Wanderlust

Luke’s reflections added as epilogue. Though I started writing a prologue to it, ‘it’ ended up as an epilogue :)

SERENDIPITY :

We ended up Birding in a remote part of Havelock Island, in the Andamans. The two of us were taken there by a local Bengali fisherman in his motorised ‘dinghy’, for snorkeling. Arranged by our thatched-bamboo-huts-on-stilts- by-the- beach hotel chaps, when we wanted to go for snorkeling. The fisherman is their neighbour.


After the 1-hour dinghy ride, he moored the dinghy by a dense jungle where the gentle mild waves touch and tease the tree trunks and branches are overhanging the turquoise sea.

Snorkeling turned out to be a nonevent as we realized there are no corals around that area. Did a bit of diving exploring the shallow sea-floor,around 10ft deep.

Had a fabulous spell the other day at the coral reef of Jolly Boy island, but a boatful of excitable screaming tourists cuts fun down. Anyway. Hell with snorkeling; The place was very inviting even otherwise, with an exotic air and a very palpable feel of far-away-from-mankind; You can see it in the turqiose translucence, feel it with your sole on the soft white sand, smell it in the air.. tender, virgin Nature.

Getting to the shore, ventured into the jungle for some birding. Got a good close view of Fairy Blue Bird and we were on its trails for sometime, when a vague tintinnabulations instantly wrinkled our brows and pricked up the ears.. with a “cud that be an exotic bird sounding like the bell chiming?”-look, faced each other.

Well, there can’t be any grazing cattle or any settlements in the vicinity for kilometerts; it’s such an isolated island, there was no sign of the brainy bipeds for at least the last half-hour of our dinghy ride to reach there.

The sound was getting closer.. and closer.. and sounding more familiar.. and we were getting pushed to our wit’s end.. and.. I got a whiff of it !.. it was in the air.. a patchy whiff.. of a pachyderm!! Agape in disbelief, the instincts instantly triggered the brain to look for escape routes to stay clear!

But then the thought crossed, that the animal could be a timber industry worker. “Ah well..”, I huffed at the sight of the elephants emerging from the jungle maneuvering through the dense greenery, with a mahout in charge.. There were 2 adults and a cute cub.

Where could they be headed? To some base camp from where they would go for the routine labour. And then, another island, another camp, same routine. We were curious where the camp could be, there were no signs of any nearby. Decided to follow them. After 15 minutes of trailing through the jungle, out onto the sand- sudden drastic and dramatic opening into the vastness and blueness of the sky and ocean.

It seemed quite another bright world! You could sense the excitement in the restless cub’s li’l trunks at reaching the place. The girth of wrought iron shackles could not tether its mirth, but a shouting mahout’s callous mind came down heavily on it; the harsh hands curbed the jolly rolling on sand and waves.
Has he become so inured to the torture by his own masters that he could not sense or tolerate the simple pleasures? Was he giving vent to his frustrations??


Spirits lowered by this, and the water level rising above knees making it difficult for us to follow them, we parted ways as they again entered the forest.

Where We Landed Following the Elephants!

Elephant footprints on the wet sand looked queer, outlandish, as the sight of them wading through the seaside with a fettered but frolicking cub.

The quaintness of this lone mangrove added to it all..

For me, it stands in a timeless frame, with the queerness of the experience and the sheer serendipity which took us there!!



--x--

Reflections By Luke :

We began following the elephants. I hoped they would
go towards the beach.

I wanted to take some 'pachyderms-on-beach' snaps. The
procession reached the beach. Soon there were 7 sets of foot-prints on
the beach - two size10 (in elephant parlance), one size 5, and 4 sets of
puny human foot prints.

As we were wading through the knee deep (for humans)water,
the baby elephant decided that he is bored with this trudging
business. He flopped down into the water and tried rolling around. The
mahouts were not happy with this. With shouts of 'aage' and aided by sticks
they got the young guy back on foot. We were unhappy about this but were helpless.

At the point where the elephants and their mahouts left the beach
and entered the forest, we bid adieu to them and started
our return march.

I was pondering on life's ironies - last time when we met wild elephants
on the way, we fled like cowards (caution being the better part of valour),
but here we were peacefully walking behind these gentle giants
watching them getting abused.

Another irony was that in the same islands where men are glorified for
enduring fetters for freedom, these animals are shackled and beaten.

When will man learn to make peace with himself and the world!