The Hindu Business Line : Prized moments in the woods

IT'S our lives the nut thatch, the Indian robin and the common kestrel seemed to suggest as one watched their nesting from a safe distance in Melghat. A pair of nut thatch flew from a tree hole as we moved down the forest trail, while at Chaurakund in the morning an Indian robin was busy collecting food for its kids living in a hole under the tiled roof of the rest house. One could not locate the nest, as it was somewhere deep inside. With food held firmly in its beak, the Indian robin never flew directly to the nest. It made a halt on a tree opposite its nest, waited a few seconds before flying to the nest. Most times, birds make a detour to put off any predator before making it to their homes and this act of selling the dummy is amusing to observe.

The common kestrel had built its sparse nest of a few twigs at the top end of a bare teak tree and one could spot the chick peeking out of the nest with the help of binoculars. The chick was off white in colour and had a big yellowish beak and Kishor Rithe identified the raptor as the common kestrel.

Going by Salim Ali, the nesting season of the common kestrel falls between April and June in the Himalayas and between February and April in South India, a fact confirmed by P.M. Lad, though, he added, the common kestrel does sometimes nest at this time of the year in Melghat. In the forests, bird nesting times are precious and offer fine moments of pleasure as one never gets tired or bored watching the high-speed activity.

The Pench National Park in Madhya Pradesh offered the rather rare sight of a female sambhar suckling its baby. For a few minutes the female and its fawn stayed on near the forest track giving enough time for Kishor to get the scene on his digital camera. A sight which one missed capturing on the camera was that of about 20 common langurs (males and femles) squatting under a tree with their trailing long tails on the ground one afternoon in Pench.

Before Ajay Dhyaneshwar Sakure could get the camera out of the bag, the common langurs broke up their meeting and moved away. "Are gaye (They are gone)," Ajay exclaimed, as one langur started off to be followed by the rest. That probably is the best reason for keeping forests pristine. Sambhars, chitals and neelgais are in plenty at Pench Madhya Pradesh, which was less hot than Pench in Maharashtra.

As we drove from Nagpur down the Nagpur-Jabalpur Highway in the evening, the temperatures did drop a bit though the worst part of staying in the guest house at Pench is the total absence of power. "Sahar ko bijli chahiye aur gaon ke kat dete hain (They cut off power to villages to keep the cities burning)," said the fellow at a tea stall.

Power lines buzz at 11 in the night and stop buzzing at 2 in the morning; then there is no power. None complain, as it makes no sense.

The BJP Government came into power promising sadak, bijli and paani and has reneged on its promises. We used to scramble out of our rooms at 2 in the night to sleep on cots in the open. One could not sleep as it was hot outside with the leaves on the trees still; then there was the chug and whirr of lorries as they breathed heavily on the highway.

Lorry traffic is thick in the night as the drivers rest at dhabas or under trees in the day. The dhaba food at Pench is particularly bad and one never saw the usual crowd of lorry drivers and their attendants.

The best spot for some good vegetarian food is the dhaba of Lalan a few metres outside the Pench National Park.

By 12 we were out of the Park and decided to be the clients of young Babloo, who runs Lalan. "Saab, idhar humlog khana order pe banate hain (We prepare food on order)," Babloo told us, when one asked for the menu. We placed an order for roti, chawal, alu and gobi sabji and after an hour, Babloo served us the food prepared in an open kitchen in front of us.

The dhaba is an open space with a tile roof and as there was no power the fans were idle. The food was tasty and the three of us filled up our tanks for just around Rs 175.

Babloo comes from a village nearby and has passed Class 10. While having lunch we were told of the rush of tour operators and hoteliers buying land in and around the Park to set up resorts. Most of the resorts employ people from nearby villages at salaries ranging between Rs 1,500 and Rs 3,000 per month.

For four months every year from June to October, the National Park remains shut for visitors and with it the resorts close business. The owners go to New Delhi and the employees to their villages to till their land.

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