river. There was still enough time before the sun could rise above the hills. We crossed the river just below the weir dam of our project. Here the river has reduced only to a small trickle as rest of the water is diverted for generation of electricity. Our destination was on the eastern side of the river and this is the only place where we could have crossed the river with out the aid of a ferry, as there was no ferry anywhere in the next 15 kilometers up the river course. Our ascent started right after the river crossing. I was wearing a black resin jacket and was carrying my back pack that weighed nearly 5 kgs. It was not even 10 minutes into the climb and I started perspiring profusely. It was after a long time I was climbing a hill. The first hundred meter climb proved to be most difficult for me as my legs and joints needed some time before they could get accustomed to the steep terrain. It was much more strenuous than what I had anticipated it to be. I took out my jacket and tied it round my waist when I couldn’t bear the perspiration any more. 

At the top of the first hill we climbed was relatively flatter ground. Nearly two kilometers on such land brought us to the foot of another hill whose top was not visible to us as the canopy was dense and there was fog on the hill. So far we had been following a well beaten forest path and at the place where we stood it was joined by another such path coming from east. This path coming from the east, I was told, comes from a place called Kumbhikhari. This is a small hamlet inside the forest which used to be a saltlick once. The term khari itself stands for saltlick. Now we headed due north and uphill. While walking I was scanning the ground for any possible track of wild animals but to no success. Hoof or pug marks are too soft to get registered on the hard ground on these hills. Soft sand of the various Nullahs and dusty foot tracks are the only place where one can look for them, though the nullahs also dry up by this time of the year and making them redundant for animals to visit and dusty tracks are far fewer. Except for a few scratch marks by jungle fowls I found no other signs of wildlife. But I would also like to mention here that if the local people are to be believed these forests still abound with wildlife such as Cheetal, Sambhar, and Barking Deer etc. Here around a bend I heard human voices. First thought that came to my mind was Naxalites, as these forests being remote and inaccessible are home to them. But when we came around the bend we saw four people standing on the middle of the path and had beside them a few bags full of some material. At first look I thought it to be charcoal. N.K.Panda whispered to me that the material in the sacks is Ganja and the four were peddlers. As we neared them they said to us “Namashkar Anna”. It is amusing to explain why they did so. Well, Anna is a telugu word which means big brother or elder brother. As most of the naxal leaders operating in this region hail from Andhra Pradesh they are addressed as Anna by tribal people. Thus the four men before us mistook us to be naxalites and saluted us out of fear. In fact their reaction at finding us in the middle of the jungle was all but natural as no outsider other than naxalites ever goes so deep inside these forests. We had a few words with them. Panda asked them questions like where were they coming from and where they were heading to etc. One of them told us that they were coming from some place near Chitrakonda and were going to Kotpad. We proceeded wondering how come they must be covering such a long distance through deep forest and that too with fifty to sixty kg of load on their shoulders. But the real surprise was ahead of us. After some half a kilometer I saw few more men with similar loads climbing the hill ahead of us. Then a few more of them and a few further. Since loaded with burden they were walking at a very slow pace. So we caught up with them easily and went ahead of them. As we did so I counted heads and in all there were forty men. To my utter surprise I found, amongst those forty men, five to six lads were there who can not be more than sixteen years old.

Reward for a 400 mtr Climb 

At the top of the hill we reached, bathed in our own sweat despite the temperature being less than 15 degree centigrade. We sat down to normalize our breaths. The ganja carriers also reached the hill top in groups of four and five. Now the sun was visible in the eastern sky. It didn’t take long for our sweat to dry because a strong and chilly wind was blowing past us and in minutes we started to feel the cold of the high altitude. From my map I learned that we were standing at a place 750 meters above mean sea level and from the river we had climbed nearly 400 meters. All those forty men congregated at the hill top. I was wondering as to how hard they must be toiling to carry all that illegal stuff up and down numerous hills that they must be passing. While chatting to them we came to know of the dark side of the ganja trade. The peddling route is as follows. Bhejangwada, Chitrakonda, Janbai, Jantri etc are the places of Malkangiri where ganja is grown abundantly. The hikers carry them through forest routes all the way to the border of Chattisgarh state. From here it is smuggled to various parts of the country. Growers get anything between hundred to two hundred bucks per kilogram. When it hits the city markets its price by then might have snowballed to one grand or more. As those people said all that they get for carrying fifty kilos of ganja is a wage of fifteen hundred rupees. The delivery of the consignment takes eight days of arduous walk through dense forest and steep hills. They could have worked as daily laborers instead and earn nearly same amount to lead a respectable life. Not only are they violating the law of the land but at the same time risking their own lives. This is how ganja which can worth in crores is trafficked. God save this country from these misdemeanors. 

