80 to 3000M MSL

Clicks and notes from an expedition to arunachal pradesh

 Table of content
Introduction
1..................................................................Dedication
2..................................................................Thanks
3..................................................................About this document
4..................................................................About me
5..................................................................Brief about the expedition

The trip
6-24.............................................................Phase 1 : Palakkad to Guwahati
25-36...........................................................Phase 2 : Guwahati to Lama Camp (Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctury)
37-49...........................................................Phase 3 : Lama Camp to Bomphu
50-69...........................................................Phase 4 : Bomphu
70-75...........................................................Phase 5 : Bomphu to Lama Camp
76-87...........................................................Phase 6 : Lama Camp re-visited
88-118........................................................Phase 7 : Return to Palakkad

Extra
119-121......................................................Epilogue
122-163......................................................Selected Photos
165..............................................................Weather Data
166-181......................................................List of flora and fauna (Many to be identified)
 anu, for you!
My passion for forests and learning photography attracted me to a Her-
petology Expedition. However, if it was not for my wife who saw my in-
terest and thought I must participate, I wouldn’t have considered finding
sponsors and joining the expedition. I dedicate this document to Anu. 1
 I would like to thank my cousin
Deepak and mr. mathew john of Keystone Foundation for giv-
ing me the initial push in cash and kind. My sincere thanks
also to herpactive, goa for this great opportunity.

I am grateful to everyone whose support made this happen.

Finally, thank you, for taking time to read this!

thank you!
2
About this document
This is about my journey to North East India with
a group of photography enthusiasts lead by experts
on reptiles. I have included my thoughts, sketches
and photographs in this ‘report’. The altitude, tem-
perature and distance are sometimes approximate.
This is an incomplete version. You are welcome to
send me more information so that the next version
can be more complete.

About the expedition

The aim of the expedition was to conduct a survey
on the reptiles, including snakes, of Garo hills,
Meghalaya. A sudden unrest in the region shifted
the survey location from Garo hills to Eaglenest
Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh. Organised
by ‘Herpactive, Goa’ the expedition was a wonderful
learning opportunity for me.

About the title

The route went through a different range of alti-
tudes. I tried to make a note of them. Like most of
us, altitude excites me, hence the title.
3
 About me
I grew up in Attappady, Kerala; on the Western
Ghats. My parents believed that education is the
practice of life. They selected a dying out, barren
watershed for building their dream - rural univer-
sity. They wanted to find solutions for water scarcity,
soil erosion, environmental destruction and so on.
They protected the watershed and as a result nature
regenerated a small patch of forest and the small
water source. With some simple techniques, they
regenerated the soil too. I grew up amidst these
activities. My education was about taking enough
resources for my existence and leaving enough for
other’s existence. Natural farming, cooking, build-
ing mud checkdams, making traditional huts, know-
ing more about plants and animals, learning local
technology etc were part of my life and education.

Sarang is the name of the alternative school that my

parents started (The rural university still remains a
dream). Visit saranghills.org to know more about
the school.

Currently I am working as a web developer so as to

run the school, which doesn’t have any other finan-
cial support. Anu joined me a few years ago. Anu
and I also manage the Sarang cultural exchange
center(http://culture.saranghills.org) where we offer
art, language, cooking and Yoga classes.

4
This poster on Facebook caught my attention.
The details of Garo hills (where it was originally
planned) and the opportunity to travel to North
East India with some good photographers got me
excited! And that’s how it all started!

Destination
Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh,
North East India. It is a bio-diversity hotspot. The
name came from the army unit named ‘Eagles’ who
had camped in this region and fought the Chinese
during the 1950 Indo-Chinese war.

Dates
11-21, May 2012

Organiser
Herpactive, Goa, India

Activities
Documentation of flora and fauna, bird
watching, trekking and photography

Participants
9 including me

5
 gearing up
Well, I didn’t have any ‘gear’ (aka camera) for the
photography expedition. While Anu was busy get-
ting the tickets and finding sponsors, I was trying to
borrow a camera from friends. That was not work-
ing out. But a friend came to my rescue with his
credit card and an EMI option! Thus I got the most
40°C
important gear for the expedition : a camera! A
Canon 1100 D with a 18-55 and 55-250 lenses.

The preparation on one hand, work and other

commitments on the other hand, the days in the
calendar passed like in a fast motion movie. The
climax was on May 6th, the day I started my trip.
A few minutes negotiation with a person turned
into a one and a half hour discussion. Buying some
stuff including the filter and SD card for the camera
turned into a half day job in the hot sun! I got just
45 minutes to get back home, pickup the bags and
rush to the railway station. Thank goodness, the
bags were ready the previous day! I reached the sta-
tion on time!

Anu and Hiranya waved as the train pulled away.

80m
Thus on the 6th of May 2012 at 8.25PM, from an
altitude of 80 meters, my trip officially started. Palakkad 80 M MSL
6
The everyday ‘wagon tragedy’!
The train was full and people without confirmed
tickets were sleeping on the floor. I was lucky to get
my ticket confirmed, at least till Chennai!
58M MSL
The journey was in three parts. The second part,
Chennai to Howrah, was the longest and to my great
disappointment my waitlisted ticket didn’t get con-
firmed. I purchased a general class ticket to Howrah. 7M MSL
That night I would sleep on the train floor on some
newspaper!

Even before the train departed the ticket checking

squad pushed their way through the train shouting
at passengers and treating them like criminals. All
they had to do was charge excess fare for travelling
in the sleeper class and issue receipts. Most of the
passengers knew the procedure and were waiting
with money and tickets ready. However, the squad
acted as if everyone tried to travel without a ticket
in the sleeper class coach. Another brutal face of
our bureaucracy. Any moron can calculate the kind
of crowd traveling in a route during a given period.
Why don’t we have enough trains to accommodate
the passengers? The systems push people to breach slept well on the floor between the two facing seats.
the law and then punish them for breaching the law. I had no worries about my backpack since an old
The officer who took excess fare from me told that I man from the upper berth kept the bag under his
can sleep somewhere in the coach. Legally I am not feet and slept. There was police patrol during the
allowed in a sleeper class coach from 6PM to 6 AM! night, shouting and poking passengers sleeping on
During the day I sat on an upper birth and I was 7M MSL the floor. I witnessed only a small part. It gives me
prepared with enough newspapers for the night. I chill to realize that this is happening everyday, ev-
erywhere, all over the country! Where is the ‘by the
people, for the people thing’?! Is this the India that
80M MSL our bygone leaders envisaged?
7
 food of sorts
It was a four days’ journey from Palakkad (where
I live) to Guwahati (the reporting point). I geared
myself up for the long train journey. (Never mind
the list of things on the image in Malayalam) This
was my food bag with all the essentials! I had a
good stock of food items. Most of the time I avoided
food sold in the trains because as a standard the
meals would be of no quality, pungent and lacking
any taste.

Preparing ‘travel food’ is a good activity in the train

where you don’t have much to do otherwise. Prepar-
ing lemonade is also fun. I prefer it sweet, but ‘hot
and salty’ is good against the heat! Here are some of
my favourite travel recipes!

Recipe 1 :
Soak flat rice in water, mix grated coconut, carrots
and jaggery. Add some sliced bananas (or any other
fruit). Sprinkling some cardamom power will bring
out the sweetness and give a delicious flavour to the
preparation.

Recipe 2 :
Soak flat rice with water. Add grated vegetables (car-
rots, onions, chilly etc). Add salt to taste.

Recipe 3 :
Cut some dried fruits, mix it with flat rice and sugar.
Add hot milk (usually available from the pantry
car in the trains or from the stations) and eat hot.
(Tastes better if you take roasted flat rice with you)

8
The must read
Glenda of ‘Herpactive’ had sent me a report on the
bio-diversity project of Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctu-
ary.

The report had details of the flora and fauna of the

sanctuary with pictures, altitude data and habitat
information. This report also glanced through the
conservation efforts taken by Mr.Raman Athreya
with the cooperation of the local communities.
Reading the report made me very excited and it
made me forget the heat and discomfort of sitting
all the time on an upper berth. I was ready to go
through any kind of torture that Indian railway had
to offer if I could be inside a patch of forest in Eagle
nest! The report was as interesting as a novel and as
serious as the conservation efforts they carried out
there. Because I had this report to read, I didn’t take
any other books with me.

I had printed and made the report into a spiral

bound book. Since the print was only on one side,
I used the other side to keep my trip journal. This
way I could switch from reading to writing without
much hassle in the limited space of the upper berth.

The only concern I had was that the report was six
years old. I prayed the six years had made no chang-
es to the scenario and forest. I also hoped the so
called development will be slow in this region. I was
wrong again. The kind of development happening
in this ecologically fragile region is so destructive
and irrecoverable that it had taken a toll even on the
sanctuary. I was to witness this later.

9
 technology and culture
It was the second morning. I got up around 5AM
and found that it was already dawn. Almost one and
a half hours earlier than home!

The train was running through Odisha. Paddy fields

touched the horizon on both the sides of the track.
Sadly there were many smoking chimneys of brick
companies scattered throughout the landscape. It
looked like the fertility of the soil and food produc-
tion were burning on a pyre leaving just smoke for
the next generation.

I was witnessing different patterns of India. Agri-

cultural patterns, water body patterns, construction
patterns and living patterns, all differ from culture
40°C+ to culture, village to village.

In Andhra, people make their cattle sheds near

their fields in a special fashion. Their roofs almost
touched the ground and so, they don’t need walls.
In Odisha they have a two step roof structure. This
style is used even for dog houses and cattle sheds.
Though the pattern changed from place to place, the
materials used were natural. Wood, hay, bamboo,
palm leaves and thatching grass. When we already
have so much knowledge in nature friendly technol-
ogy, it’s a pity that all our mainstream constructions
are completely based on steel and concrete. Both
the Government and the NGO initiatives promote
concrete. None of them consider these century old,
future-proof technologies. We are yet to recognise
the sustainability of the old wisdom and develop
these technologies.

10
love in the time of thirst
There were way too many people on the seats. So
I spent most of the time on one of the top berths
reading or writing.

