Wikileaks is back in the news again. And not because its name sounds like Wikipedia just went to the bathroom. But it sure has a lot of people pretty pissed. The sensational disclosures that are now out in the open are causing quite a stir in the international circles.
Sample some of the stunning disclosures
The Arab countries wanted US to bomb Iran
The US wanted to get hold of Pakistan’s enriched uranium
Vladamir Putin was referred to as an alpha dog.
Rakhi Sawant is actually Sreesanth in disguise.
You think I am trivializing the issue ? I agree…I should not have included the Vladamir Putin bit.
But these revelations do pose a question on the ethics of journalism. Is it fair to reveal information that can put at risk the lives of many on the field or use ‘Rakhi Sawant’ and ‘Sreesanth’ in the same sentence ?
As usual, I will ignore the tough questions and instead stick to making useless wisecracks that won’t solve any problems but will increase the word count of this post.
In other interesting developments around the world, North Korea bombed South Korea and South Korea (whose name rhymes with India) strongly protested against this act of violence and then went out and did some navy drills with the US. North Korea (whose name does not rhyme with Pakistan but that does not matter) does not look like it cares.
And now for some local news…
Obama had an eventful trip to India. While he is a charismatic speaker, someone should tell the President that he is should stick to making speeches and not try to dance. His dance with the school children looked like he was suffering from spasms and that puts him at a serious risk of being made a hero in Tamil movies.
Carla Bruni, the model turned singer turned first lady of France also visited India along with her husband, whatshisname.
Of course, apart from all the gloom and doom that this year has seen, it did have its silver lining. Thus inspite of Suresh Kalmadi’s (whose name does not rhyme with “toilet brush” but that does not matter) Herculean efforts, India managed to pull off the common wealth games successfully.
We also had the highest medal tally at the Asian games. The best part though, is that we are still the undefeated champions in our national sport – scams !!. It is disgusting to see millions of rupees being looted especially when none of it made its way to me.
As the year draws to a close, I can only hope things get better next year. May we have fewer scams, more prosperity and hopefully Rakhi Sawant will start wearing a mask.
And at this point, this post has reached in excess of four hundred words which means that I am done with it.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Phone Phobia
I think I am beginning to develop some kind of sixth sense. These days, when my mobile starts to ring, I am able to correctly guess who the caller may be. As I have grown older, the stronger my clairvoyance seems to have got.
Or in other words, the number of people who call me has come down to the bare minimum. It appears that only the closest of my friends call (that’s about three, right now). So you can see, I am right about thirty percent of the time.
I guess I am ready to have my own 1-800-PSYCHIC number.
But there is a small problem with my idea. I suck when it comes to talking on the phone.
My conversational skills on the phone are only slightly better than my ballet dancing skills. I just cannot keep a conversation going and very soon it ends up being a question-answer session. It reminds me of my engineering lab days where the lecturer would ask me questions on the project that I had done and I would respond back with…well…weird noises hoping that at least one of us could make sense out of what I was trying to say.
But I digress, the issue is my first reaction when I take a call is to try and get out of it as quickly as possible. But I am so used to my cell and the excuses that I make that it gets me in trouble sometimes
"Hey listen, I am entering a subway, catching a lot of static. Will have to call you back"
"This is your land line, you jackass"
"Oh umm...in that case, I guess I don't really like talking to you"
I have lost a few friends that way. But on the bright side, like I said before, my psychic abilities have gone up.
The other dreaded dead-end conversation is when both of us have nothing to talk about. And I don’t know if it is just an Indian thing or the malaise is world wide, the only conversation filler is what I call the preemptive question…. “So what else ?”. This is a question people ask when they don’t have anything else to say but still want to hang on to the call (more so when it is you who is getting billed)
It happens when you are pretty much done telling everything there is worth telling about including the description of dust on your window, then you pause...the other person asks “So what else ?”. Sometimes I tell them.
I have lost a few more friends that way.