Anyway lets move on with our own hiking. Some twenty minutes of rest and we were on our way again. It was 8 in the morning. Nearly five kilometers of uphill walk covered in little more than one hour- I think that’s a pretty good pace. Now it was all the way downhill. The fog had started to disappear now, giving a clearer view of the surroundings. We could see the river deep down in the valley to our left. I can never forget that vista. Lush green and luxuriant forests, a trace of mist around with the rays of the young sun shining brightly over them creates a sight reproduced directly from paradise. The view I was admiring is worth the difficult climb it takes to reach that place. We kept walking down hill for another four or so kms. Huge sal trees have risen high to the sky and bamboo clumps are scattered all around. Fallen bamboo leaves form the carpet of the forest. Jungle around us was bustling with the multitude of the sound made by our avian friends. Especially the valley to our left was replete with the call of peafowl and jungle fowl. At the end of our descent we came out to a clearing in the forest-a man made meadow. Three to four huts were visible and some crops were growing all around the huts. The patch of cultivation may not be more than twenty acres in extent. Stunted sal trees had dotted the landscape. On one of such trees I spotted a huge bird. Careful observation revealed that it was a Serpent eagle. I stalked as close as possible to the tree. The bird discovered my presence and flew away spreading its huge wings but not before I could capture it in my digi cam. These birds are becoming exceedingly rare. These predatory birds live on snakes and other small birds. They prefer tall trees and high rock cliffs to build nests. Habitat destruction has pushed them to the brink of extinction.

A man-made meadow in the middle of the forest

We reached the huts and were once again greeted as Annas. The Pujari or priest of the cave temple lives in one of these huts. So we sent for him. In the mean time I began a conversation with a man from one of the huts. I told him the purpose of our visit and enquired about the fauna of the jungles around. Wild boar and barking deer are regular visitors to their farms at night. Spotted deer appear occasionally as their number is less on our side of the river. Apart from these Peafowl foray the field in the afternoons. The presence of deer and boars also raises the chance for the carnivores like leopards and tigers. Leopards are spotted often but tigers are not, however their presence cannot be written off keeping in view the presence of their prey. One fact I learned from the man is the occurrence of wildlife on Odisha side of the river is far sparse in comparison to the other side of the river. Reason is the forest on the other side lies inside the Kanger Valley National Park of Chattisgarh and is being guarded jealously against tree felling and poaching and the result is for everyone to see. It has turned a relatively safer resort for wildlife. On the contrary the forests on Odisha side are being ravaged mindlessly. Clearings, like the one I am standing in right now, have come up at various places leaving the forest fragmented and degraded as well. It leaves the animals no choice but to flee or confront human beings and ultimately losing their life to the most intelligent of animals i.e. Homo sapiens. As I was in the middle of my conversation the party of men we had left behind arrived. They had plans to take rest nearby, have their meal there and start once again at mid day. Once or twice I overheard them talking. Few of them could speak four to five languages such as Hindi, Odiya. Telugu, Bastari, colloquial Koraputia and probably Koya. 

The priest was ploughing his field when we sent for him. He sent back the word that we should wait a little longer for the sun to shine brighter since it is too cold to take a dip in the river now. So we waited for another half an hour. The priest arrived and greeted us with a humble Namaskar and I can say that it was the humblest gesture that I have ever seen. May be this is because of the simple life these folk lead inside these forests and their ways still so primitive. Only occasional contact with outsiders has not corrupted their primitive ways. They are miles away from any medical assistance, their children have never been to a school, they have never cast a vote in any election nor have they ever benefited form any governmental scheme. In spite of all these things these people appear content with what they have and we modern and educated men can only dream of that feeling of contentment. He asked us if we have brought any torch with us. I had a torch with me. But he said we may need three to four torches. Thankfully he had two more and he burrowed one from his neighbor. Five of us proceeded. Half a kilo meter and we came near the river. The pujari asked us to take bath carefully. He said there were a lot of crocodiles in this part of the river, though they didn’t harm human beings. A cold bath, in fact an icy cold bathe in the river rejuvenated me.

