In the middle of all this, I spent last Thursday morning at Corbett. Sounds like a strange thing to say. Nine hours of serenity and sanity, needing twenty hours of travel to get there and back, to spend just thirty minutes with my Initiative friends from around the country. That's me in the Corbett hat.
We reached Corbett at 3.30 am, woke up at 6 am, took a Gypsy ride into the forest, where we met monkeys, spotted deer, kingfisher, woodpecker, school kids, mules, an olde english bridge, sal and teak, and a museum with the usual taxidermist handiwork. No tiger, because we didn't have time to get to the only open gate 25 kms away, but having once sat on the chest of a 250 kg tigress to stitch up tear wounds in her armpits, her eyes and jaws wide open beneath my face in a ketamine induced stupor, spotting tiger now holds no particular fascination for me.
Back at the lodge after a few short but splendid hours, after which I spent another hour with Laxmi the elephant whose wide hazel eyes had me smitten. I suggested a homemade lep to her mahout for her inflamed right flank, he promptly sent out for the ingredients (glycerine and maxsulf), and I hear she was back on her safari rounds the next day.
The Initiative gang arrived at 11.30 am after a gruelling 12 hour coach ride from Delhi including five hours of being stuck in a traffic jam. Since Sudha and I had to leave by 12.30, we all just stood around under the trees by the banks of the river Kosi for my opening address, a gentle mist all around, the melodious gush of freshly flowing water in the background, with birdsong for accompaniment.
There's nothing like a river in a forest to bring you back to earth after spinning around like a whirling dervish out of whirl. I later lost the multicolored riverbed pebbles I had collected at Delhi airport, my flight back hovered over Mumbai for two full hours, and at 1.30 am I found myself tending to an ill family member before falling into a deep sleep. But I am wide awake and ready to take on the next four weeks in which, sigh, there will be more of the same mad rush. This time around I hope there will be a refuelling stop at the Salvador-do-Mundo forests, my very own personal Corbett.
6 comments:
u went off to the annual conf without me...after Kartik made me plan for it for 2 yrs and then u ask me why I don't comment...and u had fun tooo...boo hoo....
haaha just kidding lynn...have been out..but now i'm back..and the comments will happen
by the way manish is my brother in law
the dolphin has been swimming in different waters too. how true about a river flowing through a forest...mesmerizing, absolutely!
got to go to Corbett, one of these days...been hearing so much about it.
cheers!
m
Jim Corbett ia a wonderful place and especially the entire set up of cottages etc.....
Prachi
Dervish your are. for you show such amazing endurance. and tending laxmi, the elephant and an ailing relative in the span of a few hrs! the river in a forest is Nature broadcasting its message to you, directly!
one day out of bombay can teach us a lot about life. just back from jaipur, i had gone for work unfortunately, but i kept the windows of my mind open.
your trip to corbett reminds me of my frequent trips to kaziranga as a child. and my fascination with the tiger continues. ever since i held a cub in my hands, as an eight year old. and i am continuously appalled by our governments apathy towards the cause. if there is anything that i can do, in my small way you know where to find me.
Try as I might, I cannot get the image of sitting on a tigress's chest - ketamine stupor notwithstanding, the open-jawed, slack eyed expression is terrifying.
Be glad to give you a hand if you're ever down near the animal hospital at Parel.
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