On the side seats was a middle aged couple. I

guessed they were from Odisha since their language
sounded like Odiya. They must have been farmers.
The husband was wearing pants and shirt while the
wife was in a traditional attire. A typical village wife
with bangles and other ornaments. What enchanted
me was the beauty of the love and care they had
for each other. Talking, laughing, looking for lice
(I don’t consider this as gross. Looking for lice has
been a bonding activity among many populations.
The moving fingers are better than many head mas-
sages)

By the time we reached Vijayawada (26 MSL) the

heat became unbearable. Passengers rushed outside
to get water from wherever possible. The wife went
out and came back with two wet towels. One she
wrapped around their water bottle. With the other
she covered her husband’s head, like a veil. The
smile on her face was just like a newly wed bride! It
was so refreshing to see a couple who hadn’t lost the
‘magic’ of their relationship. Especially in this era in
which everyone finds it difficult to adjust with any-
one. While most of the passengers were generally
frustrated with the heat, the crowd and so many
other things, these love birds were like a cool breeze!

11
 How-da is howrah
I reached Howrah on the 9th of May around
1.30PM, about 45 minutes late. There was only a
few minutes gap between my arrival and the de-
parture of my next train. Train information was
available only at the enquiry counter some three
blocks away. I ran to the counter and found out
that the train would start only at 2.55PM! Ha! there
was enough time. I went to a restaurant. Since the
meals would take 40 minutes to get ready, I had
Chhole-Battura. The restaurant was on the second
floor from where you have a nice view of the bakery
on the first floor. The fine windows reminded me
of the arch of a Borma. In the restaurant there were
many smiling beautiful girls and the men looked
40°C like Keralites.
I was wearing my ‘mundu’ (wrongly called lungi all
over North India). However only a very few people
noticed it and gave me the ‘oh you are a Madrasi!”
kind of look. Either people here are used with mun-
du, or they are very polite, friendly and tolerant.
Howrah station has 22 (or more?) platforms and
many buildings giving out all kinds of wrong infor-
mation; much confusion for a new comer. I found
the train number, name and departure time on the
whiteboard behind the enquiry staff. However, the
platform number was not mentioned. After many
unsuccessful attempts in getting this information,
I heard the answer given to someone else who had
a louder voice. Supposedly, the platform number
7m would be notified only minutes before the arrival
of the train! If they could display this on a piece of
12
paper, life would have been easier for them as well
as for the passengers.
I waited on the platform and luckily met two fami-
lies who are also waiting for the same train. Relief!
At least I would not be the only one who misses
the train due to wrong information. I prayed for
the train to come on one of the nearby platforms.
I was not sure whether I could make it to the 22nd
platform in time! And the announcement comes at
3PM that the train will leave at 03.05 from platform
number 14! What the Friday! I mean there was no
announcement of arrival and they were announcing
the departure! Very funny!
As the announcement came, all hell broke loose!
People running up and down, workers carrying
big suitcases on their heads shouting to watch out,
heavy two wheel carts being pushed through, the
pushers screaming at people, policemen walking
calmly among this confusion and a few ‘queues’
blocking the way! I ran with everyone else. I had to
stop time to time because of the heavy bags. On the
14th platform, the train was just arriving! Very, very
funny!
Anticlimax : The train left around 3.30, a cool one
hour plus late! Ah! Too funny!
happy to help, really!
One soldier, an old couple and a smiling young
man were my notable co-passengers. Though there
was an initial scuffle regarding the soldier’s big
box taking all the leg room, the dispute got settled
very quickly. Generally everyone was content and
in good spirits. The soldier was going to his new
camp somewhere in the North East. The young
man, a student in Howrah, was visiting his friends
in Guwahati. His father, a ticket examiner stays in
Dibrugarh, where this train line ends! The couple
made fun of his father being at the end of the world.
Obviously the young man didn’t like it. But still he
kept his smiling profile intact. Bravo! Since it’s a
single line, the train stopped every now and then for
other trains to pass. Apparently this delay was the
reason for him not going to his parents. By the time
he reaches home, it will be time for him to return.
He talked a lot about this part of India and how
development doesn’t reach here.
My mobile battery was running low. I went in
search for a plug point so that I can charge my
mobile. All the plugs were engaged and people were
waiting for their turns. Then I came across these
cheerful people. They have plugged in an extension
box. So many chargers hung from the extension box
like leeches. They welcomed me with open hands
and let me charge my phone. They told me to charge
it to my content! They also made room for me to
sit in the crowded space! Its so nice to see smiling
people!
happy faces!
A soldier, an old couple and a smiling young man
were my notable co-passengers. Though there
was an initial scuffle regarding the soldier’s big
box taking all the leg room, the dispute got settled
very quickly. Generally everyone was content and
in good spirits. The soldier was going to his new
camp somewhere in the North East. The young
man, a student in Howrah, was visiting his friends
in Guwahati. His father, a ticket examiner, stays in
Dibrugarh where this train line ends! The couple
made fun of his father being at the end of the world.
Obviously the young man didn’t like it. But still he
kept his smile intact. Bravo! Since it was a single
line, the train stopped every now and then to allow
other trains to pass. Apparently this delay was the
reason for him not traveling to his parents. By the
time he reached home, it would be time for him to
return. He talked a lot about this part of India.
In the train I was walking up and down looking for
a plug point so that I could charge my mobile. I had
to call the homestay in Guwahati once I reached
there. All the plugs were engaged and people were
waiting for their turns. Then I came across some
cheerful people. They have plugged in an extension
box. Many chargers hung from the extension box
like leeches. They welcomed me with open hands
and let me charge my phone. They also made room
for me to sit! It was so nice to see smiling people!
13
 away from Indian standard time!

I had moved farther from the Indian Standard Time

line. I got up at around 3.30 AM and could already
see the faint light of dawn. The landscape became
visible by 4-4.30 AM. The soil was cracked in a big
way and there were lonely trees scattered all over.
Wait a minute! It was not cracked soil that I was
seeing, but tea plantations! Tea plantation on the
plains was a strange sight. It took me a few minutes
5 AM to realise it.

As sunlight spread over the landscape, more life

was revealed through my window. Houses, farms,
people, cycles, cows and children of all sizes! Every
house had bamboo planted along the fence. They
25°C seemed to use bamboo for everything.

Though I had the camera with me all this time, I

hadn’t taken it out for the fear of loosing it. But the
calm morning and the scenes outside urged me to
go for it. From this point on I have more photos
5.20 AM and less notes.

14 6.03 AM
Was it a cyclone?
Outside there were signs of a recent cyclone (or was
it something else?) There were many uprooted trees
and damaged buildings. In two different places I saw
toppled trains! I don’t remember seeing any news
about such accidents. Were they accidents? Or was
it be some terrorist attack? I will never know. My
co-passengers didn’t seem to know what happened
to those trains either.
15
 rolling meadows and skinny cows

On both sides of the track there were meadows.

Some was cultivated land left fallow till the next
season. There was cattle scattered around the land-
scape, munching on the fresh green grass. However
they did not look well-fed. Maybe this greenery
I was seeing came at the end of a long draught. I
couldn’t come up with a better theory. So much
land, so much grass and ‘no strings attached’. Why
else were the cows so thin?

I saw military trucks taking soil from these places.

Looking at the tracks, I felt that this was a routine.
Where were they taking the soil? For what? Were
they too adopting the traditional technology of
bamboo woven, mud plastered walls? There were
many square holes in the meadows. As if someone
had taken the grass patches for their garden.

16
kamakhya : a goddess, a place

Kamakhya is a place just outside Guwahati.

There is a temple on a hill near to the railway sta-
tion. As the train neared the Kamakhya station the
young man told me the story behind the temple.

Lord Shiva, angered seeing the burnt body of Sati,

his wife, who had jumped into the fire due to her
father, started dancing with her charred body in
his hands. As he went into a trance, the body shat-
tered and fell at different parts of India. Her vagina
(‘yoni’) fell on a hilltop called Nilachal (Nila : blue
Chal : mountain. See Aruna-chal, Hima-chal etc)
A temple was built here in reverence to Sati, who is
considered to be the Shakti (power) of Shiva.

A search on the internet told me a lot about the

temple including the radio carbon dating study
data. Apparently, the lower part of the temple was
built 200 years before Christ. It is also interesting to
know that there is a similar temple in California for
Goddess Kamakhya, built by some devotees very
recently.

As the train slowed down at the station, agents look-

ing for passengers bound to Manipur rushed inside
and started asking around. Agents were there on
the platform too. “Anyone to Manipur?” echoed all
over. The old man said that it is very difficult to get
to Manipur. So the agents try to get as many pas-
sengers as possible for their few buses. I saw similar
agents and their buses in Guwahati town later.
image courtesy : http://2.bp.blogspot.com/
17
 an intoxicating pan shop
The train stopped at nowhere for the hundredth
time! Guwahati station was just across the river. The
young man’s friend who had been contacting him
on phone was getting impatient at the station. The
train was more than three hours late! While he de-
bated with himself whether to get down and take a
bus or not, I watched some funny incidents outside.
38°C
The track was at a height here as it was approaching
the bridge. A few meters down was the main road
with a bus stop. There were crowded buses, with
the conductor half hanging out like a hawk, com-
ing and going. There was a sugarcane juice vendor.
There was also this drunkard who was disturbing
women near the bus stand. Following him made me
discover an otherwise un-noticeable liquor business.
There was this lady sitting behind a small box with
pan and various kinds of tobacco products. From
the road no one would notice anything unusual.
But I had the advantage of height and angle. As
her customers come and squat nearby, she takes a
bottle from under some dried leaves on the sly and
serves a brew! We stopped there around 20 minutes
and she had many customers coming and going! A
woman fueling men who might be going back home
58m to beat up their wives! On the other hand, she might
be looking after her kids with that money!
18
a thirsty juice vendor
19
 the shortcut that turned to be a ‘wrong cut’
Finally the train arrived at Guwahati three and a
half hours late! Thankfully it was only afternoon.
(Guwahati is mostly dark during the nights due to
severe power cuts. Can’t imagine how I would have
managed in a dark Guwahati with all my luggage!)

The railway station was quiet big and crowded. It

had clean platforms (according to Indian standards)
a lot of sign boards and as I would learn soon, two
foot over bridges.

