Wildlife Week Lawngtlai- Behind the Scenes II -Good Shot

Hmmm.. so the context was wildlife week and a range of issues from Conservation, to hunting and the children found an animation film especially hilarious. A second film was repeated probably 6 times during the  programme and each time the laughte was louder than the last! I couldn't follow a lot of the discussions as they were in Mizo but I was all alert when the arms of little boys shot up in response to a query? Some stood up and the others followed.

Count me in

I was a tad puzzled but i felt I had an inkling too of what this might have been and my doubts were soon confirmed. Post the programme in Cheural, we were sipping some piping hot tea at our hosts home, when I heard the all too familiar  ( we have a group in Saiha , that anounces their arrival in this manner)thudding of children's footsteps. They paused at the door, hesitated for a bit , trickled into the room in  twos and threes, plonked their catapults on the table giggled and ...poof ....vanished. Some others shook hands with the elders around and were patted on their back for their good deed.

us too

For those of you who haven't understood let me elaborate. The marksmanship required for some methods of hunting is acquired at an early age.  A catapult is a preferred and accessible tool. Easy to make at home with a well sculpted piece of wood and a taut rubber strap, one finds that this little weapon is a prized possession of most boys. Birds , geckos and the like are easy game. 

Post the discussion with the children , many had volunteered to surrender  their catapults and stop chasing after these birds and animals. I was most surprised. Yes it is easy for them to make another , but how many times have I impulsively decided to curb a passtime/sport/entertainment just because I attended a discussion at school? I cannot remember any instance. 

Abandoned midway 

We felt the need to talk to some of these boys in whatever limited (is it really? I wonder now)  conversation was possible. So while clicking images of the catapults or what would have been catapults (some of them were still in the assembling stages, i.e we got fresh sculpted pieces of wood and the strips of fresh unused rubber intended for it)  , we chatted. 

Connoisseur

They shared how mud bullets were made and provided their assessments on the catapults surrendered. Good , Not good and aaaaaaaaah  Baby's catapult!!! 

...and how did he get this big without
 learning to hold a catapult straight???

Turns out one of them was the expert in making these while the other seemed to be quite a shot. While frowning at Nimesh's attempts to take aim , he picked up one said "that "and before we tuned in he hit the   electricity pole over 50 feet away. Bullseye! 

Nimesh made no further attempts apart from this last one below.   

Destroy the evidence!!

  But I lived to tell the tale.

Wildlife Week Lawngtlai - Behind the Scenes I - More than welcome

In complete agreement  with Mr Tlana when he shared that homestays were the highlight of the visit to the villages. I am humbled by the generosity extended by families in sharing their homes and meals with absolute strangers and am reminded repeatedly of my adolescence where visitors were people you had to grit your teeth and tolerate.

Our Hosts Home in Cheural

We stayed with two beautiful families in Cheural and Lungpher. Over dinner , at tea between the programmes we had the opportunity to talk to the families. I have found these interactions very interesting. While running through some wildlife magazines and field guides and photographs there is space for discussions on the village,forests and wildlife around or of Samrakshan's work in Saiha etc. Rarely have these interactions that I've been part or witnessed disappointed in their content, especially when there are people over 50 around and often even with younger people. Sometimes , you can feel almost tangibly the intimate connect they share with the forests around , the wealth of knowledge that comes with the dependence and so much more. 

Lunch at Cheural

Coming back to the hospitality , it is usually assumed in most households that Nimesh and I are vegetarians and there is such care taken to ensuring that there is plenty for us to eat. From pumpkins to cabbage and carrots..... i cringe with embarrassment when I see the effort. When its time to leave , I'm at a loss. Do not know how to tell them that we're touched and grateful. It usually is a handshake with a sincere invitation to visit us in Saiha and Kalome  i.e thank you.

Unfortunately (or maybe not ) we had such a blast with the children of our hosts in Lungpher that the camera was all forgotten about. Being higher than Saiha, Lungpher was cold and after a walk in the rains we warmed ourselves beside a lovely family (kids , parents , grandma and neighbours!)  and i remember thinking its we've been lucky to receive such warmth of home and hearth in a places so far away from home. 