But now that my caller list is reduced to the absolute minimum who pretend to be close friends because I suspect I still owe them money, I have decided to work on my conversational skills. I cannot afford to lose any more callers. I am now getting the hang of handling the “So what else ?” question. I have learned to just make up stuff.
Hopefully, I will get better at this as I go on.
I could write a lot more but I think I am catching a lot of static, must be a http tunnel...gotta go...
Or in other words, the number of people who call me has come down to the bare minimum. It appears that only the closest of my friends call (that’s about three, right now). So you can see, I am right about thirty percent of the time.
I guess I am ready to have my own 1-800-PSYCHIC number.
But there is a small problem with my idea. I suck when it comes to talking on the phone.
My conversational skills on the phone are only slightly better than my ballet dancing skills. I just cannot keep a conversation going and very soon it ends up being a question-answer session. It reminds me of my engineering lab days where the lecturer would ask me questions on the project that I had done and I would respond back with…well…weird noises hoping that at least one of us could make sense out of what I was trying to say.
But I digress, the issue is my first reaction when I take a call is to try and get out of it as quickly as possible. But I am so used to my cell and the excuses that I make that it gets me in trouble sometimes
"Hey listen, I am entering a subway, catching a lot of static. Will have to call you back"
"This is your land line, you jackass"
"Oh umm...in that case, I guess I don't really like talking to you"
I have lost a few friends that way. But on the bright side, like I said before, my psychic abilities have gone up.
The other dreaded dead-end conversation is when both of us have nothing to talk about. And I don’t know if it is just an Indian thing or the malaise is world wide, the only conversation filler is what I call the preemptive question…. “So what else ?”. This is a question people ask when they don’t have anything else to say but still want to hang on to the call (more so when it is you who is getting billed)
It happens when you are pretty much done telling everything there is worth telling about including the description of dust on your window, then you pause...the other person asks “So what else ?”. Sometimes I tell them.
I have lost a few more friends that way.
But now that my caller list is reduced to the absolute minimum who pretend to be close friends because I suspect I still owe them money, I have decided to work on my conversational skills. I cannot afford to lose any more callers. I am now getting the hang of handling the “So what else ?” question. I have learned to just make up stuff.
Hopefully, I will get better at this as I go on.
I could write a lot more but I think I am catching a lot of static, must be a http tunnel...gotta go...
Saturday, October 16, 2010
A trip to Spiti
A couple of months ago I got a mail from IT Nature Club (it’s India Terrain and not Info Tech) about a trip to Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh purportedly in the quest of snow leopard sighting. This was too good for me to pass and so I signed up immediately. What follows below is the account of that trip.
Spiti is nestled in the foothills of the Himalayan range. It lies in the rain shadow region of the Himalayas and receives very little rain, except for this year where there has been a copious amount of rainfall (ominous signals ?)
Though the trip was promoted by IT NC, it was in conjunction with an NGO called Ecosphere which is run by some very dedicated individuals who have made a difference in the lives of the residents of the Spiti valley.
I set out to Delhi on the 4th of Oct. We had to take a bus to Manali that evening. And for the first time, I met up with the rest of the folks who had signed up for the trip. There were six of us in all with ages ranging from 28 to 64.
At first I was apprehensive about my ability (or rather lack of) to gel with the others. I have always had this problem of staying isolated in a group (my friends say I space out quite easily). It is ok to be that way with friends (they are not so interesting anyway) but not so among strangers. But talking to the other five, I found that it would not be so difficult after all. Four ladies and two guys made up the six of us. While the two guys as usual had some initial aloofness, the ladies really broke the ice with their lively discussions and their energy easily rubbed off on me as well.