I had to refill my food bag, buy a rain coat, trek-

king shoes, a headlight, and some tobacco against
leeches. The young man I met in the train gave me
directions to get these things. So my first target
become Phultan Bazaar (pronounced ‘faltan’). The
bazaar was behind Guwahati station.
Following directions I went to the back of the sta-
tion using the foot over bridge which took me to
an abandoned platform. It didn’t look like a normal
way out. To my dismay, now I saw the second foot
over bridge some distance away through which
people were getting out. It was covered with iron net
on both the sides.
20
infiltrating phultan bazar!
There was no way to get on to the right foot over
bridge. Wait, a man who saw my exasparated look
encouraged me to jump over a wall and reach the
steps! He wasn’t kidding! There was a hole in the net
towards the entrance of the stairs. If I could climb
the wall, I could get to the stairs though the hole. I
gave him my food bag (Risking his running away
with it!). Remembering the ‘Famous Five’ and simi-
lar stories by Enid Blyton, my childhood favourite,
I climbed over the wall and jumped on to the stairs!
I thanked the man and asked him again for direc-
tions, just in case…
Filling the blanks tracing my wandering in the city
Phultan bazaar was full of people, cows, dogs, road
side vendors, fruits, flowers, fish and a heavy mili-
tary presence. I managed to get most of the items
shorts
on my list, but not before I visited Guwahati club
area, fancy bazaar and a few other little places I can’t
remember the names of. The blue on the map fol-
lows my route! Seeing the ferry jetty, for a moment,
I mistook the Brahmaputra river for the ocean!

With the kind of response I was getting from the

shoe shops, I thought I would never get trekking
shoes in Guwahati. Finally a stranger gave me direc-
tions to a shop for the police and military. There I
got the second pair of shoes in my life! It costed me
only INR 400 including the three pairs of socks!
This made me happy! I don’t use the shoes frequent-
ly, so why spend big on it?

I bought tobacco for using against leeches. The man

selected good leaves from the pile, told me how to Rain coat
look for the good leaves, why the stems should be
avoided and how he wisely stays away from chew-
ing tobacco! It was true; he was not chewing and
he seemed proud about it. A lady came and argued
with him about something. I didn’t understand most
of it but I felt they were friends in some strange way
since their tones shifted from anger to laughter to
sadness to laughter swiftly. There are so many rela-
tobacco powder
tions that are not portrayed in the movies. Really!

The bags felt very heavy as I walked from street to

Plastic Sheet
street. I sat in front of a shop to take a break. Then
I noticed the number of inverter shops! They sell
solar panels and lanterns too. Later I learnt that
powercuts were too common in this city.
shoes 21
 The Baruah Guest house
Though the landmarks sounded very clear over
phone, at the instructed bus stop I found that
there are many NRL petrol pumps and ICICI bank
branches in the area. On top of that I realised that
the auto I hired had a drunk driver! He was so sure
about the Baruah Service Station. After a taking
me to a few service stations, he started blaming me
for confusing him with the NRL petrol bunks. It
took Sanjay, our host, to stop us from our otherwise
never ending odyssey. We had a real time commen-
tary kind of conversation over phone on my where-
abouts and he spotted us on time!

Mr. Baruah welcomed me with a pleasant smile.

He hosts many famous professional photographers
at his homestay. People from National Geographic
and such used this place as their base camp while
they went into the North Eastern forests for various
assignments.

There was a Mahindra Scorpio Getaway outside the

house. I mistook it for the vehicle which would take
us to the Sanctuary. I mean it looked the right kind
of vehicle for an expedition.
22
I meEt us

Finally, here we were! Nirmal, Dev, Ajith, Oumkar,

Nanda, myself, Ankur, Tapoti and Mamta. Everyone
was sitting around a table chatting and having tea.

Nirmal and Dev represented Herpactive. Ankur was

the youngest. Of the two girls one looked beautiful
and the other cute. Ajith was the other person from
Kerala. Nanda and Oumkar seemed to have a lot in
common. Most of them knew each other from other
similar expeditions. I was the only first timer.

Nirmal gave us a small introduction to what was

waiting for us at the Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary.
“Take as many pictures as you can. You might be
documenting a new species unknown to science. This
is one of the many unexplored forests of the North

members of the team

East India” He went on about the safety measures
and general practices to be adopted while we were
at the sanctuary. He also mentioned about avoiding
photography near military instalations.

My parents used to be resource persons for the

camps conducted by the forest department in
Kerala. As a kid I was lucky to have gone deep into

nirmal

ajith
Silent Valley National Park and spend days inside

dev
learning and exploring. I grew up listening to adults
talking about conservation, sustainability and envi-
mamta
ronment. It had been a long time since I was in a
real forest and I couldn’t wait to reach the sanctuary,
smell the forest, be among the huge trees and feel at
nanda

ankur
home again!

tapoti gautham oumkar 23

 a candle light dinner and other hot stories

After Nirmal’s pep talk, we all decided to go out for

dinner. The cook of the guest house offered to make
dinner. However we thought a walk in the town
would be good for all of us. In other words, who
could change the destiny!

The walk proved very useful since it gave me time to

talk to everyone individually. It was interesting to
see a common cause uniting people from different
walks of life.

We went into ‘Valentine Restaurent’, which was a

bar too. In Guwahati a powercut was no news! The
waiter lit a candle for us! Very romantic! After all it
was ‘Valentine’!

As our sight got adjusted to the darkness of the bar,
we started to see the real ‘colours’. There were a few
boys and girls drinking and smoking all over the
place. Since everyone was giggling or talking there
was much noise. When a businessman joined the
boys next to our table, the girls surrounded him
with all kind of bollywood techniques including
sitting on his lap, dancing, laughing, kissing... We
smelt ‘love in the air’. Before things got too hot to
handle, we cancelled our orders and slipped out of
the place.
of the other place. Imagine a police raid! The next
day newspapers would have all of us! This chat went
on for another half an hour or so. Sorry, your order
will be ready in another fiftenn minutes. Another
fifteen to twenty minutes and still there is no sign
of food. Everyone was hungry, it was getting late.
Dev expressed our anger to the manager in very
firm language and cancelling the order we left that
place. Let us just go back and tell the cook to make
us some rice and dal! Sorry, brothers (and sisters) it
is too late, I cannot cook now!

We had a good laugh and went into the ‘Break and
Take’ restaurant. After a good twenty minutes
the waiter comes and announces that there is no
58m chicken. Alright, let us have the rest of the items.
We started talking about how lucky we are to get out
24
With all the drama and walking around, some of
us cancelled the idea of dinner. Some had dinner
from a fancy place just across the street! Though
the adventure was a bit frustrating, it was a good ice
breaker among us!
On our way
Guwahati to eaglenest 58m
100m

25
 guwahati to eagle nest
The kind of construction happening in this eco-
logically fragile region is shocking. Hills are being
carved out for roads and buildings. Apparently
temperatures in North East region are set to in-
crease by 1.8 to 2.1 degrees Celsius in the next two
decades(infochangeindia.org). What else can be
expected with so much destruction!
26
Paneer local liquor?

Bamboo craft!

All of us took this shot!

grass for cattle

75m

brick making a light moment at Tezpur (75 M MSL) 27

 The bamboo country
There are more than 50 species of bamboos in North
East India. What I saw was the possibilities of bam-
boo. Walls to shops to baskets to fence, bamboo can
be considered the synonym of possibilities. These
are some shots of the bamboo culture we saw on our
way.
28
all roads lead to roads

The road was under construction in many places. At

times the dust made it difficult to see through. There
were tanker lorries sprinkling water to reduce dust.
We were inside the safety of airconditioning. I can’t
imagine the situation of people traveling in open
vehicles.

There was convoy after convoy of military vehicles.

As we neared the border the military presence was
becoming more evident and saturated. Military
bases, airstrips and so on.

A few years ago the military tried to develop a road

through the Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary. However
pointing out the endangered species in this region,
some good souls managed an order from the Su-
preme Court against any such development within
the Sanctuary. I hope that the order stays. If they
take this kind of development to such ecological
fragile regions, there will be nothing left of the same.
29
 classic.kanglaonline.com

213 m

Entering Arunachal Pradesh

Bhalukpong is at the Assam - Arunachal border. We

needed prior permissions to enter Arunachal. Nir-
mal and his friends had arranged them before hand.
bhalukpong ( 213M MSL )
30
lunch at a small hotel
In my childhood we used to
have fern curry at home. Later
when our farm became abun-
dant in vegetables, we forgot
fern being a food. At Bhaluk-
pong, we had a tasty lunch at a
small family-run hotel. One of
the side-dishes was made of a
kind of fern.

There were some very cute chil-

dren playing in and out of the
building. Ankur and Ajith got
busy clicking their photos.

We continued our journey after

lunch.

31
 the cute kids through the curtain
32
70 million years!
About 70 million years ago the Deccan plate, which
was drifting northward collided into the Tibetan
block creating the Himalaya mountain range. This
process pushed many rivers under. The round stones
found everywhere in this region are from those
ancient river beds! You can find them on these hill
sides even at a depth of a few feet.

215 m

a few meters after bhalukpong ( 215 M MSL )

33
3250 m

A temple at sessa (3250M MSL)

and the ascend starts!

Kameng is a tributary of the great river Brahmapu-
tra. After leaving Bhalukpong, for a long while we
22°C saw the river a few hundred meters below. The road
through the steep hill side was being developed.
There was a lot of soil erosion due to the excavation.
How many tons of soil would have been irrecover-
ably lost each rainy season!

We were leaving the plains at Bhalukpong. The

ascend had already started. The climate and the
forests changed as we went up.

There were a lot of wild plantains, figs with big red

fruits, orchids, and a lot of fog. The steep and tall
hils looked majestic with their magical appearences
through the mist.

