Day 2 Ferrying all day through the waters

... of Sunderbans. The rivers Gosaba, Gumdi, Durga Dwani (Dwani means a connector riveulet that trasmits the tidal waters from one river to another), Bonbibi Bharani (small canal) are part of the Sunderbans and Pancha Mukhani is a confluence of 5 rivers. I got to ride our boat through the river and it was fun. The sun was hot and the air humid but the cool breeze from time to time was most rejuvenating. We had some people make us tea from time to time and then cook us lunch as well. The breakfast didn't go too well with me so I was down with a headache for the first part of the day. A traditional lime water solution to the problem helped immensely and I was soon back on my feet and evjoying every bit of the trip.

We had seen almost 5 species of kingfisher, several other birds, a crocodile swimming stealthily to try and catch a crane and the crane slowly moving away sensing the adversity, on the first day itself. Today we were eager to spot a tiger and some gangetic dolphins (which are rare). Though we did not spot either but heard from other travellers we met at the watch towers that they had spotted one, the Sunderbans brought out a very different kind of emotions that i cannot describe at the moment. I can't seem to fnd a word to describe all of it.

A legend that is told to new generations and tourists about the Sunderbans, talks about a Godess named Bonbibi the forest goddess and God Dakhin Ray a demon that is said to assume the avatar of a tiger. It is believed that once a Dakhin Ray wanted to eat a human. A villager was forced to offer his son after a lot of refusal. Then Banbibi saved the childs life and they came to an understanding that some ilands would be inhabited by man and some by the tiger and that the they would not intrude into each other's territories. The local villagers workship these Gods and consider them to be their saviour.

Coming back as I mentioned yesterday, the Sunderban landscape is very different from the tropical jungles of India. The dry tropical jungles are much cooler, and has ample prey for tigers. Since those forest are much smaller in size when compared to the Sunderbans, it becomes easy to move villages out and control the situation of man-animal conflicts. But the Sunderbans are vast and spread over 4000 sq kms in India. This is only 35% of the total area and the rest is in Bangladesh. The Sunderbans bascially are a group of islands separated by really big rivers. The land is swampy and makes it harder for man and animal to tread on and commute. In addition to this, there are vertical roots resembling spikes that stick out of the ground making it even harder to walk. The heat and humidity are high, and the river water gets mixed with sea water making it salty and salt water is obviously not ideal for quenching thirst. So many species of animals like the spotted deer and sambhar find it hard to survive when compared to landscapes like Kanha and Bandhavgarh. So the potential prey of the tigers deplete in number. Besides this the birds and animals are separated by large expanses of water. Hence they all learn to swim. Monkeys, deer, and most importantly tigers, swim across to other islands looking for food. This is probably the only place you will find stray deer and not large groups of deer. All the animals and man living in the Sunderbans have to adapt and survive inspite of such extreme circumstances. Hence the tigers here are very much more agressive than their counter parts in the rest of the country. Food is scarce and they some times have to survive byt just eating fish, when a tiger eats an entire deer or bison in other jungles. This makes man a softer target in these regions. When the fishermen are out in the waters the tiger swims in quietly and jumps into the boat and attacks the men from behind. Besides this the people working for us had seevral stories to share about how they had rescued their kith and kin from the tiger. The techniques tigers use in the Sunderbans is entirely different from other Indian jungles due to the contraints in the terrain. All animals and people are very hardy and have fought to survive against all odds. The support from the government is inadequate and people and animals have found their own methods. Private NGOs and organizations, wildlife enthusiasts like the freinds I mention are ones who take up an initiative to help out the people and animals.

When I learned and realized all of this I was amazed, fascinated and appalled. None of the locals revealed any feelings of negetivity and helplessness. They believe they have a right to the jungle as much as the animals and do not shirk from their livelihood for fear of being eaten by the tiger. They do not prefer to go to the city and work as labor but stay back and live the life they were born to live with full zest and entusiasm. Thats why the picture with fishermen sleeping in the boat really amazed me and also told me a lot about them. During this trip the interaction with the locals was very enlightening for me. Since we knew the local language we got talking very easily and were in quite freindly terms. Our boat driver was quite tech savvy and he surpised us by producing sound recordings of animal sounds, video clips in his mobile phone. He even wanted to learn English so that he would be able to speak to tourists.

The spirit and peace I saw here made me feel how much luxury I have and look for over what they have an survive on. It touched and moved me no end, and as I mentioned before I do not have a word to describe what I felt.... I think I can write on without stopping but I have to!

PS: The moth was clicked by my frind B and the owlet and common Iora in the middle were clicked by S. The stork was clicked by A my husband.