Cave of Bats : Badudi Pahar

                   

The cave was only one kilo meter away said the pujari. We had to ascend another hill. Here the forest was awfully dense and damp as it was just on the bank of the river. As we moved through the undergrowth I grew anxious because one can always expect to encounter animals in a forest like this. But all that was in vain. Although there were numerous caves, small and big, they were empty. Sunlight was scarce on the forest floor and this condition favoured the jungle mosquitoes. We disturbed them as we moved through bushes and shrubs. They targeted us in turn and swarmed around each one of us. These insects are very tiny in size compared to their urban cousins but their bite gives you a terrible itch along side a persistent burning sensation. Unfortunately we had to go through all this itching and scratching. All the way to the top of the hill we went and now a descent brought us down to the river and to the entrance of the cave. Though, this wasn’t as easy as the few preceding words. We had to wind through huge rocks and at one place we had to take a ladder- a lone stout bamboo pole tied against a huge rock with the help of creepers, to descend a thirty feet high rock wall. Following the entire ordeal finally we were standing at the entrance of the cave. Here we discarded our shoes, took out the torches and moved in. The cave gets narrower, darker and damper as you move in. The smell of bat refuse filled my nostrils. A cave as big as the main one has branched off to the left and fifty meters after the entrance of the cave. The priest told us to move ahead and not to take the branch. Here was the first turn to the left. Hereafter complete darkness engulfed us. The entrance was not visible now. The pujari led us up and up towards the roof of the cave only taking left turns. The way was more or less like a spiral stairway- getting narrower as we moved up. Nearly moving fifty meters in this fashion brought us to a shelf like place. In front of us was the stalactite formation- which is worshiped as the ‘Linga’. It’s a white formation- three feet in height and four feet in girth(at the base). After the colour of the linga this shrine is named Dhabaleshwar. The cave extends behind this point also but it starts to go down from this point. The pujari said no one has ever gone beyond this. Behind us- on the other end of the shelf like rock, was the roof of the cave. It must be five feet wide here and rock shelves have protruded from both sides. The cave has risen to fifty more feet I suppose. Our torches couldn’t reach the top of the roof as there were protruding shelves of rock in between and it was impossible to reach the space immediately below the roof. We offered a puja in the cave and spent around twenty minutes there. The silence inside the cave can creep on to you. Perhaps that was the sound of silence and I was hearing the sound of silence. The only sound to be heard intermittently was the flapping of wings of the bats. This minute sound also resonates like a distant rumbling of a thunder. Name of the pujari is Indra. When I asked him about the discovery of this cave he said that it was around thirty years back. Before him his father used to be the priest of this place. Coming out of the cave we stood near the entrance of the cave for a while to admire the beautiful texture on the rock walls. These textures are a result of thousands of years of leaching and corrosion by to water. Right before our eyes were the rocks which are witness of the time gone by. Carved on them is some story, in a script known only to the creator himself. Some tourists who come here paint their names on these walls and spoil the splendor of these rocks. We came to know from the pujari that two more caves similar to this one exist in the locality. One is just on the opposite bank of the river and another is situated around three kilometers downstream and near the confluence of river Saveri and Kanger river from Chattisgarh. 

No, this is no Grand Canyon :  The patterns you see on the rock is due to the contact of tubulent  water on the surface of limestone rock.

