The Trek

There is a chaos of birds.

There is traffic of trees.

There is a muddle of roots.

There is disorderliness of leaves.

Still, I love to see what I see.

Because I’m in an evergreen forest

adjacent to an ever-growing city.

These initial thoughts kept wandering with me until I realised the area where my feet stood belongs to one of the smartest creatures on this planet – Leopard. My mind quickly wrapped this couplet in one of its corner lanes. And then suddenly transformed the semi-dense region into a dense territory.

In a way, I appreciated that feeling. As my casual look turned into an observatory eye. I started noticing anything and everything. I realised that in a jungle ignorance isn’t bliss, observation is. I almost forgot that I’m out on a trek and kept tracking the creations around.

Mayank and I found many lanes that cut our trail. I tried to reach their ends through my eyes, but the wild grass that bordered those lanes didn’t allow my vision to crossover. I had to bring them back and follow the trail that we started.

We came across a village couple with a child. We saw the lady’s husband was placing a bunch of branches on her head. She carefully took it and walked passed us with her 5-year-old kid without looking at us. As we approached her husband, I asked him in Marathi if he had seen any Leopard activity at this hour (an hour before twilight) at the place where we are standing. Without looking at us, he replied not at this time but after 8 pm and then tried to lift his share of branches. They were too heavy, so Mayank stepped forward to help him.    

We then walked for a few minutes further and found a new lane that we thought was interesting. With sticks in our hand, though Mayank’s was easily breakable, we took the new lane that led us to a huge rock-cut hill.

From a distance, I thought there must be a water body, but the portion was like an empty drum. I looked at the rock hill and to my amazement, it displayed an illusionary effect which I couldn’t gaze at it for over a minute. The harsh rains carved it to bring that effect; making it the perfect hiding place for members of the feline family. We stood against it like the Lilliputs. Was it safe to be there? Was it right to step forward? We both had these questions. But then Mayank said, let’s search this undulating ground. And like Mr Holmes & Dr Watson, we focused on our case – The Pugmarks. Quickly we found, our efforts are futile as our thoughts are playing games with us and we got carried away.

We walked back toward the previous lane, and once again we came across another couple carrying a bunch of branches on their head. This time I didn’t ask about the Leopard but the place further. He told us to go ahead, as there’s a village up there with some agriculture fields around.

Like most of the jungles, even this protected place is affected by agriculture. For a living, Adivasis have been using a part of a protected region for cultivation. Even after being aware that predators may pounce upon them. But fortunately, the resident hunters here are nocturnal, which allows them to do their field job at ease.    

An old Adivasi lady who had gone to the city just came back and took the same route as ours to go home. Though she looked frail, she kept walking at the same pace. Her feet had good strength to climb the uneven upward route. Now that’s the uniqueness of forest dwellers. Be it animals or humans. Their energy level is immense and incomparable.   

Our feet automatically followed the lady, but our eyes stayed with us, as they found a vineyard on a tree. Strange, but true.

Many bouquets of small flowers were hanging like a bunch of grapes. Unique and new to us, I decided to bring it home. So, I turned on my camera and captured its distinct beauty. Later, by posting the image in a flower group on facebook, I got to know its scientific name - Calycopteris floribunda. In colloquial language, it’s called Ukshi, a medicinal flower that has great healing properties and is used for many ailments.

In a dense region, half a meter is enough to keep one busy for days or even weeks. So, we kept appreciating innovations like visiting at an exhibition gallery and kept walking the path that took us to the plateau above.

Up, the breeze seemed to be breathing now, as the day’s temperature calmed down. We saw two Adivasi kids sitting and guarding their flock of sheep. It was an astonishing scene to watch them as it made me wonder, how city people barely allow their kids to skip a blink. And here in the land of leopards, the two boys were all alone.

We looked around and found an empty house surrounded by mango and cashew nut trees. It was silently observing the evening’s activity. Another house built on a slope of a nearby hillock was overlooking a field that was ploughed for the next plantation. The red silk cotton tree had shed its leaves to give way to its scarlet flowers. Summer colours & shades were dispersing and its fruit-berries were almost finished by the bird’s population. I found only 2-3 to taste and that too half-eaten.

We then took forward our curious steps to let our eyes meet a village where homes were built at odd distances. But what made our evening orangeful was the twilight view. It was waiting for us. It was observing us. Layers of mountains rolled and hugged each other to present an ideal hill station view; sans filters. Even in this age of deforestation, the place is thriving. And given a chance, it can grow beyond.

We thought of waiting to watch the sunset, but then realised the way we are looking at the view, a leopard too, must be observing us from one of those hills while stretching his body for yet another night trek.



Location: Yeoor, Thane, Maharashtra