Wildlife Week Lawngtlai - Oct 2010

The first week of October was wildlife week and we visited some villages in the neighboring Lawngtlai district. Started with  Cheural and moved onto Lungpher and Bualpui. All of these villages  lie outside the Blue Mountain (Phawmpui Tlang) National Park , which is currently on our must visit list. The road to blue mountain has been blocked for a while owing to a landslide and prolonged monsoons. So Blue Mountain remains on the wish list as opposed to the been there  list .

The programmes in most of these villages involved at one level interactions and discsussions with the Village Council Members and Youth Groups and at the other Children from the local schools. In both instances films were shown and this was my personal favourite part of the programme. In long dark town halls or homes , post dinner , the youth and village council would slowly trickle in while the projector and screen were being set up. With the young ones we had interactions in the daytime.

House Full

Walls were screens in some places, while bedsheets were quickly quickly put together in the others. electricity was a concern, and amidst all of this I was quite surprised at  how quickly and efficiently the generator , screen and seating was organized. I was expecting a more laid back process but in most instances we started on time and the participants seemed quite interested.

Me too!

While there was very little I could understand of the the discussions it was indeed interesting to observe the reactions of people to the films and photographs. Pictures of familiar animals would lead to a sudden perking up or nodding, creases on the forehead when the not so familiar appeared and of course nudges and discussions. The children of course were delightful with unrestrained laughter and curiosity.There was one little girl who chose to sway on a pole while watching the films and some others creeping upto the laptop and checking at the consistency of what they saw on the screen and what they saw on the laptop.

Not without my pole

or in my case my umbrella 

Overall the trip was great , I got to be in places that were quite different from the one's i'd been to earlier in the year and it also gave me a taste of how programmes like these are organized locally.  But as is usually the case with me ...its what happened behind the scenes that left its mark............To be Contd in the next post

A visit to Sultanpur - Sep 2010

Found my self pleasantly surprised at my mother's enthusiasm in making a trip to Sultanpur. Sultanpur is about 15 kms from Gurgaon and hosts a bird sanctuary we hadn't ever paid a visit to. Many plans for the same had turned to dust largely owing to my mortal fear of having to move through Gurgaon, but with my parents excitement  so palpable dilly-dallying was not an option i considered.

Brace yourselves - would be my warning for anyone trying to get to Sultanpur cause post Gurgaon , the ride gets terribly bumpy. But getting to the sanctuary is worth the effort. We reached close to eight in the morning and had to stop for breakfast for fear that our growling stomachs might causing the a retreat of the migrants. In hour or so we were inside the gates and merrily walking down the paths.

As is evident my attempts at photography took quite a lashing. The sun was up and brightly shining down on the lake making it close to impossible for this amateur to click anything worthwhile.  I remember similar disastrous attempts at the Palak lake.  Honestly? (and no its not just a case of sour grapes) i had a greater time discussing the Malayalam names for the birds in sight with my folks. Of al the birds around the Indian Roller caught their fancy as it darted around quite close, with its blues catching the bright light.   

Needless to say birds were plentiful and my skills at identification limited. Painted Storks , Black Crowned Night Herons, Black Winged Stilts, Eurasian Spoonbills and the egrets were the only concrete identifications i could make based on the images we had.

Neelgais were close at hand but what led to a whoop of of excitement was a sprinting  alert  earred rabbit. I went chasing in the direction that it disappeared in ,  feeling pretty much Alice like and laughing all the way

Preeti , tells me that she read about the blooming of some lilies in Sultanpur after about two decades! I wonder if these were the ones. And yes the images have been edited to black and white so that appear presentable!

A walk around the campus - III

I was at Delhi yet again and the weather was lovely (many would disagree). It made up for my gloomy feverish self. It had been pouring cats and dogs and  the Yamuna was swirling around and threatening to flow over. Between bouts of fever and the almost incessant rains I managed to do some scouting around the campus to get some images of the avian residents. 

A surprise was in store, for right outside our home in the car parking i saw Lapwings strutting around in the little puddles. I had heard them calling during the day and had just assumed that they were flying over the campus towards the barrage like the egrets (they never stop by). But the Lapwing couple was in the sparsely populated parking each day and they seemed not to mind much my intrusive gawking.         

The Tawny Eagle, or thats what we figured these are, are more numerous than the crows I can safely say. Their eerie calls can be heard through the day and a look skyward (especially close to the laundry would definitely reveal a couple of them. However , this is the only remotely presentable image i have from this visit.