We spent a day at Manali. The next morning, we took a jeep to Kaza which is where Ecosphere is based. To reach Kaza, one has to pass through the Rohtang pass and the Kunzum pass. While the view is breathtaking, the road is backbreaking. The road through these passes is pretty much non-existent. It is a gravel ridden track with just a semblance of a path. It is a miracle that when vehicles ply this route, they don’t come out the other end as a bag of bolts and nuts. The 200km journey from Manali to Kaza took us about 12 hours (we stopped a few hours in between clicking birds). We finally reached Kaza at around 9.00pm. (Some of the birds sighted – Himalayan Griffon, Ruddy shellduck, yellow billed choughs which is so common that after a while it actually gets annoying. The other birds sighted during the trip – European Goldfinch, Common kestrel, Yellow billed blue magpie, coppersmith barbet)
The next day - Oct 7, we met our guide at Kaza, a sprightly chap named Tsering, who preferred to be called Anjaan instead (I guess because every second guy there is called Tsering). This was a day of acclimatization. We were at an altitude of more than 3600mts and hence most of the activity that day was by jeep. We visited a monastery at Kee (a monk there served us some wonderful tea).
Oct 8: Our actual trip starts. We drive to a village called Longzha. This is a small village with around 15 houses at an altitude of more than 4000mts. The weather is very cold. Some of the houses here have ‘homestay’ facility as well. This is again an initiative from Ecosphere so that these villagers can earn some extra money through tourists. We split up in groups of two.
The altitude effect began showing on me as I seemed to develop a cold (which got worse the next couple of days) and a slight headache. But the family with which we stayed that night were very hospitable and we had a good time interacting with them (I admit, it was more of a question-answer session than a conversation). That day, we trekked to a nearby stream which is famous for its fossils. Apparently, around 150 million years ago, the whole of this region was under water. You can see fossils of the aquatic life from that period. Unfortunately, a lot of these fossils were collected and sold by the villagers to tourists but that practice, thankfully, has now been stopped.
We also spotted blue sheep (called Bharal) which forms the prey base for the Himalayan wolf and the snow leopard. We also saw some footprints of the wolf and the Himalayan fox.
The Himalayan wolf in this region is critically endangered, apparently less than 300 of them survive. You would think for such a sparsely populated area, the wildlife would not have a problem. But that is not the case, the villagers in the valley view wolves as a threat to their livestock and hence they go about killing wolves cubs when they find them. Ecosphere is again working with the villagers to end this practice and this has had some success. My fear is that if the numbers are so low already, then it may be too little too late to help these canids.
The next morning – Oct 9 - we began a four hour trek to another village called Komic which was about 9 kms away. While the terrain itself was not too challenging, the altitude does create some issues. I had to frequently stop and gasp for air. At high altitudes, even a minor upward walk can leave one panting.
We finally reached Komic which the villagers say is the highest village in Asia but somehow I have my doubts. But at an altitude of around 4500mts, it definitely is in the top 10 for sure. Like Langzha, Komic is also a small village with around 30 homes. The name means eye of the snow leopard (‘Kom’ means snow leopard and ‘ic’ means eye in spitian). Komic has an ancient monastery which about 800 years old which we visited.
By the way, a word about the spitian houses. All the houses here have two floors and is mostly made of mud and wood. The kitchen is in the ground floor and during winters the entire family moves in to the kitchen. An interesting aspect is the toilet which is located in the first floor and it is just a hole in the floor. You squat, you go and then throw some mud on it. The...err...stuff just accumulates in a room below and gets used along with cow dung as manure every year or so.
These people do seem to have a tough life. One of the tasks for the women is to go out into the mountains every morning with a basket on their back looking for dry dung which is used as fuel (there are no trees growing here and hence firewood is expensive to buy)
All these villages get completely cut off from the outside world during winter for about four months or so due to snow blocking all the roads. So the villagers stock up what ever is required for winter and then prepare to last it out.
Oct 10 – This day, we were supposed to trek from Komic to Demul which is 18 kms away. But the previous day’s walk of 8 kms was a little too much for the most of us. So only two decided to trek while the rest of us (me included) decided to just take a jeep ride to Demul. We reached Demul by afternoon. Demul is a much larger village and has about 150 houses. The two who chose to trek joined us by evening after an 8 hour trek.
