In God's Abode

“Periyar is the longest river in Kerala and along its banks lie the beautiful rain forests of the Western Ghats.”  This was the only piece of information I had about Periyar as our car stopped at the entrance of the ‘Periyar Sanctuary’. I didn’t know what to expect. To be honest, I hadn’t really expected to spend my honeymoon in the midst of a forest. And a famous tiger sanctuary at that!

“Jungle me mangal?” a friend of mine had asked me as he winked at me naughtily for the 1000^th time.

But Divya’s (my wife) excitement on reaching the sanctuary was infectious. She remained on the edge of her seat throughout our journey from our hotel (Wild Corridor) in Thekkady to the sanctuary.

“You need to walk towards the river bank. Its a 'no vehicle' zone from here” said Anish, our driver.

Nodding, we entered the sanctuary. I haven’t seen a more peaceful sight in my life. The path towards Periyar River is overshadowed by huge trees on either side; sunlight struggling to break through. Divya looked around excitedly as the cackling of various birds filled the surrounding. However her desperate attempts at spotting a bird failed as they seemed perfectly camouflaged in the thick foliage. But she didn’t lose hope and her gait assumed a sense of purpose.

The shade above cleared slightly as we neared the bank of river Periyar. Two big boats awaited us. We bought the tickets and proceeded towards the top deck of one of the boats. Divya and I occupied our seats, one behind the other. We were asked to wear the life jacket provided by the boat crew. The life jackets were made mandatory when the river witnessed a tragic accident few years ago. Around 45 people died when their boat capsized in the river. All the passengers in my boat put on the lifejacket without a word of protest.

A shrill whistle by one of the boat crew and the boat’s engines chugged to life. The boat started its journey on the river. There are times when words fail us. This was one of them. We were in the midst of a river which was surrounded by a jungle. The hills and the monsoon clouds added to the charm. It was beauty like I had never known. Birds of various kinds rested atop trees while some swam in the river. The more boastful kinds dived into the water to showcase their fishing skills. Divya scanned the skies for a sight of one of her favourite birds, the Hornbill, but to no avail.

A small trivia about my wife. Divya is an avid bird watcher. Which means that unlike me, she finds the avian variety extremely interesting. I can't tell apart a myna from a koyal to save my life. So whenever I excitedly attempted to point out a bird or an animal that I felt was unique she would retort in the following manner:

"Sunil, for the 100th time...that is the Cormorant. and its very common in Ahmedabad too." (as if I knew...).
"Sunil, thats a crow." (the look on her face made me want to jump in the river)
"Sunil, thats a piece of log, not a tiger." (in my defence, it could well have been a tiger camouflaged as a log).

So for the rest of the journey I silently scanned the banks in the hope of seeing elephants, and tigers if we were really lucky. Half an hour went by with nothing more than birds for company.

Suddenly, the gentleman behind me pointed at some movement near the bank on our right. 

 “Look it’s a baby elephant” he shouted. 

All eyes turned towards the elephant. All the cameras were out and clicking ferociously. The boat moved a little closer and we realized that the baby elephant was in fact a wild boar. This time I felt like throwing the gentleman off the boat. And to add to the irritation he guffawed as if he knew all along that it was a boar. Amidst groans and laughter, we all resumed our seats. The rest of the journey proved to be uneventful barring the sight of a monitor lizard basking in the sun (I did try taking its pic but all my cam could capture was the brown soil. Stupid camouflaging ability!) And a couple of deers grazing in the lazy noon sun.

Just as we alighted from the boat, Divya caught the sight of four foreigners crossing the river towards the forest on a raft. On enquiry we were told that it was part of the ‘Nature Walk’ organized by the forest department to provide an up-close encounter with the wild to willing tourists. Divya smelled blood. Half heartedly I agreed to accompany her for the tour.

After paying for the tour (800 bucks), Divya and I proceeded towards a small hut that served as the office cum rest house for the forest guides. After the initial form filling formalities, our guide- Babu provided us with a pair of long socks that extended till the knees.

“Leeches. Trust me, you will need those.” Babu replied seeing our puzzled expressions.

Few minutes later, Babu, Divya and I made our way towards the river bank where a bamboo raft awaited us. Adrenaline rushed through my body as the raft slowly reached mid river. I kinda felt like Indiana Jones.

“How deep is the water?” asked Divya.

“Oh its quite deep. This area should have a depth of atleast 15-20 feet” replied Babu.

My Indiana Jones vanished into thin air.