Of all the joys of re-discovering the campus , the one held most precious is the growing familiarity with the whereabouts of some of these birds. The owlets on the laundry clothes lines post 9 at night , the Yellow Footed Green Pigeons in the almost deserted lane beside the herbarium etc. I've learnt that this flameback can usually be spotted between 7-8 in the morning or close to 5 in the evening on this leafless tree each day.

It calls out loud and clear during its perch and just once have I seen it in the company of another of its kind. Frequently  it has been a red vented bulbul or laughing dove or collared dove for company. The sight of this Flameback (though now familiar) thrills me , the colours are rich and bright , just the kind of company a hospital campus needs!    

A brief stop at Umreth July 2010 - some images

The tussle of the two Asian Open Bills

and the retreat

We were drawn to a halt at a roadside village pond in Umreth  by its generous peppering of the blacks and whites of cormorants , openbills and herons. There were about 150-200 of them around and we could watch them and a group of children enjoying the cool waters. The landscape was making the most of the stingy monsoons it received and goading on the shy sprouting greens into its varied hues. Lapwings and Egrets (Cattle, Intermediate and Great) were plentiful in  most fields along the road. But this gathering was nothing like the other sights. 

  

We also caught a glimpse of some beautiful fishing attempts of two Pied Kingfishers who settled at distance just long enough to get this image.

Visit to Upasana- June 2010

I've been looking forward to developing an understanding of the work of some groups on crafts and textiles. In between some work engagements, travel and of course stealing time from being simply lulled by the tranquility that Saiha offers I contacted Upasana and discussed spending some time there.

I had visited Upasana in my last visit to Auroville in Dec 09 and was charmed by the initial impressions of the place. I finally made it in June again and I was to spend 15 days with them in understanding the functioning of some of their projects , supporting some documentation needs and brainstorming with the team some possible avenues for further engagement with communities that they partner with.

Was pleasantly surprised by an offer from Divya to pick me up at the Pondicherry bus station, almost as surprised as meeting success in communicating with shopkeepers in my eng-mal- tamil mix. After about a 10 km ride landed in Upasana to the soft and surprisingly soothing and languorous tinkle of gigantic wind chimes.

We were in time for Upasana’s Friday sharing with volunteers, a practice through which the team shares with each other what their week has been like. Apart from the Upasana team,  student interns from the various design schools were present and they were to spend between one to three months with Upasana.

Upasana Design Studio

It was a good start to the visit and the next morning began with some Auroville bakery bread , the taste of which I’d not really forgotten from last time. This was topped up by a feathered greeting at Upasana’s entrance - a magnificent peacock, and this one was pretty cat like in the knowledge of his goodlooks. Was cheered at the sight and puzzled too at its almost domesticated behavior, he didn’t seem unnecessarily agitated by our presence and was pecking at the grain Rama had laid out. We were humoured in almost all possible manners save a display of its feathers in a dance! Sigh….

Spent a couple of days reading and trying to make sense of counts, staple lengths and hand processes vis a vis mechanized and power driven processes. A lot of technical terminology  was decoded for me by the eager student interns and they had of course their volley of questions ready on what exactly was I doing here, my work etc. Through interactions with the interns and other members in the team learnt more  Upasanas works.

Upasana's skirts - for Fab India

Kapas

Upasana has been working on linking various organic processes in producing organic cotton fabric through a project called Kapas. It partners with other organizations for the production of organic cotton and weaving. Currently they are trying to work on streamlining a process of producing the  fabric with primacy given to organic and handloom techniques . Partnerships are underway with various organizations for hand spinning, weaving and organic dyeing. The team from Kapas and I headed to Madurai and spent time with the various organizations and communities in order to explore avenues for furthering Kapas’s engagement.

From Auroville we headed for a place called Natham just outside Madurai. I slept through the highways,  (much to my companions amusement) but was wide awake once we lost our way. The car spent hours around various villages and bypasses and I was plastered to the window taking in the green and often rocky hills that cut short my horizon. The cables on the roadside were dotted with kingfishers in plenty and what I think are rollers. We were lost many times during our trip and my usual hyperactive self was calmed by the light drizzles and sparkling dewy greens .

We stayed at CESCI .The rooms and the campus were beautiful understated and very peaceful despite being on a roadside. The ideal place to be back to after a day on the road.