Sessa was one of the many settlements on the way

to Tenga. There were many tiny tents, which were
the sentry posts of the military. There was also an
orchid sanctuary on our way.
34
Rusting in peace
During the 1950 Indo-China war, this was the
road that was used by the Indian army to reach
the frontier. All along the way we saw many small
stones or concrete markings with names of soldiers.
Apparently the road was in a very bad shape at that
time and brake failure was common. There had been
many accidents and those stones marked the acci-
dent sites and the lost souls! There are many vehicles
still lying down in the depths of these hill sides un-
able to be recovered.
The pass is under constant observation of the army.
Every now and then we came across small, torn and
pathetic, tents made of plastic sheets. Its a miracle
that these poor soldiers who keep watch all through
this cold weather and mist survive. I think we have
budget only for guns and bombs, not for these hu-
man beings who keep constant vigil at our borders.
Overly made-up girls in flashy attire (mini skirts, in
this cold weather) stood out of the otherwise laid
back settlements and small towns dotted our way. I
beg your forgiveness if i mistook you girls, but I had
a feeling that this is an inevitable consequence of a
military base. What would be an alternative outlet
for all these soldiers who have nothing much to do
during the times of peace? Maybe its a good idea
that we legalise sex-work till the issue is addressed
holistically.
the valley of stories
We climbed up and down through the hill ranges
and reached a valley that reminded me of distant
valleys in the russian stories of my childhood. Pine
forests, steep hill slopes meeting the turquois blue
river gurgling along, little square vegetabe patches
and little wooden houses.
Well, by now my mind had adjusted with the mili-
tary being part of all scenery. The valley was full
of military bases, military sign boards, armoured
vehicles, modern canons, helipads, check posts,
sentries and so on. Many hill slopes had regiment
names written with stones and things. They were
so huge that one can easily spot those names even
from an aircraft. Many regiments were part of the
Kargil war. Name of one such regiment was ‘Fikar
not Fourteen’(Don’t worry fourteen). These are the
regiments with a lot of stories to tell since they are
so close to the border.
This valley also had witnessed the failure of the In-
dian Army during the Indo-China war. The beauty
of the valley hides all this violence under it’s pleas-
ant vistas.
Due to the military presence, I restrained myself
from taking any photos of this valley.
35
1980 m

28°C

tenga : the stop before wilderness

Tenga was a small town situated in a valley. Here
we stopped for a while to buy snacks and to meet
Indi Babu, who supported Dr. Ramana in establish-
ing the Eaglenest Biodiversity Project. Indi Babu ar-
ranged local transport and the camps for us during
our expedition at Eaglenest.
tenga (1980M MSL)
36
 2300 m

12°C

lama camp
our first destination (2700 M MSL)

37
 dalai lama’s refuge : lama camp
This is where Dalai Lama took refuge while in exile.
Hence the name Lama Camp. As part of the Eagle-
nest Biodiversity Project, Dr. Ramana developed
this spot into a camp for research and studies. The
running of this camp was entrusted to the Bugun
community. Bugun is one of the few tribes who
understand the value of conservation.

At the camp most of the construction was with

bamboo. The tents were within a bamboo woven
cocoon. The toilets used another type of bamboo
weaving. Bamboo woven walls reinforced with mud
plaster is used by the tribes in our region too. In
fact check dams built by my family at Sarang’s wa-
tershed borrowed this method of weaving from the
local tribes. Had this technology developed simulta-
neously in different places? Or was it something that
people took with them while spreading across the
continent?

They rear goats and grow vegetables in the camp.

There were a few young men who did all the cook-
ing. An old man looked after the goats.

We went for a night trail before dinner. We searched

the branches, the slopes, the road and under rocks
for snakes. Except for mistaking some innocent
sticks on the road for snakes, we found nothing.
However the experience was good. Beams of the
powerful torches in an otherwise pitch dark road,
sounds of jungle night life, the fresh air with the fra-
grance of forest, our boots crunching on the gravel
and the excitement of being part of a team with so
much knowledge on reptiles... I mentally thanked
Anu for encouraging me to join this expedition!
38
 firstlight : around 3.30 am
sun rise : around 4.30 am

14°C

morning at Lama camp

The tenga valley The dining hall and tents

39
 long tentacled ‘development’
Some people from the nearby villages live at Lama
camp. Apart from looking after the visitors at the
camp, they also farm and rear goats. Potatos, Cab-
bage, Cauliflower, Onions, Tomato, Carrot etc are
the crops. The climate is most suitable for these
crops. An old man from a nearby village looks after
the goats, also the cultivation. I saw him roaming
around in the fields with a sprayer. I prayed he was
not spraying any chemical pesticides. All the seed
packets stuck near the plots were from big seed
companies. Can they grow hybrid seeds without
chemicals and pesticides?

On one of our snake trails, we inspected an aban-

doned military building. We found no snakes.
However, there were ‘I Love Us’ written with the
heart piercing arrow signs all over the walls! I was
standing at 3000 Meter above sea level on one of the
remotest frontiers of India. I have seen this sign all
over the country even in the most remote, or illiter-
ate corner. Certain messages and symbols reach
every populated corner of Earth. Just like the hy-
brid seeds that I saw at Lama camp. Their messages
reach their intended destination, no matter what.
The question is, do the environmentalists have such
a strong communication system so as to reach the
millions they try to address.

40
The wait is over
The next few days we spent up and down the road in
search of snakes. We found many birds, butterflies,
dameselflies, insects, small animals and different
plant species, but no snakes. Since plants interested
me a lot, not finding a snake didn’t bother me much.
I took as many pictures as I felt necessary.

I had a go at taking some bird pictures too. How-

ever, expecting one of the calendar bird photos with
my 250mm lens would have been pure greed. I was
happy clicking flowers, which didn’t move away
from my lens range. Also I could enjoy the excellent
bird pictures taken by Oumkar and Nanda. They
had 400mm lenses.

One day we climbed halfway up a hill. I had a good

look at the forest. There were huge trees covered in
moss, like in a rain forest. But something was miss-
ing. Maybe this was a special type of rain forest.
41
 the blind side of research
Dr. Ramana’s students were camping nearby as part
of their research and studies. Our team and the stu-
dents interacted on different levels during the days
at the camp. They were a bit too noisy for a camp
inside a forest. But further interactions revealed
their lack of interest in conservation or Nature.
Many of them were there just because of the course.
Some of them showed a kind of arrogance/callous-
ness towards their subjects. One of them boasted
that he can collect live specimens even from Silent
Valley National Park! (Collecting specimen means,
catching a snake, lizard, frog or anything that comes
under his reasearch and taking it to wherever he
pleases to do further studies.) Maybe it is possible,
but does he have to be so ruthless about it? Another
one caught a rare lizard (Japalaura antersoniana)
and a snake. The lizard was a beautiful one with
rainbow colours on its underbelly and head. He kept
the animals in transparent plastic bottles. While
showing them to me, he shook the bottle, turned
it this way and that, held it upside down... Finally I
had to request him to be gentle with the poor ani-
mals!
They collected around 1500 moths from 300 odd
species with their ‘moth screen’ (In Hindi Moth
means Death). Its a white screen with attached ultra
violet lights, which attracts moths. Moths fallen
from the screen got trampled by the researchers. I
heard one senior researcher consoling a sad junior
: “Many of them die, there is nothing we can do!”
It is the lack of passion that makes people so indif-
ferent. Otherwise, how come members of our team
handled the lizards, butterflies, insects and snakes
with so much of love and care?
42
with flying colours
Lama camp is an excellent spot for bird watching.
With bright colours, different sizes, behaviours and
sounds, birds were all over. Many looked like com-
ing out of a calendar photo. However the misty
climate made it difficult to click pictures. Aumkar
and Nanda, with their huge lenses, walked around
whenever there was a little sunlight and clicked
beautiful pictures of these beautiful birds.
43
 Being the center of attention
There was always a photo session when we caught
some lizard or snake. While our ‘model’ wondered
which way to run (or slither) away, we were busy
getting a good angle. I couldn’t help click a picture
whenever this happened.
japalura andersoniana [ juvenile ]
44
An unknown territory of species

In the evenings we sat together with the day’s pho-

tos . The task of identifying birds was quiet easy
since Nirmal had bought a few excellent books with
pictures. Except than a few, Ajith could identify
most of the butterflies. Nobody had much idea
about the plants and insects.

These sessions brought our different views, visuals

and perspective together. It also revived old mem-
mories for Dev and Nirmal, who had participated in
surveys with Dr. Ramana.
45
2700+ m

15°C

to bomphu
After a few days at the Lama camp, we went on to
our next camp which was some 4 hours by jeep. All
these roads were built by the Indian soldiers a few
decades ago. At many places there had been land-
slides. We could clearly see that even such a small
road could make such a bad impact on this fragile
ecology. It was amazing to see trees growing (or
rather clinging) on these steep slopes.
46

eaglenest pass [ 2800M MSL ]
2800 m
roosting ground of the eagles
At Eaglenest pass (2800M MSL) the altitude peaked
before we started our descend to Bomphu. Being
the operational ground of the ‘Eagle’ regiment, this
region played a crucial role in the Indo-China war.
On this road we also saw many monuments raised
for fallen soldiers.
47
2465 m

15°C

the ghost camps

We came across many abandoned camps like this
one (sunderview) on our way to Bomphu. The two
reasons mentioned were animals and insurgents.
None of the buildings were damaged by either of
these. Is there a reasons that is not mentioned ?
48
snake ahoy!
We were passing through elephant territory. The
driver slammed the brakes. Was it an elephant? Af-
ter a second’s hesitation the vehicle moved forward.
The driver exclaimed,
“Sala, bach gaya!” (The rascal got away!)
What?
“Ek saap saab!” (It was a snake, sir)
At this rather harmless remark, all hell broke loose
in the vehicle. This time the driver had to stop the
vehicle. Poor guy! How could he understand our
excitement at the mere mention of a snake! After so
many days and nights of searching and frustration
finally here we were, face to face with a snake!

Nirmal and Dev found the snake just sliding away

into the safety of a tree trunk. After marking the
place, they put the snake into one of the snake bags
and we continued our journey.

Many of us had given up any hope finding a snake

during this trip. This new find gave all of us a new
energy. amphiesma sp (?)
49
 17°C
1940 m

bomphu
the second destination (1940M MSL)

50
the land of Bamboo!
The place is full of bamboo and hence the name,
Bomphu (Bamboo in local language). The canteen
shown above was originally built for the military.

There was a temple and this holy cube like struc-

ture just across our tents. The stones leaning on
the structure had things written in Nepali looking
script.
51
 “Awesomeness unlimited!!!”
Being a person from Kerala, bathing at least once
in a day was a must for me. Many of us thought
bathing in this cold weather was unnecessary and
crazy! At Bomphu hot water was plenty and gingerly
though, some decided to take a chance. The verdict
: “Awesomeness unlimited!” Soon one after another
all of us had a bath and become ‘awesome people!’ Bomphu explained
52
 1800 m

tobacco is injurious to leeches

The climate was much different from Lama camp.
Here it was always cloudy with occasional rains. The
sun showed only a few times. Towards Sessni, the
roads were infested with leeches. I tried the leech-
socks on the first day, but found the tobacco-petro-
leum jelly mix more useful and hassle free.

Mamta and I tested a few theories on how leeches

detect us. We concluded that temperature is defi-
nitely one factor. Later I learnt that they detect the
prey by smell, movement and temperature! Some
species even have sonars! It was amazing to see such
a tiny formless creature, with an ultra modern com-
plex sensing system.
53
 the missing checklist
What I really missed was a checklist of plants found
in the North East. The creeper in this photo should
be a Macuna species. Some of us mistook it for an
A fern, near bomphu orchid.
54
a study in scarlet (or in yellow)
Dr. Ramana, his students and colleagues have been
meticulously studying this region’s biodiversity.
They have marked the region into different ‘plots’ - a
marked territory and ‘ranges’ - altitudes. They have
used Global Positioning System and barometers to
pin point the ranges.