Oct 11 – We decided to climb a local mountain near Demul which has a beautiful view from the top. It took us all about one and half hours to trek to the top. And once you reach there, it is hard to not be wowed by the immensity of the Himalayas and our own trivialness before it. The descent was much quicker and took about half an hour. We drove back to Kaza
Oct 12-Oct 14. Drove from Kaza back to Manali, spent a day in Manali. Took a bus to Delhi and then back to Bangalore.
Overall, it was a great experience especially the homestays at the villages of the spiti valley. I am also happy about the fact that irrespective of the size of village, there was a school in every village and classes were being conducted regularly (even during winters).
But I am most happy with the fact that I got to know some great people on the trip and while the trip lasted for only 10 days, the memories will last forever, thanks to these wonderful people. Thanks G, S, L, R and V.
Spiti is nestled in the foothills of the Himalayan range. It lies in the rain shadow region of the Himalayas and receives very little rain, except for this year where there has been a copious amount of rainfall (ominous signals ?)
Though the trip was promoted by IT NC, it was in conjunction with an NGO called Ecosphere which is run by some very dedicated individuals who have made a difference in the lives of the residents of the Spiti valley.
I set out to Delhi on the 4th of Oct. We had to take a bus to Manali that evening. And for the first time, I met up with the rest of the folks who had signed up for the trip. There were six of us in all with ages ranging from 28 to 64.
At first I was apprehensive about my ability (or rather lack of) to gel with the others. I have always had this problem of staying isolated in a group (my friends say I space out quite easily). It is ok to be that way with friends (they are not so interesting anyway) but not so among strangers. But talking to the other five, I found that it would not be so difficult after all. Four ladies and two guys made up the six of us. While the two guys as usual had some initial aloofness, the ladies really broke the ice with their lively discussions and their energy easily rubbed off on me as well.
We spent a day at Manali. The next morning, we took a jeep to Kaza which is where Ecosphere is based. To reach Kaza, one has to pass through the Rohtang pass and the Kunzum pass. While the view is breathtaking, the road is backbreaking. The road through these passes is pretty much non-existent. It is a gravel ridden track with just a semblance of a path. It is a miracle that when vehicles ply this route, they don’t come out the other end as a bag of bolts and nuts. The 200km journey from Manali to Kaza took us about 12 hours (we stopped a few hours in between clicking birds). We finally reached Kaza at around 9.00pm. (Some of the birds sighted – Himalayan Griffon, Ruddy shellduck, yellow billed choughs which is so common that after a while it actually gets annoying. The other birds sighted during the trip – European Goldfinch, Common kestrel, Yellow billed blue magpie, coppersmith barbet)
The next day - Oct 7, we met our guide at Kaza, a sprightly chap named Tsering, who preferred to be called Anjaan instead (I guess because every second guy there is called Tsering). This was a day of acclimatization. We were at an altitude of more than 3600mts and hence most of the activity that day was by jeep. We visited a monastery at Kee (a monk there served us some wonderful tea).
Oct 8: Our actual trip starts. We drive to a village called Longzha. This is a small village with around 15 houses at an altitude of more than 4000mts. The weather is very cold. Some of the houses here have ‘homestay’ facility as well. This is again an initiative from Ecosphere so that these villagers can earn some extra money through tourists. We split up in groups of two.
The altitude effect began showing on me as I seemed to develop a cold (which got worse the next couple of days) and a slight headache. But the family with which we stayed that night were very hospitable and we had a good time interacting with them (I admit, it was more of a question-answer session than a conversation). That day, we trekked to a nearby stream which is famous for its fossils. Apparently, around 150 million years ago, the whole of this region was under water. You can see fossils of the aquatic life from that period. Unfortunately, a lot of these fossils were collected and sold by the villagers to tourists but that practice, thankfully, has now been stopped.
We also spotted blue sheep (called Bharal) which forms the prey base for the Himalayan wolf and the snow leopard. We also saw some footprints of the wolf and the Himalayan fox.
The Himalayan wolf in this region is critically endangered, apparently less than 300 of them survive. You would think for such a sparsely populated area, the wildlife would not have a problem. But that is not the case, the villagers in the valley view wolves as a threat to their livestock and hence they go about killing wolves cubs when they find them. Ecosphere is again working with the villagers to end this practice and this has had some success. My fear is that if the numbers are so low already, then it may be too little too late to help these canids.