 Our first visit was to the RTU  weaving unit located in a town close to Bathlagundu. The weavers present were largely women and I was able to spend some time with Mohanraj the manager of the unit in understanding a bit about the background of the project and discussions on the current capacity of the weavers etc.  By the end of the day my head was all wound up in knots trying to place what I was seeing with what I have been reading- counts, hanks , ply , winding ….the works.

In the following days we spent time with CCD. CCD has been working for over two decades with various communities by promoting enterprise based on the local resources and traditional skills. It supports the formation of federations and producer companies and provides them with business development services such as technical advice, market information, capacity building, quality control, marketing, branding, credit linkages etc.

CCD partners with Upasana in the production of organic cotton. Over two hundred households are currently engaged in organic cotton farming and CCD itself is experimenting with the cotton production from the cotton tree, to gauge its suitability for adoption by farmers. Tachinamurthy, from CCD who was with us through a major part of the visit shared experiences of his search for a particular variety of perennial cotton tree. I understand he finally found it in someone's backyard! 

Seed Cotton

We met with some organic cotton farmers in Valayankulam and Arsapattai.  There were discussions on the cropping patterns, the experience of organic growing, Kaps's work etc. It was interesting to note that most farmers shared that pesticides and fertilizers had not yet gained ground in the villages of the region and that mixed cropping was still prevalent. The transition to an out and out organic cultivation might not have been too difficult I understand.

The groups shared information with us animatedly but as the day wound up I was left with image of an elderly ayya sharing that 20 years earlier they were confident and proud of their work and produce. Currently the interest in working on farms is dwindling as there is not much surety of gaining monetarily and quality of the soil and seed is not what it used to be. Apparently many farmers have sold their fields and moved out of agriculture.

During most of our journey we could see various road repair activities underway and presumably a lot of it was under NREGS. Interestingly when some other options for engagement were discussed at Valayankulam and Arsapattai  most people were clear that they would be able to spare time only if there was no major NREGS activities underway. NREGS gets priority over their farms and other sources of income.   

In the spinning unit of CCD in Sevayur, the process of making yarn from cotton pods was underway. Ginning, carding , winding and some very noisy spinning! Fluffy balls to white yarn in hanks and cones. Tachina shared the roadblocks in processing the relatively short staple organic cotton that was being produced.

Before our return to Auroville , we met with some handloom weavers in a village close to Coimbatore. En route we touched the T Shirt Capital Tirpur and slowly moved onto T.M Pallayam and Puliyampatti. Almost every other household in the localities that we visited had a loom. Some were being worked on and others catching dust. The youngsters in some of these households found it easier to work in the textile mills and factories around the village as opposed to the uncertain returns of the tedious handweaving at home. Most members however did contribute to the weaving at different stages of the process.

The looms in these homes  stretched across about 15-20 feet and creamy off white yarn was being woven into cloth. Our contact person was referring to the weavers as Khadi weavers. However, I get fuzzy in my understanding of what exactly Khadi weaving means and different people seem to have different answers to this.

In about 5 days we completed these visits and returned to Auroville where we had further discussions on the project . In Auroville I also met with The Colours of Nature, an organization focusing its efforts on natural dyeing and attempting to revive traditional organic processes of dyeing. Jesus , the founder of TCoN , has been working on natural dyeing processes for over 15 years now. He shared of his initial experiences and surprise in finding that the  knowledge of  non polluting processes traditionally practiced are not a part of the memory of the current generation engaged in dyeing. By examining some historical records and discussions with communities , Jesus shares that he has been able to develop natural and non polluting dyes which he hopes industries catering to a larger scale can use. 

I had a lot to chew on from this trip. I could finally see (as opposed to reading) the process of developing a fabric from cotton.  From growing it, to the ginning, carding, winding, spinning dyeing and finally weaving processes and  the many variations within them. The impact of industries that has overtime has taken away the craft from communities, leaving households with a relatively alienated experience in the weaving of a fabric. Not to forget the more than significant economic and social impacts this must have had on the communities. 

The space provided by Upasana for these brief explorations and the warmth extended by the team has added to my list of experiences that I'm grateful for.    

Thanks - Dhanalaksmi , Prabhakaran , Vivek, Divya , Tachinamurthy ,Katherine and Inge!  Its been a valuable fortnight!