One group of students were studying rodents. They

had set up traps and marked the spots with these
scarlet ribons. We found many of them on our
snake trails.

The numbers on these yellow boards corresponds to

the altitude range marked on a map. (Nailing this
board on the tree must be the act of an ignorant vol-
unteer. Otherwise the markers were always placed
with bamboo or other sticks.)

55
 species distribution
One day we walked down the Bomphu - Sessni
road. As usual, everyone was looking for herpeto-
fauna (snakes, lizards, skinks in layman’s language)
under rocks, among roots and foliage. We came
across this long tree trunk covered in moss, pinned
down by some plants and creepers.
pupa
I saw a reddish-pink flash as the others rolled the
1500 m tree trunk over. I said “There is a snake!” Dev and
Nirmal caught a small black snake (I guess the pink
colour was due to poor visibility). This was a Darjil-
ing Slender snake, the second snake of the expedi-
tion. We all congratulated each other for our discov-
ery. Later we found two more of the same species.

As we descended to the valley, we could easily see

the change in flora and fauna with the altitude dif-
ferences. Nettle (An irritant plant) at one range,
larva
hundreds of Himalayan Yellow Coasters hatching,
mating and emerging from pupa at another range...
Can’t think of a simpler way to understand species
distrubution over different altitudes.
Himalayan Yellow Coaster
56
a bed of of rosaceae
Did you know that Strawberries and Roses are from
the same family? Even at Lama camp I noticed the
abundance of wild strawberries on the ground. At
Bomphu I found many more varieties. Some grow
close to the ground with bright purple fruits while
some grow like a small tree with yellow fruits. Here
is a collection of plants that, I believe, are from the
Rosaceae family.
57
58
 21°C

darjeeling Slendersnake
On the road from Bomphu to Sessni we found this
snake under a fallen tree trunk. It is one of the bur-
rowing snakes, which likes darkness and dampness.
It was hard to get it’s head clear since it tried to hide
from sunlight. trachischium fuscum
59
2000+ m

Being the center of attention

We upturned many decaying tree trunks in the hope
of finding some snake under it. This skink was one
of the findings.
a small skink : on the way to bomphu
60
dhaam dhoom (not the movie)
People who have been to the North East forests will
be familiar with this name. Its a small and silent
blood sucking insect. You will find a small red spot
after a few minutes of a dhaam dhoom bite. That’s
all? Oh no, that is just the red signal! The itching
starts after a few minutes. It drives you crazy espe-
cially during the night. Nanda suggested the best
medicine; do not scratch when it itches! Many of us
found this impossible. He was cool even after the
‘bite count’ crossed 50 just on his foot! One night I
put both my feet in a bucket of ice cold water so as
to sooth the itching. That was helpful. I found Tinc-
ture of Iodine also helpful to an extent, especially
after the red buble had bursted.

I am not sure what these insects inject, but I be-

came more attractive to the mosquitoes afterwards.
I couldn’t find any information on these insects on
the internet. It would be great if someone collects a
few of them for research!

61
 colder weather at higher altitude - True or false?
I had been entrusted with the task of recording the
weather data (Wind speed, relative humidity and
temperature). Handing over the ‘Kestrel’, a digital
wind and climate meter, Nirmal gave me instruc-
tions on how to keep the weather data. Many times
we were in the field at the exact time of taking a
2200 m reading. Though I couldn’t take the readings at
the precise intervals, I managed the records almost
alright. (You will find the data in an appendix in this
document.)

I found an interesting phenomenon. The 10 and 12

degree Celcius at Lama Camp (2800+ Meters) was
not felt as cold as the 15 to 17 degrees in Bomphu
(1940M) The wind was almost the same or some-
times a bit less in Bomphu. I never understood this
difference. Either our meter was wrong, or someone
has a better explanation of why we felt colder in a
lower altitude and a higher atmospheric tempera-
ture.
62
The signal post
These days however remote we claim to be, we are
not really away from civilisation. We all made calls
to our homes, friends and relatives. The busier ones
amongst us even made business deals while being
inside a remote jungle of the North East region.
Both the camps had particular spots where we used
to get a good signal. At Bomphu it was under this
tree that we all found the connection to our own
worlds.

63
 Resource is the limit : Limited is the resource
Digital technology set photography free from 36 to
unlimited clicks. This also introduced the bad habit
of being carefree in clicking pictures. Novices like
me click an un necessary number of pictures of the
same subject, ending up with too many pictures
to choose from. During the expedition a major
challenge was to keep the battery running for as
many days as possible. There was no electricity. The
generator was started every evening for a fixed dura-
tion for charging various devices. Since there was a
crowd at both places with all kinds of equipment the
charging time was a difficult time. Mobile phones,
iPads, laptops, rechargeable batteries for GPS,
Cameras, Flash... The diversity was amazing. Once
or twice the 2 kilowatt generator at Lama Camp got
overloaded due to the charging. Since the other
group was there for more serious studies, we were
adviced not to push too much for resources such as
electricity. Instead we practiced clicking only neces-
sary pictures (well, a little more than necessary)
avoiding flash as much as possible, using manual
focus etc.

Nanda had a ‘wind up torch’. That doesn’t need any

recharging. We should design a ‘wind up universal
re-charger’. Maybe like a small Charkha (spinning
wheel) It would keep you warm (since you will have
to wind it for a long time) and all your equipment
fully charged at any climate.
64
a running date
Though walks were our major activity during the
expedition, most of us went for walks early in the
mornings or in the evenings. Walking was different
while you are in search of snakes. Your concentra-
tion is in finding some movement under a stone,
on a branch or inside a hole. As a single group our
subjects were mostly the fauna of this forest or some
other forest. The morning or evening walks gave us
individual thinking space or a chance to know more
about another team mate.

Mamta prefered running (jogging) in the evenings.

One evening, when she asked my company I was
more than happy to join her. Nirmal called it a
‘running date’. Like she was taking me out for a
jungle dinner (since candles were not in fashion in
Bomphu).

While jogging and walking back we talked about

traveling, cultures, food, flirting, cheating and so on.
It had never occurred to me that running with a
woman could make me closer to her. We had inter-
esting discussions on relations. It is really interesting
to study our own behaviour as a modern species, es-
pecially when it comes to relations. It is the human
behaviour that men and women get closer when
doing things together. It can be just talking, building
something together or working in the same office.
Since we, human beings, have made our own rules
and regulations in relations, it is always safe to know
one’s limits. So while enjoying the growing bond
between us, we kept our mutual respect always.

65
 up up and up a (long) way!
One day we decided to climb the hill behind our
camp through a forest trail. One of the boys from
the camp agreed to be our guide. This walk was the
most interesting one in the entire trip. The steep way
up started abruptly from the foothills. Nirmal had
2100 m to go back since he had breathing problems. Nanda
and Oumkar decided to stay back at the camp since
it was too steep for them.

The trail went straight up through culms of reed and

bamboo. (Apt name for the camp indeed!) The slope
reminded me of our own hill back at home. I have
been going up and down the hill since I was three!
Naturally a walk like this made me excited in more
than one way. On our way we checked each and
every log, hollow tree trunks and stones. Once Dev
saw something going into the dry leaves carpeted all
over the forest floor. Once again, we didn’t encoun-
ter any reptiles from this walk. But we all enjoyed
the forest, different plants and the walk itself.

The way back, we walked through the road, realising

the actual distance we covered.
66
2100 m

67
 up up and up a (long) way!
Once again we were thrown into the middle of
species distribution over a vast range of altitudes.
I couldn’t get many pictures due to poor light. The
forest was dense and sometimes there was mist.

We came across this fern which covered an entire

area like a blanket. We saw a creeper with a purple
berry. Our guide didn’t know whether it was edible
or not. The trees were covered with moss.

Though our GPS ran out of battery, with the help of

the markers placed on the roadside we calculated
that we ascended around 350 meters vertical. The
GPS had a nice graph of our ascend and descend.

68
And rome was burning...
While at Bomphu we heard the bad news of spread-
ing forest fire caused by hunting parties near Lama
Camp. There are many tribes in this region. While
some of the communities realise the importance
of conservation, many others are yet to understand
the impact, on environment and their own future,
caused by their activities. (In respect of the nature
loving Bugun community, Dr. Ramana kept the
name Bugun Liocichla to the rare bird that had been
found in Eaglenest sanctuary.)

Apparently hunting has become an income genera-

tion activity since there is high demand for wild
meat in the army camps, especially among the high-
er ranks. One of the easy ways to get the animals out
of their hiding places is to put fire to the forests.

On our way back from Bomphu, we saw thick

smoke raising from forests across Lama Camp.
There was fire on the summit above Lama Camp.
The camp was under threat!

Though the army has stuck posters against forest fire

all around Tenga city, it was little help in prevent-
ing fire. The greenery we saw on our way to Lama
Camp on the first day had turned into a charred
scenery on our way back.

Unless the people realise their loss with every inch

of forest being destroyed, none of this is going to
change. The fire will go on and on.

69
2400 m

walking back
covering some distance between bomphu and lama camp
an abandoned military watch tower
70
 to walk or not to walk
The proposition of walking all the way back to Lama
Camp was super exciting. Unlike in a vehicle, you
get to see, smell, feel and listen to the forest. How-
ever everyone didn’t feel that as a good idea. So we
walked for a few hours and were picked up by the
vehicles later.

As a child I was taught to follow certain rules while

in a forest. These rules have proven very useful in
my visits to different sanctuaries throughout the
Western Ghats, also in Orissa and elsewhere. One
major rule was to stick to the group, especially in
unknown territory. Moving through a forest area,
we cross many paths unknown to us. From snakes
to elephants to the big cats, everyone has their own
territory and corridors. Just because we are insensi-
tive to these, we can’t claim that we are not breach-
ing them. So the idea is to keep a low profile and
move as a group. I was told it was also important to
keep all your senses open so as to take in the beauty
as much as possible, also to avoid unnecessary en-
counters.

Unfortunately, the seven of us who decided to walk

were divided into more than two groups. Maybe
everyone else was much more experienced with
forests. Some of us walked, no almost ran while
some of us were trailing behind. Unlike other walks
we had, this one showed no unity among us. Maybe
everyone was frustrated with not spotting as many
snakes as we expected.