The next morning – Oct 9 - we began a four hour trek to another village called Komic which was about 9 kms away. While the terrain itself was not too challenging, the altitude does create some issues. I had to frequently stop and gasp for air. At high altitudes, even a minor upward walk can leave one panting.
We finally reached Komic which the villagers say is the highest village in Asia but somehow I have my doubts. But at an altitude of around 4500mts, it definitely is in the top 10 for sure. Like Langzha, Komic is also a small village with around 30 homes. The name means eye of the snow leopard (‘Kom’ means snow leopard and ‘ic’ means eye in spitian). Komic has an ancient monastery which about 800 years old which we visited.
By the way, a word about the spitian houses. All the houses here have two floors and is mostly made of mud and wood. The kitchen is in the ground floor and during winters the entire family moves in to the kitchen. An interesting aspect is the toilet which is located in the first floor and it is just a hole in the floor. You squat, you go and then throw some mud on it. The...err...stuff just accumulates in a room below and gets used along with cow dung as manure every year or so.
These people do seem to have a tough life. One of the tasks for the women is to go out into the mountains every morning with a basket on their back looking for dry dung which is used as fuel (there are no trees growing here and hence firewood is expensive to buy)
All these villages get completely cut off from the outside world during winter for about four months or so due to snow blocking all the roads. So the villagers stock up what ever is required for winter and then prepare to last it out.
Oct 10 – This day, we were supposed to trek from Komic to Demul which is 18 kms away. But the previous day’s walk of 8 kms was a little too much for the most of us. So only two decided to trek while the rest of us (me included) decided to just take a jeep ride to Demul. We reached Demul by afternoon. Demul is a much larger village and has about 150 houses. The two who chose to trek joined us by evening after an 8 hour trek.
Oct 11 – We decided to climb a local mountain near Demul which has a beautiful view from the top. It took us all about one and half hours to trek to the top. And once you reach there, it is hard to not be wowed by the immensity of the Himalayas and our own trivialness before it. The descent was much quicker and took about half an hour. We drove back to Kaza
Oct 12-Oct 14. Drove from Kaza back to Manali, spent a day in Manali. Took a bus to Delhi and then back to Bangalore.
Overall, it was a great experience especially the homestays at the villages of the spiti valley. I am also happy about the fact that irrespective of the size of village, there was a school in every village and classes were being conducted regularly (even during winters).
But I am most happy with the fact that I got to know some great people on the trip and while the trip lasted for only 10 days, the memories will last forever, thanks to these wonderful people. Thanks G, S, L, R and V.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
A week at Bhadra
I had the privilege of being part of the Tiger Estimation activity (It is not called Tiger Census anymore) at Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary from 21st to 25th of Jan (Had to skip 26th and 27th for work related reasons).
Bhadra is around 500 sq kms of moist deciduous forest. I was assigned to the Lakkavalli range which is about 70kms by road from Muthodi where all the volunteers, around 40 of us, had reported.
The first day was about the what, why and the how of the activity. The actual estimation was spread across six days. The first three days involved tiger and other carnivore sampling and the next three involved sampling of the ungulates.
The big cats (tigers, leopards etc) being soft bellied animals prefer to move in areas with less undergrowth. Hence walkways are ideal locations to search for them.
Unlike the past, this time there was no attempt at actually counting the number of tigers. Instead, we just look for signs of the big cat. The signs include visual sighting, pug marks, scat, kills, rake marks (where the tiger has scratched a tree – a typical cat behavior) and any audible signs like growls etc.
All this data is collated across multiple sanctuaries and fed back to WII (Wildlife Institute of India) where numbers are crunched and some fancy statistical formulas are used and finally an estimate is arrived at. The whole process is supposed to take a couple of years.
