The Hindu Business Line : Of smokestacks and human gods

Chandrapur is Maharashtra's coal town, with mounds of fly ash stacked all over the place. The 2,000-MW pit-head power plant of the State Electricity Board breathes smoke 24 hours — though that does not prevent prolonged power cuts in the area.

WE started from Amravati in the afternoon in a Maruti Gypsy, with Manish Moghe at the wheel, for the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve passing through Wardha, Yeotmal and Chandrapur.

The seven-hour-long dry run was trying under a hot February sun and a cold drink offered the only respite. Manish was driving at 90 to 100 miles per hour, as we had to enter the tiger reserve by 6 p.m. when the gates close. We were an hour late but were let in by the forest guards as a special case.

Chandrapur is Maharashtra's coal town, with mounds of fly ash stacked all over the place. The 2,000-MW pit-head power plant of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board, located on the Western Coalfields, breathes smoke 24 hours — though that does not prevent prolonged power cuts in the area.

It was about 6 in the evening when we passed Chandrapur, with most families burning coal chulhas in front of their homes. We found breathing hard and Nishikant guessed that "everyone will be having some breathing problem in this town." An English medium school is located opposite the power plant across the road and we wondered over the children's health. The project authorities have turned green a few of the fly-ash dumps by planting nilgiri, babool, acacia and a few other trees. "It has turned into a thin forest," Nishikant told us.

It was a relief touching the gates of the Reserve with 60-ft tall, bare, teak trees covering 11.48 per cent of the area and thin bamboo clumps occupying 40 per cent of the forest floor. Walking the forests in Tadoba is banned which is unfortunate.

In the night the Melghat Tiger Reserve is colder than Tadoba but come April-May and temperatures will go over 45 degrees in Vidarbha. It was better on the return from Tadoba as we started early at around 6 in the morning to escape the heat and dust of the coal town. Government officials will contend they have adopted modern practices to keep down harmful emissions but that may not be the case on the ground.

On our way back we drove in a Tata Indica, with Kishor Rithe driving and talking project details with Dr Claudio Sillero of the Born Free Foundation funding the Landscape Programme in the Satpura range. Sillero is an Argentinian settled in Oxford University and loves football. He is preparing to watch and root for Argentina at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. "I will be there with a few of my Argentinian friends, " he told us in clipped accents.

Fair and of medium height, Sillero does not believe in cropping his black hair which falls over his face when he makes impressive gestures. "Who do you think is greater, Pele or Maradona," one asked him. "Hey, for us Maradona is God. Some time ago he came over to Oxford to give a lecture. The hall was full when somebody lobbed a golf ball to him with a request to play with it. The God tapped the golf ball with his feet before finally lobbing it to the crowd in the balcony and he was wearing formal shoes. Everyone in the hall stood up and clapped. That's our God even if today he is bloated with drugs. But more seriously, Maradona, unlike Pele, played in Europe and won tournaments to place him above Pele," Sillero contended, lost for a few moments in the memories and images of God.

He snapped out of football to touch upon some funding detail with Kishor before asking whether India had such a God. "Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is our God," Kishor replied. Ashish Fernandes and oneself nodded in agreement.

For many years now Sillero has been working on conserving the Ethiopian Wolf of which only 500 are left in Ethiopia. His calling card has a light brown Ethiopian Wolf with a white bib on its neck. "It's a lovely animal and lives on big rats living underground in Ethiopian highlands. They live in seven, separate groups. Occasionally, a female Ethiopian Wolf drops out of the herd to mate with the dogs around and we try to prevent hybridisation. We also run a vaccination programme for the dogs in the area to protect the community from rabies. For now the Ethiopian Wolf population is stable," he told us.

We halted mid-way for lunch at a hotel and the chatting went on. Sillero had come down to India with his wife and five-year-old daughter, Pampa (Meadows) Luna (Moon). The nickname for the shy little girl, who did feel bored at the meetings in Tadoba, is Pampita. Pampas are vast grasslands in Argentina and Luna had to be added as the registration authorities in Argentina protested that Pampa did not tell the sex of the child. "We added Luna as the Moon is female in Latin America," Sillero said. Perhaps, the best thing about Sillero is his sense of fun and an ability to laugh.

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Of smokestacks and human gods

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