After a while, I decided not to worry too much and

enjoy the walk while trying to keep a lookout for
everyone.
the invaluable heritage
71
 We were climbing steadily from 1940 meters to
2200 meters plus. Once again we saw the species
distribution changing. Around 2000 meters we
started to see the Purple Sunbird again. Also Rho-
dodendrons. We came across a terrestrial orchid
that we had spotted earlier at around 1500 meters.

72

taking a break at the stream
walk on
Mamta and I were walking upfront now. Ajith was
too far behind trying to click some butterfly images.
All others were in between. Suddenly I sensed the
odour of an animal. It smelt like a stronger version
of cow dung. I knew this place was swarming with
Bisons and Elephants. Only a few days ago a vehicle
coming to Bomphu had been chased away by a
Bison alfa male. Thankfully we didn’t come across
any such animals. However this warning must have
enlightened some of us, because from then onwards,
we were walking almost like one group.
As I am not used to shoes, I was getting really un-
comfortable in them. We were walking on the road,
there was no threat of me stepping on some wriggly
friends. So I decided to remove my shoes! What a
relief! It really feels different to walk on the ground
feeling the gravel and soil under your feet! With the
shoes on, you stop to worry about where you put
your feet. It took me some time to tune myself back
to the normal alertness I have about my feet without
shoes on them.
Every water source in a forest is an experience, how-
ever small or big it is. We stopped at a small stream
to drink water and fill the water bottles. The water
was ice cold. Washing my face in that water was like
refueling myself.
Here we found that the hill slopes were not very
strong .Landslides were common. The sheets of
stones resembled talc. It was clear that the roads
were creating more damage here than in Eaglenest
Wildlife Sanctuary.
73
2400 m

views from the watch tower

talc?
74
 canon testing range

2800 m

The rest of the journey back in the vehicle was

not very exciting. We passed through the shooting
range for the big canons of the military. Burnt trees,
cracked during the shell explosion, stood there like
zombies. There were huge patches of forest that had
been reduced to charred black spots by the shells.
As we left Eaglenest Pass behind, we started to see
smoke rising from the hills across. Forest fire cour-
tesy hunters sponsored by the army!

It was hard to keep a happy face after seeing these

foolish atrocities. Life goes on. Life has to go on...
75
2300 m

lama camp revisited

Will we find some reptiles here?

76
in search of mountain pit viper
The Mountain Pit Viper is a beautiful snake. It has
yellow or red dots on each scale. It is found near hu-
man habitats. In many of their earlier trips to Lama
Camp, Nirmal and Dev had found many near the
camp. Once one of their colleagues dived to catch
a viper and ended up in nettles. Neverthless, he
caught the snake without any further accidents.
2100 m
Like other pit vipers, this species also has the habit
of returning to a spot and staying in the same posi-
tion for a long time. With this in mind everyone
searched for them around the camp without success.
Then we decided to go and look for the snake in a
nearby farm. One of the boys from the camp agreed
to accompany us. On our way we saw a transformer
without any cables or electricity. Part of a money
making project by the politicians and contractors.
Along side the steep short cut we took to reach the
farm, was a stream. There were bamboo channels
running from the stream carrying water to the farm.

And Nirmal with his innocent grin is wishing he

ws holding a pit viper, not a lamb! Look at his sweet
smile!
77
2050 m alu-bari - the farm
We reached Alu-Bari. I am confused about this
name. I am not sure whether this is the name of the
village, or a term used to describe a farm.

For one second I felt as if I am staring into an il-

lustrated Russian story! The farm house, cattle shed,
the land scape and even the trees looked right out
of a Russian story. When this grandma came out of
the house with her coat and scarf around her head,
the picture was complete! And the next moment
you spot the shy little red cheeked girls behind her!
What a perfect Russian picture!

The house, a granary and the cattle shed had walls

made of heavy wooden planks. The planks were
rough but the structures were beautiful, at least in
my point of view. It was a perfect example of con-
struction using local material and technology.
78
 2050 m

drinking water is sacred

This small spring was on the way to the huts in the
farm. Look at the religious spear on the top left
corner. We couldn’t find the exact meaning of this.
However, it is obvious that they consider this water
source sacred. I believe this to be real spirituality.
79
 The ‘feed stand’ for the goats wood and bamboo construction meeting of two different ‘ages’
80
‘power’ in the thin air
North East is another fertile land for ‘projects’ such
as this one. There are electrical lines crisscrossing
almost all remote villages that we saw. But there
was no electricity in any of these lines. The attached
electrical meters show a usage of a few units. This
must have been for the inauguration ceremony.
From what we heard, they disconnect the power as
soon as everyone disburses after the inauguration!
81
1900+ m

eroding livelihood
Each rain takes down tons of fertile soil from
hillside farms like this across the country. We have
already lost our powerful traditional seeds. Hect-
ares of soil is fast becoming barren rain after rain.
The modern seeds need extra protection to survive;
the farmers pour chemicals. The lost soil has to be
compensated; the farmers dump fertilizers. Eventu-
ally the fertilizers and chemicals end up in the rivers
along with the eroded soil.

Looking at all that land being degraded, I wanted

to go to every farmer and say, “ Dear friend, there
might be a simple solution for this. Our farm was
a barren land once. But now we grow everything
there. Shall we try to find a way out together?”
82
The dark flames
The remains of the greenery that we admired on our
way to Lama Camp a few days ago. It will take more
than sticking some posters in Tenga town to prevent
forest fire in this region.
83
1900+m

The blind fire

For me this is a very painful scene. I am sharing this
photo here to share my grief at seeing this. I grew
up in a place where every summer we had to wit-
ness this or worse some times. There too people set
fire to forest. Summer months were nightmares for
us. We expected to see fire around us each moment.
The amount of resource we are loosing to these
blind fires is beyond any calculations.
84
The finding day!
The last day of the expedition. Everyone felt the days
flew away so fast! We spent the afternoon taking
stock of what we had been doing. Some of us re-
flected that we hadn’t come across as many reptiles
as we expected to see. But then this was something
beyond our control. We agreed upon sharing the
pictures in a common Picasa album. Some of us
even had the idea of creating a book together about
the experience with photos.

That evening on the last of our ‘running dates’

Mamta and I found a large cicilian and a small dead
snake. Later Dev identified the snake as some Mon-
ticola. According to him, the 10 centimeter snake
was an adult. The same evening Nirmal and Tapoti
found another specimen. Also a snake skin. Looked
like nature was trying to console us or something.
85
 cloth and cause
Mamta is posing with the T-Shirt she bought from
Lama Camp. One of their ways to find funds for the
cause they represent.
86
Home to home
On 21st May early morning we left Lama Camp.
There was some confusion about the vehicles. So
we had to wait for the jeeps for a while. Some of us
didn’t waste the waiting time, but they clicked more
pictures.

So I said good bye to a place I had felt at home and

started looking ahead to my home back in Kerala.

87
 the return
the descend starts

88
 1340 m

The bare truth

The bare landscape reminds us of the lost forest due
to fire and encroachment. It also reminds us of the
respect we should have for our remaining resources.
89
 ladies inc
We stopped in this small village for breakfast. All
the key positions were handled by women. There
were one or two men who were busy in the kitchen.
Good to see women in key positions for a change!
90
 3000+ m

Descending chaos
I am not referring to the number of times we had
to change vehicles due to some communication
gap from the guy who was supposed to arrange two
vehicles for us.

This is about the chaos that started within my body

with the descend. I was alright on our way up. Now
on the return journey I found it difficult to ignore
the rumbles in my stomach. Some fresh air would
have made some difference. But the glass on my side
could not be opened. Usually when I get sick dur-
ing a climb or descend, closing my eyes and trying
to sleep works. Here not just that it didn’t work, by
the time we reached back to around 200 M MSL, I
got out of the vehicle and threw up. The last time I
remember having such severe sickness was when I
was 13 or so. Even after washing my head, hands
and legs the nausea was not completely gone. Oh,
and I heard someone mentioning about me being
young, away from my woman and my body full of
‘hot juices’ causing the sickness! That was one and
a half explanation for motion/altitude sickness! The
other comment was me being a ‘delicate darling’.
Obviously what made the situation better was Mam-
ta exchanging seats with me, not these remarks!
91
 omnipresent Bamboo
We stopped near these simple but beautiful build-
ings. There was a cane-craft shop. Some of us did
some window shopping while I relaxed outside tak-
ing in the fresh air. There was a military family buy-
70 m ing items from the shop. He must have been some
90 m big officer. There were guards with guns around his
vehicle and also with him.
92
hit and run case
This bird hit by a mini lorry, was hurled into the
roadside as the vehicle sped past the people who
were watching this incident. Crows were chasing
this fish owl. Blinded by the sunlight, it was hit by
a lorry and was rescued by this man in a blue shirt.
Seeing the bird fall on the road, we stopped the
vehicle. Ankur tried to give it some water in a bottle
cap. In a flash the bird clutched Ankur’s fingers in a
tight grip. By the time people forced the owl to re-
lease his fingers, it was a bloody mess. Though there
was no serious injury, the wounds were deep. After
cleaning the wound and covering it, we started off
from the scene.

Later I learnt from the others that instead of holding

the bird close to our body like the rescuer did, we
should cover it in a cloth so that the bird doesn’t get
hurt and the bird cannot hurt us by accident.

Incidentally, though all of us carried first aid kits,

70 m
this was the only occasion where we had to use it! 90 m
We were really careful and lucky!
93
 Landscapes and livelihoods
Rivers were not considered mere channels to drain
water. There was so much about livelihoods sur-
rounding every river. While rivers are becoming
more of a sand and stone mine, it is refreshing to see
people like this man.
94
the long road ahead
The long, straight roads reminded me of the long
journey home. We reached Guwahati by evening.
I went to the market to refil my food bag. I love
markets. It is full of the colours of true life! All
kinds of food items, handicraft things for daily use,
fresh & dry fruits and various kinds of fish. The
fish splashed around in the shallow trays filled with
water. I really missed my camera! The truth was, I
didn’t dare to roam in Guwahati with a camera.

This time we had dinner at the homestay itself.

None of us had the energy for another adventure
in Guwahati. An after dinner chat concluded the
expedition officially. The days in the forest were re- 70 m
playing in my head as I floated down to dreamland. 90 m
I was happy that I had been part of this expedition.
95
 Homebound
When I left the homestay, my bags were heavy
again. It was early morning. But everyone was up to
see me off! That was really touching! Felt good to
have made some good friends.

I reached the station within 10 minutes. The auto-

driver waited for his money patiently while I stood
in the queue in front of the ATM. Angels like him
makes a big difference in this otherwise disturbed
society.