Also, unlike previous times, tiger numbers are estimated on a landscape basis as opposed to individual sanctuaries/national parks. So Nagarahole, Bandipur, Madhumalai and Wynad form one landscape, Bhadra and Kudremukh form the next, Sharavathi, Dandeli, Anshi and Goa form the third. This way the meta populations are estimated which is more accurate than saying 30 tigers in Nagarahole, 50 in Bandipur etc.
This time, in addition to looking out for signs, there is an attempt at DNA fingerprinting the tiger population. For this, we had to look out for scat and collect any fresh scat that we came across.
So the first three days, I and two personal from the forest department, walked on jeep tracks on a five kilometer stretch looking for signs. The first day, we did find a bunch of pug marks and some scat, mostly old, so we did not collect any.
The next two days were better in the scat department. There was one instance where we came across almost fresh scat which seemed to be a few hours old. I cannot remember when I was as happy looking at shit. We collected a whole bunch of tiger crap stored safely in polythene bags and more importantly away from our lunch boxes.
On day four, we went out on ungulate tracking. This involved a four kilometer trek (two going in and two coming back) on a line transect into dense forest. Along with looking out for Chital, Sambars, Barking deer and other herbivores, we also took some measurements of vegetation diversity (for this, every 400 meters, we mark out a 20m circle and then write down the top 5 species of trees and shrubs.). Then, we look out for, well, deer crap on a 20m straight line. Depending on the number of pellets that we find (yes, we had to crawl on the ground looking for pellets and counting them), we rate ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘C’ (over 250 being C).
The basic idea behind ungulate tracking is to estimate the carrying capacity of the forest. An adult tiger requires around 50-60 deer sized animals per year. This means that there needs to be at least 500-600 deer to sustain one tiger (remember, not every hunt will be successful). So by estimating the prey density, one can judge the health of the ecosystem for tiger sustainability and how many can it hold.
Enough of the estimate part, more interesting are the stories told by the forest personal who accompanied me.
Tales of elephant attacks and how some people were killed is not really comforting when you are walking through dense forest. But the story I liked most was the one on how this forest was saved from human onslaught.
Apparently, the forest range that I was in was a completely different sight around 10 yrs ago. There used to be rampant wood felling and poaching. The guard said that you could walk kilometers into the forest and not see one deer. There would be around 50 to 100 cartloads of wood being chopped everyday. The forest guards were abused and threatened by the timber mafia and most of them had simply given up on protecting the forest.
And then one day an incident happened which turned the tables. On that night, a forest watcher and a few other guards stumbled on a few people chopping wood and pursued them to a village close by. The watcher then fired a bullet in the air but that caused the villagers to come out believing that someone was shot. In the melee that ensued, the miscreants got more of their people to the location and a fight broke out. The forest guards were beaten up mercilessly and barely managed to get out alive.
The forest department decided that enough was enough. With the help of the local police department, over the next few months they tracked down every one of the accused and made sure that they realized what pain was. Following that, they began clamping down on all activities inside the forest. Cases were slapped for the most minor of offenses and people were locked up. This was when the department wrested control back from the mafia and there has been no looking back since. Now, people are afraid to even pee in the forest. And over the last ten years, the forests in this range have recovered remarkably. Goes to show that, nature can fix itself if we just let it be.
Well, that is my experience over the past five days. The only downside for me is all the tick bites that now adorn my body. These blasted creatures the size of pin head can be such a pain. There are red spots all over and they itch like crazy.
So over the next couple of months, if you call and I don’t pick up the phone, it’s probably because I am too busy scratching myself...
Bhadra is around 500 sq kms of moist deciduous forest. I was assigned to the Lakkavalli range which is about 70kms by road from Muthodi where all the volunteers, around 40 of us, had reported.
The first day was about the what, why and the how of the activity. The actual estimation was spread across six days. The first three days involved tiger and other carnivore sampling and the next three involved sampling of the ungulates.
The big cats (tigers, leopards etc) being soft bellied animals prefer to move in areas with less undergrowth. Hence walkways are ideal locations to search for them.