Precariously Divya and I balanced ourselves on the raft as it made its way to the opposite end. Soon we touched the bank and slowly got off the raft. It was raining quite sharply now. Babu led the way and we followed him anxiously. A few steps towards the forest and suddenly Babu stopped near a bush and motioned us to wait. He went to examine the bush and then beckoned us to approach him. Babu pointed towards something. What I saw next scared the living daylights out of me.

It was a viper and a dangerously venomous one at that. The presence of Divya helped me curb my instinct to scream like a sissy girl. Something told me that this was just a precursor to what lay ahead. I had to summon the Indiana Jones within me once again. We entered the forest and were soon plunged into darkness. The forest cover was immensely dense. We followed Babu quietly, hoping for the tour to be risk free. To increase my worries Babu wasn’t carrying any weapons. What if we encountered an elephant. Wild elephants are known to rip off tall trees and short limbs with minimal fuss. What if a tiger attacked us? I am pretty sure my umbrella would fail against the rampaging tiger.

But what followed was worse than a tiger attack. Leeches.

Babu pointed towards our socks and to our shock and disgust, we saw several leeches, not more than 2-3 cms in length, trying to climb on to our legs. Some of them had almost made their way to my thigh. Divya screamed in shock as one creepy crawler rested peacefully on her arm and sucked blood. Babu calmly flicked the leech away leaving a small spot of blood.

 The next 5 minutes we tried in vain to get rid of the leeches. But they were everywhere. They moved with surprising speed in their attempt to reach our bare skin. Babu assured us that we had nothing to worry.

“Don’t stop at one spot for too long and keep a small stick in your hand. Just keep checking your legs every now and then. Flick them away if they get too close.”

We nodded nervously as we followed him once again. Sadly his assurance was of little help as we continued to freak out. And suddenly it felt like the wrigglers were crawling all over our body. After a point even Babu quit assuring us and continued to lead the way.

Suddenly he motioned us to stop as we heard a sound coming from the trees. Judging from the sound, the source had to be some animal. But our movement alerted the source. And suddenly the sound of swishing wings filled the air. For a moment it felt like the blades of a chopper reverberating through the forest. The next moment, Divya jumped up in glee. She had finally managed to spot the source of all the ruckus – the Great Pied Hornbill - flying royally from one tree to another.While we couldn't capture our friend on the camera, we did manage to click this cute guy sitting in full 'tashan' - the Malabar Grey Hornbill!

The excitement over spotting the Hornbill had barely subsided that the eerie silence of the forest returned. As we walked some more we witnessed various kinds of flora such as this tree which looked like a cobra baring its hood.

Or this tree brimming full of passion fruits

A loud knock which echoed through the forest made us look towards the tree tops. There sat a woodpecker at work. Watching a woodpecker pecking at the wood is a treat for both the eyes and the ears. The sound that generates as its beak makes contact with the hard wood is almost as if a carpenter armed with a humongous hammer is hammering his way to glory.

We had company even in our solitude. We knew that as we walked every life form in this jungle was following our movement. And they lay invisible, almost as if the forest was their invisibility cloak. We would have passed by them or they could have stood right behind us. There was no way of telling where they were. This cute little frog for instance would have missed our eyes had it been not for Babu who pointed it out.

As we walked through the jungle we could feel countless eyes watching us closely. It was incredibly creepy. Ever so often I would stop and take a peek behind to see if someone or something was following me. All I could see were bright patches of green, black and the occasional blue of the sky.

A little later the forest cover thinned. The darkness faded. And the river bank appeared. It had been close to 3 hours. 3 hours of pure ecstasy and spine chilling fear. It isn’t often that one feels happy and dejected at the same time. We couldn’t spot a tiger. It was a shame that we couldn’t spot one even inside the sanctuary.

"Tigers can sense human presence from quite a distance. And they prefer avoiding contact. And in any case you were really lucky not to have met one."

But something told me that it wasn't true. Something told me that we were followed. We were watched very closely. Some creature, perhaps a tiger, had been on our trail; watching us, sniffing us. Almost like a ghost.

Going on nature's trail was perhaps the wisest decision I had taken. And I thanked Divya profusely for making me go. I watched the forest as the raft took us back to civilization. And that’s when I realized just how vulnerable and insignificant we were standing there, surrounded by the jungle. The forest could have engulfed us without anyone noticing our absence. And yet it did not. The forest is benevolent. Harsh at times and scary most of the times. But it let us live. The forest lives and breathes. At times an explosion of myriad sounds shatters the peace of the forest. At others, an eerie silence pervades the dense foliage. It is a haven for the living,

The dead 

And the spirit...

Perhaps this is what heaven looks like!