While I was standing in the queue, I saw some vil-

lagers sleeping on the ground in front of the ATM
and shops. There was a young guy in his 30s among
the sleeping people. Lying on its back, a small baby
was playing besides him. Nearby, a girl of 20 was
sleeping like another baby. There were a few more
people scattered in that small place in different
stages of sleeping and waking up. Did this girl know
that she would have to sleep under the sky like this
when she left home with her brother/husband? If
she could sleep so peacefully in such a situation, it
must be because of the safety provided by the others
around her. If that is so, shouldn’t this be the ideal of
an ideal society? Happiness, peace and safety? The
58 m healthy baby and the girl assured me that their’s was
a healthy society.
96
Same route in a different light
I saw many places that I had passed during the night
in broad day light. It was beautiful. Sharing some
pictures here. I took long naps during the 22 hour
journey to Howrah.

97
70 m
90 m
asssam tea plantation!
98
 fish farm

hand pulled carts : very common garbage dump : city nearby!

99
 livelihoods
If we are told to make a list of livelihoods, will
‘selling neemstick’ be included in it? I am always
interested in the things that people do for a living.
In fact if everyone sticks to the standard list of jobs
or livelihoods , the number of people dependant on
the community resources will be greater and the
stability of our society will be lesser. As a modern
species it is time that we recognise the fact that all
these people are filling much necessary roles in the
society.

(For those who doesn’t know this fact : A neem

stick is a tooth brush with ‘embedded paste’. This
traditional ‘tooth brush’ keeps your teeth and gum
strong and healthy.)

Lady selling neem sticks at Howrah station.

100
agents rule the world! a new innovation by a baker at Kolkata
My ‘mission impossible’ at Howrah was to get a
ticket for my onward journey. If at all I were to get
a ticket, it would only be through emergency quota.
Thousands of kilometers away Anu was waiting for
the website to open for booking while I went to the
queue at the reservation counter. The website as
well as the reservation counter opens at 8 AM. The
counter was on the third floor. But the queue had
started from the lobby of the second floor, wound
up until the other end of the third floor, not even
leaving the stairs! I stood at the end of the queue
for it to start moving. Finally the gates to the coun-
ter opened and the queue collapsed and become
a rushing crowd moving forward. I realised only
a little later that this was just a queue to get into
the counter where you have to split into different
queues! Thankfully there were many counters and
it looked like everyone except me knew the rules
of the game. By the time I figured out what is going
on, there were around 15 people in front of me. To
my dismay, I found that ours was the slowest mov-
ing queue. On top of that some people sneaked into Nanda had mentioned travel agents across Howrah
the queue, stood at the counter and cleared all their railway station. If there is a system and the system
doubts about the Indian railways. In short, by the has a structure, one should be able to figure out how
time I reached the counter there was nothing avail- to do things without a middle man. So I usually
able in any quota. avoid any agents. But in this situation, I decided to
approach them as a last resort. They took an ad-
vance and confidently assured me a confirmed ticket
in 2 tier AC! After all, is there any quota or seat that
the agents have no knowledge about?

Agent magic, by evening I got a seat on the train

where there was ‘no room’ across the counter! What
an efficiency sirji!
101
 Tip me for nothing
From the hotel addresses my friend sent me I found
a decent one and settled in.
Knock on the door.
“Sir, you want newspaper?”
“No thanks”
...
Knock on the door
“Sir do you want breakfast?’
“No thanks”

This repeated a few times. The most funny part was

during checkout.
“Sir some tips...!”
Eh? I was outside during the day trying to get a
ticket. I didn’t use any room service of sorts. Now
he wants a tip for asking whether I need newpaper
7m or food! I politely dismissed his request. Couldn’t
miss him grumbling and making faces at me. What
a world! yellow taxis of howrah : view from a cycle rickshaw
102
 A close friend whom I had never met
Though Atreyee and I hadn’t met in person, we had
worked together online on a website. The second
item in my agenda after getting the ticket was to
meet Atreyee. It was extreamly hot outside. During
breakfast I discovered that unlike in Central India
‘Alu Parathas’ were almost deep fried in Kolkata.
In that heat, the oily food was just what I ‘needed’!
I was very thirsty all day. I filled my water bottle
with mango juice that was being sold in many small
shops in the bus stand. It was such a cooling drink!

The bus took me across the Howrah bridge. Soon

the crumbling old buildings gave way to stylish new
buildings, vast meadows, playgrounds and parks!
This was the new Kolkata! What a contrast across
the river! The stinking Howrah railway station and
premises seemed from another age. But, old or new,
the heat was the same!

It was Atreyee’s lunch hour. It didn’t feel like we

were meeting for the first time. She gave me a good
brief about Kolkata. According to her Kolkata
comes to the street irrespective of religion even at
the slightest sign of a festival! October or January
and February are good time to visit. The climate is
also good during this time. She also told me about
the posts created by NGOs where you get bored
until the project really gets kicked off.

It felt like standing near a fire as we stepped out

of the restaurant’s air conditioning. I decided to
explore the streets after Atreyee went back to her 7m
office.
Atreyee with her sister when they were kids
103
 the nowhere that become howrah
The streets were live with sounds of machines,
people and children. There were entire streets of
diesel mechanics, fruits merchants, bicycle shops or
bakeries.

This is common for all towns that I have visited.

These must be the premises from where town
evolved.

An unknown junction, where people from far away

places meet and exchange goods. Someone opens a
food place, someone else opens an inn. The tempo-
rary roofs that gave shade to the merchants give way
to more stable structures. The place becomes active
even at night. Men away from their women start to
seek pleasure, someone takes up that role. People
from nearby villages learn about the things that are
available at this new place, they start to visit every
now and then. As people start to flow in, surround-
ings also witness change. The nowhere becomes a
town. However, sometimes the junction where it all
started remains not far away from its original form
or culture.

Every town on earth will have a similar story to tell.

104
tthe friendly stranger
I had the whole afternoon to myself. After spend-
ing time walking through the streets, I went to one
of the Metro stations. I took a ticket to the last stop.
This is the first Metro rail system in India. They have
both modern and old trains running through the
tunnels under the city. While the airconditioned
modern coaches swept past the underground yellow
lamps silently, the old trains deafened me with the
loud clattering metal noise. None of the other pas-
sengers seemed to notice the difference as they were
used to it.

As I was sitting and taking in the surroundings,

a middle aged, friendly man approached me and
said something funny. The others near me seemed
to be his friends. All of them laughed and joined in
his humour. Everyone was in a good spirit. Though
none of them bothered to explain the joke, when
they learnt that I was from Kerala, he showed me
pictures of himself with his family taken around
Alappuzha (famous for backwaters in Kerala).
Within a few minutes, all of them started chatting
with me as if we were known to each other for ages!
There was no teasing, pulling legs....pure friendly
chat. To have such openness, I think one should
learn to trust others, even a stranger! A real mod-
ern society will have more poeple like them. The
warmth they left within me was tremendous. They
gave me hope in humanity!

A map of the complex metro system

105
 The last leg of the journey
Neil Armstrong stepped out of his lunar vehicle
with the American flag in hand. And what does he
hear? A Malayali running a tea shop on the Moon
calling out, “Tea or coffee, Saar?”

Though exagerated, the story has a point. You can

expect a Malayali at every corner. At Shalimar sta-
tion, the first thing that I noticed was this shop on
the platform : “Pillai Cafe” Another Malayali who
happened to come to ‘Kolkata Junction’ a long time
ago. He also will have a story to tell.

In the beginning the air conditioned compartment

was hot since the responsible person didn’t bother
to switch on the AC unit. Then around midnight
I got up freezing cold! Crazy! Managing the tem-
peratur inside a coach is no rocket science. But this
is what happens if the human behind the system
doesn’t enjoy the job. He switches it on mechanical-
ly, when someone says it is hot, he turns the switch
into full, lowers his berth and sleeps on it. His is a
job in which he can travel across the country for
free! He has plenty of time, if he wants to, to read,
study or do something creative. The sad point is
that, enjoyment has become a third party thing. We
can’t find enjoyment within. We need a third party
to entertain us. Work is always considered as hard-
ship, not something that you can enjoy. If we enjoy
our work, we will definitely become an expert on
it. If we travel in a compartment where an expert is
behind the machine, will this ever happen?

106
uncomfortable in an AC coach
As far as I am concerned, the closed AC compart-
ment is not that pleasant. Whenever I got a chance,
I went out and watched life around. From How-
rah to Palakkad, the scene outside had the colour
and smell of heat and thirst. Whenever the train
stopped, people rushed for the water taps with their
bottles. Men removed their upper garments and
wrapped themselves with wet towels. The ones who
didn’t get to take water from the taps filled their
bottles from the hose filling the overhead tank of
the coaches. I think in a sleeper class compartment
I woudn’t feel uncomfortable because I was not far
away from the heat and sweat that I saw outside.
An AC coach is a fake curtain between the reality
and you.

Sometimes I wondered, what is the point in spend-

ing millions for safeguarding a country where the
majority of people don’t have proper food, clean
water or a space to answer nature’s call!
107
 andhra : post harvest
108
 cattle returning home

Homes and cattle sheds in andhra

109
 industry on the horizons of agriculture : from Andhra
110
A man-made pond or a natural water body? : Andhra
111
 38°C

175 m

112
 38°C

175 m

water water everywhere...

Thirst was around in various hues. Couldn’t help
clicking these images.
113
 water being free will be a fairy tale for our children
114
115
 38°C

175 m

with so many bottles to be filled in so little time, he found the water going to the overhead tank an easy source
116
117
 40°C

welcome back!
As the train approached the platform, I waited with
my camera at a safe distance from the door. In the
crowd I saw Anu looking at the train and talking to
a clinging Hiranya. And I clicked the last few frames
80 m of this trip. On the third click they found me! The
train stopped. I ran to the open hands of Anu and
Hiranya, bringing the trip to a beautiful end.
118
epilogue
what keeps burning within

119
 a tiny helpless creature
The burning forest above Lama camp had been a
painful lump in my throat. Everyone thought the
fire will go off on its own during the night. It didn’t.
The day before we left the camp, I decided to go
up and have a look at the fire. I knew it was a use-
less thing to do. Even if I put out this fire somehow,
another will break out; or worse, the hunters might
come back and re-start the fire at the same spot.
There were many threats. Unknown territory, un-
familiar forest with unfamiliar animals and plants,
danger of the hunters themselves...