Unlike the past, this time there was no attempt at actually counting the number of tigers. Instead, we just look for signs of the big cat. The signs include visual sighting, pug marks, scat, kills, rake marks (where the tiger has scratched a tree – a typical cat behavior) and any audible signs like growls etc.
All this data is collated across multiple sanctuaries and fed back to WII (Wildlife Institute of India) where numbers are crunched and some fancy statistical formulas are used and finally an estimate is arrived at. The whole process is supposed to take a couple of years.
Also, unlike previous times, tiger numbers are estimated on a landscape basis as opposed to individual sanctuaries/national parks. So Nagarahole, Bandipur, Madhumalai and Wynad form one landscape, Bhadra and Kudremukh form the next, Sharavathi, Dandeli, Anshi and Goa form the third. This way the meta populations are estimated which is more accurate than saying 30 tigers in Nagarahole, 50 in Bandipur etc.
This time, in addition to looking out for signs, there is an attempt at DNA fingerprinting the tiger population. For this, we had to look out for scat and collect any fresh scat that we came across.
So the first three days, I and two personal from the forest department, walked on jeep tracks on a five kilometer stretch looking for signs. The first day, we did find a bunch of pug marks and some scat, mostly old, so we did not collect any.
The next two days were better in the scat department. There was one instance where we came across almost fresh scat which seemed to be a few hours old. I cannot remember when I was as happy looking at shit. We collected a whole bunch of tiger crap stored safely in polythene bags and more importantly away from our lunch boxes.
On day four, we went out on ungulate tracking. This involved a four kilometer trek (two going in and two coming back) on a line transect into dense forest. Along with looking out for Chital, Sambars, Barking deer and other herbivores, we also took some measurements of vegetation diversity (for this, every 400 meters, we mark out a 20m circle and then write down the top 5 species of trees and shrubs.). Then, we look out for, well, deer crap on a 20m straight line. Depending on the number of pellets that we find (yes, we had to crawl on the ground looking for pellets and counting them), we rate ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘C’ (over 250 being C).
The basic idea behind ungulate tracking is to estimate the carrying capacity of the forest. An adult tiger requires around 50-60 deer sized animals per year. This means that there needs to be at least 500-600 deer to sustain one tiger (remember, not every hunt will be successful). So by estimating the prey density, one can judge the health of the ecosystem for tiger sustainability and how many can it hold.
Enough of the estimate part, more interesting are the stories told by the forest personal who accompanied me.
Tales of elephant attacks and how some people were killed is not really comforting when you are walking through dense forest. But the story I liked most was the one on how this forest was saved from human onslaught.
Apparently, the forest range that I was in was a completely different sight around 10 yrs ago. There used to be rampant wood felling and poaching. The guard said that you could walk kilometers into the forest and not see one deer. There would be around 50 to 100 cartloads of wood being chopped everyday. The forest guards were abused and threatened by the timber mafia and most of them had simply given up on protecting the forest.
And then one day an incident happened which turned the tables. On that night, a forest watcher and a few other guards stumbled on a few people chopping wood and pursued them to a village close by. The watcher then fired a bullet in the air but that caused the villagers to come out believing that someone was shot. In the melee that ensued, the miscreants got more of their people to the location and a fight broke out. The forest guards were beaten up mercilessly and barely managed to get out alive.
The forest department decided that enough was enough. With the help of the local police department, over the next few months they tracked down every one of the accused and made sure that they realized what pain was. Following that, they began clamping down on all activities inside the forest. Cases were slapped for the most minor of offenses and people were locked up. This was when the department wrested control back from the mafia and there has been no looking back since. Now, people are afraid to even pee in the forest. And over the last ten years, the forests in this range have recovered remarkably. Goes to show that, nature can fix itself if we just let it be.
Well, that is my experience over the past five days. The only downside for me is all the tick bites that now adorn my body. These blasted creatures the size of pin head can be such a pain. There are red spots all over and they itch like crazy.
So over the next couple of months, if you call and I don’t pick up the phone, it’s probably because I am too busy scratching myself...
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