At around 11.30 am we started our retreat march. The pujari suggested that we should take an alternative route to reach the place where we had taken bath earlier in the morning. This route was along the rocky river bed. The motive was to avoid the steep climb on the rock-wall-with-a-bamboo-pole and the mosquito infested undergrowth; it also reduced the distance by half a kilometer. So ahead, we went along the river course. It was not all easy affair though as I found it later. This involved maneuvering rocks of various sizes. Hazardous as it could be, to jump from rock to rock with a rapid flowing by. A miscalculated footing can leave one shouting for help in turbulent water. The strong current in the stream can kill a person just by knocking him on the rocks if not drown him. That’s why one has to be as sure footed as a goat of the mountains while putting a step forward. Walking and jumping over rocks we reached near another place which looked like the entrance of a cave. Yes it was another cave with an archway like entrance. We went inside after the pujari. The cave had three similar looking openings further inside. The pujari told us that this cave is called ‘Singhadwara’. As he said it takes three full days to explore each dead end of the three branching caves. It is supposed to be a labyrinth of caves. Water has dug out furrows which lead inside these caves and they carry small trickles of river water into the cave. The pujari said that these trickles come out of the cave near the confluence of Kanger and Saveri river, nearly four kilometers downstream. Well it is not possible to ascertain the genuineness of the statement, yet looking at the landscape and other conditions it cannot be refuted outright either. The channels get narrower as they progress inside the cave. In my opinion it is very much possible. This is how the explanation goes. The first reason is that the river has formed a horse shoe shape here, with these caves at one end and the confluence at the other. Second thing is the difference in altitude. The river has meandered the horse shoe formation in a series of small falls. Had the river not followed the horse shoe bend it would have directly come out near the confluence. Hence these water channels still have the affinity and have over the years dug out their way through the soft limestone. These caves can draw hordes of tourists if developed and popularized.     

We left the cave to itself and hurried our steps to the hut of the pujari. I was starting to feel fatigued by the exertion since morning. We had yet another steep climb ahead of us. After reaching the hut we returned the torches. We thanked the pujari for his cooperation and said good bye to him in five minutes. It was past twelve o’ clock and the sun was right above our heads. We walked for nearly twenty minutes and all of us were out of breath. We were not even half way up the steep hill. We decided to take rest for a few minutes. This is when I heard a sound. The source of the sound was somewhere in the valley to our left. It was the unmistakable alarm call of a spotted deer. It had been disturbed by some other carnivore probably. The sound gradually moved away from us. This alarm call of the deer was like good news to my ears because I was confirmed that a few of these beautiful deer are still left in these forests. A few minutes of rest and we started off to accomplish the final steep climb that would take us to the 750 meter hill top. We kept slow pace so as not to exert ourselves too much against the steep hillside because we still had a lot of climbing to do. We reached the same spot from where I had admired the vista of the river flowing in the valley below. Now the view was quite different now. The river was to our right and there was no fog to cripple our vision. In the mid day sun was visible a forest which stretched till ones eyes can see. To the west was the Kanger Valley forest and to the north was the Dandarkol forest of Odisha. It is really a rare sight these days and I think only a few lucky fellow like me get a glimpse of that right before their eyes. I felt I was falling in deep love with these forests as much as I admired them. It is high time that reserved forests adjacent to Kanger Valley National Park on the Odisha side be notified as a wildlife sanctuary so that this can turn to be a safe heaven for the remaining wildlife. 

After walking for half and hour non stop we reached the top of the hill. There we decided to halt and quench our thirst and appease our hungry stomachs. I took out the snacks and distributed it among four. No interesting discussion took place over the snacks as all of us were ravenously hungry and wanted to gulp down the few morsels as quickly as possible. A few packets of biscuit and a little namkeen didn’t take long to be consumed and washed down the throat with water. One o clock saw us striding down the steep hill with careful steps. It was the last phase of our walk. My legs had started to tremble owing to exhaustion but I managed to reach the place from where we had started early in the morning. My watch showed that it was quarter to two. 

In the course of the day we had covered nearly twenty kilometers of rough mountainous terrain, including nearly one thousand meters of climbing and descending. But at the end I must say that all the toil and sweat that it took is insignificant to match the joy and delight the trip gave me. The joy of spending the time in the lap of nature, the joy of being one of the handfuls who have visited that place and most importantly the joy of being able to roam in the deepest and densest forests of my district. But it is only a matter of time before these forests, once deep and dense, will soon vanish if they are not protected against Man’s greed. Right before my eyes I saw the heritage, passed on to us by nature, which our people distantly ever regard as a heritage. Rather our beautiful forests have come to be a cash dispensing proposition, a resource which is meant only to make money, money and more money. The forests I visited today were said to be an endless expanse of jungle as late as the eighties. Land seekers and timber peddlers are instrumental in making the forest what it is today and equally responsible are the forest department officials who, on every occasion, have turned a blind eye towards this unlawful activity of their wallet filling patrons. 

 Partha P Patra