But the pain I felt was too much to handle. In the

morning the fire looked controllable. The very least
I could do was to try and then convince myself that
it was beyond my reach or capacity to put that fire
out. To avoid a possible scene, I told only Mamta
that I was going to have a look at the fire. So that
even if something went wrong they would know
exactly where to look for me.

I followed the goat track through the steep hillside.

I had a machette, a match box and drinking water
with me. The shoes kept my feet safe from the vari-
ous thorns and other possible dangers. There were
many places with thick thorny bushes and landslide
sites. Experience from home kept me going through
all of these without much problems.
I reached the ridge soon. Now Lama camp looked
very small. I could see others walking or sitting
around the camp. The entire area was crisscrossed
120
with fallen tree trunks. May be from previous forest
fires or maybe from the army’s gun testing. It was
a sad scene. What was left were the thorny bushes
and some trees. At one point I felt like this whole
idea of going up was a mistake. There was only some
Lantana for the forest fire to finish. Or was that all?
There was a tunnel like way through the bushes.
Maybe made by the goats, or other animals. I moved
through this path further. More fallen trees. One in-
teresting thing about these trees was that they didn’t
have sharp splinters. Instead they crumbled
 into cube like particles. The pieces looked like the
fossiled trees that I had seen in Rajasthan. At one
place it looked like there was no way forward. The
peculiar patch of forest laying beyond was too much
to resist. That patch looked like right out of ‘Lord of
the Rings’ or a similar hollywood movie. Dwarfed
trees covered in green moss. The tree trunks first
grew horizontally before growing up. Green Moss
and different types of ferns and Orchids on the
ground and on the branches. The humus layer was
a foot deep here. After the first step I avoided the
dry leaves and walked through the moss covered
tree trunks. After I reached the ridge I was follow-
ing some animal track that lead upward, towards the
fire. I had to take detours when the path went very
low under the bush. On one such de-tour I covered
around 200 meteres by walking on fallen trees
balanced on rocks. Now I could hear the cracking
noise from a distance. On my left it was a sharp
slope towards the valley down below. On my right,
the dwarf tree tops, a little further some reeds! Well,
I didn’t expect to see reeds at that altitude! Now the
ridge became really narrow. Around two feet or so.
With many more charred tree trunks crisscrossing
the path, I walked extra carefullly. Many of them
crumbled like thermocol under my foot.
It must have taken an hour and a half to reach the
peak where the fire was spreading. It was moving
down; reason for it to be slow. There were many
trees, half burnt, from previous fires poking out
from the vegetation. The fire looked under control.
The terrain was steep, full of thorny bushes, and the
ground was crisscrossed with fallen trees. The possi-
bility of putting off the fire using leafy branches was
dim in this terrain. Throwing loose soil over the fire
seemed a workable option.
Suddenly a smoking branch broke down and started
rolling down, cinder flying in all directions. I looked
towards the valley and realised the danger. There
was a great risk of fire spreading down below, from
one of those cinders. Such a fire could be seen from
where I stood, but not from the ground. If there
were at least three people, we could atleast have pre-
vented fire spreading to the Lama Camp side of the
hill. But there I was; a tiny creature on the mighty
Himalayan mountain range! The green canopy that
covered the entire area was hiding many plant and
animal species, unknown to human beings in its
deep recesses. Who knows, a hitherto unseen plant
endemic to that peak may be destroyed before hu-
man eyes could ever see it! A butterfly, a reptile or
a fungi. The fire was slowly eating away the forest,
at times jerking ahead, blazing a dry tree or two. I
knew what burnt in front of me was mine. The in-
valuable heritage from my ancestors. I remembered
the Bishnois who would give their life to protect a
tree or an animal. But I also knew, I had to survive
to find a lasting solution. I might be a tiny creature,
but I truely believe in butterfly effect.
Tiny as I am I’ll try and keep trying with all my life!
121
 show case
A few more shots from the expedition

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 appendix
164
WEATHER DATA : 11 - 21 MAY 2012

165
 species list
altitude
◀

type
◀ serial number
◀
LEGEND
location environment type
bm : Bomphu sh : Under shadow SMP : Small plant
lc : lama camp s : under sunlight FN : Fern
rd : Road 1200+ : Approximate altitude Epi : Epiphyte
fng : fungi
location
◀
tr : tree
bs : bush
or : orchid
rz : Rhizome
gr : grass

166
 fl 1 fl 5
lc lc
sh s
2000+ 2000+
SMp cr

moss fl 2 fl 6
()
() lc lc
sh s
2000+ 2000+
epi cr

fl 3 fl 7
lc lc
sh s
2000+ 2000+
tr smp

fl 4 fl 8
lc rd
sh s
2000+ 3000+
tr smp

167
 fl 9 fl 13
bm bm
sh sh
1500+ 1900+
smp fng

fern fl 10 fl 14
() bm bm
Pteridophyta
s s
2000+ 1900+
fn tr

moss fl 11 fl 15
() bm bm
()
sh s
1900+ 1000+
epi smp

fern fl 12 () fl 16
() bm () bm
Pteridophyta Compositae
s sh
2000+ 1200+
fn smp

168
fig or mushroom? fl 17 () fl 21
() bm piper (sp?) bm
() Piperaceae
sh s
1900+ 1200+
? cr

fl 18 fl 22
lc bm
sh s
2000+ 1900+
smp fng

fl 19 () fl 23
bm dendrocalamus bm
Poaceae
s s
1200+ 1900+
cr gr

fl 20 Rhododendron fl 24
bm Rhododendron edgeworthii? rd
Ericaceae
sh sh
1000+ 2000+
smp smp

169
 orchid fl 25 canabis fl 29
() bm Cannabis sativa lc
Orchidaceae Cannabaceae
s s
1200+ 1500+
or bs

wild banana fl 26 fl 30
musa (?) bm lc
Musaceae s
sh
1200+ 1500+
smp

fl 27 fl 31
bm rd
s sh
2000+ 2500+
cr fng

Rhododendron ? fl 28 fl 32
() bm rd
Ericaceae ?
s s
2200+ 2000+
tr epi?

170
Wild Yam fl 33 fl 37
Arisaema bm bm
Araceae
sh s
1900+ 500+
smp fng

Wild Yam fl 34 fl 38
Arisaema bm bm
Araceae
sh sh
2000+ 1500+ |
smp smp

fl 35 fl 39
() ()
bm Zingiberaceae
bm
Araceae
s s
2000+ 1500+
cr rz

wild yam ? fl 36 fl 40
Arisaema bm bm
Araceae
s s
2000+ 1500+
smp epi

171
 fl 41 fl 45
bm lc
sh s
2200+ 2900+ |
smp smp

fl 42 fl 46
bm
s
1900+ 1900+
smp smp

fig fl 43 fern fl 47
Ficus auriculata ()
Moraceae
bm Pteridophyta (?)
bm
s s
1500+ 1900+
tr fn

fl 44 fl 48
lc lc
s s
2900+ | 2800+
smp tr

172
 fl 49 fl 53
rd rd
s s
2000+ 2000+
tr epi?

fl 50 lichen? fl 54
lc () bm
sh () sh
2000+ 1500+
smp fn

() fl 51 cane fl 55
() calamus
Zingiberaceae
bm Arecaceae(?)
bm
s sh
1500+ 1500+
rz gr

() fl 52 fl 56
() bm bm
Zingiberaceae ?
sh s
1500+ 2000+
rz ? cr

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 () fl 57 fl 61
() bm bm
Compositae
s s
1500+ 1500+
bs or?

fl 58 fl 62
bm bm
s sh
1900+ 1500+
cr smp

() fl 59 fl 63
mucuna ? bm lc
Fabaceae
sh sh
1900+ 1500+
cr smp

Rhododendron fl 60 fl 64
Rhododendron en lc
Ericaceae
s s
2500+ 2900+
tr bs

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 fl 65 () fl 69
bm () rd
Rosaceae
sh s
2200+ 2000+
smp epi?

fl 66 () fl 70
bm () bm
Rosaceae
s s
1500+ 1200+
smp smp

() fl 67 () fl 71
() bm () bm
Rosaceae Rosaceae
s s
1500+ 2900+
bs smp

() fl 68 () fl 72
() bm () lc
Rosaceae Rosaceae
s s
1500+ 2900+
bs smp

175
 () fl 73 fl 77
() lc lc
graminea
sh sh
2800+ 2200+
smp smp

fl 74 fl 78
bm bm
s s
2900+ 2800+
smp bs

fl 75 fl 79
bm lc
s s
1500+ 2800+
smp fn

fl 76 fl 80
lc lc
s s
2900+ 2900+
smp cr

176
() fl 81
() lc
Aristolochiaceae
s
2800+
cr

fl 82
bm
s
2800+
smp

fl 83
bm
sh
1500+
str

fl 84
lc
s
2800+
epi?

177
 fn 1 fn 5
bm lc
1940+ 2800+

fn 2 fn 6
lc lc
2800+ 2800+

fn 3 fn 7
lc lc
2800+ 2800+

fn 4 fn 8
lc lc
2800+ 2800+

178
 fn 9 fn 13
bm bm
1800+ 1800+

fn10 fn 14
bm bm
1800+ 1800+

fn 11 fn 15
bm bm
1800+ 1800+

fn 12 fn 16
bm lc
1500+ 2800+

179
 fn 17 fn 21

bhutanese dusky labyrinth dark judy ( male )

Neope yama yama abisara fylla
fn 18 fn 22

himalayan yellow coster white-edged bushbrown

acraea issoria mycalesis mestra
fn 19 fn 23

green saphire indian tortoiseshell

heliophorous androcles aglais kaschmirensis
fn 20 fn 24

180 himalayan tiger brown himalayan spotted jester

orinoma damaris damari symbrenthia hypselis
 fn 25 fn 27

himalayan punchinello amphiesma sp

semeroz flegyas a non venomous keel back.
fn 26 fn 28

common forester trachischium fuscum

lethe insana a non venomous burrowing snake.
fn 29

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 Thank you for being with me!
request
If you identify any of the species listed above, please send me the information with the respective serial numbers.
Also please send me your comments and suggestions.

Contact
Gautham Sarang
Agali-Chittoor.P.O
Palakkad Dist
PIN 678581
Email : saranghills@gmail.com

photos
All photos are taken by me. Others are credited on the page itself.

rights
Well, personally I don’t believe in copyright. If you find any part of this useful, please feel free to use it. Giving me credit for my
work is greatly appreciated. If you are using it for any commercial use, a donation to Sarang school (http://saranghills.org) will
be a great idea. Thank you!

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