On our return from a fascinating and an eventful trip to the Sundarbans , I got to read this from a mail forwarded by my friend  narrating something the writer of the mail had noticed in the Bans .

 It mentioned an inscription from one of the parks there which read –

“ Bhaalow kotha mownay pollo, aachaatey,  aachaatey.Thakurji kay niyay gallo nachaatey, nachaatey”

 (“Good thing, I remembered, while we are rinsing, rinsing (our mouths after dinner), Thakurji was taken away dancing,  dancing”)

 The legend behind this quote goes like this;

 A village woman and her older sister-in-law (addressed as “Thakurji”) were washing clothes on the shore. A crocodile came upon them and grabbed the older woman, dragging her into the delta water. As it attacked her, she was tossed about by the animal, thrashed about, flung up and down, in the water and the crocodile and woman went deeper and deeper, until both disappeared from sight. The younger woman returned home alone and went about her usual domestic chores, collecting fuel for the fire, preparing dinner, feeding the family as usual. It was only after dinner, when she and her husband went to rinse their mouths that she turned to her husband and said, “ Bhaalow kotha mownay pollo, aachaatey,  aachaatey Thakurji kay niyay gallo nachaatey, nachaatey” No mention is  made of the crocodile or death.

For me reading this was like finding a vital piece of a puzzle that  was in my head after experiencing  the intriguing Sunderbans for four days and after a significant personal experience that I shall get to later.  We were told by our naturalist and guide Animesh that 44 people were killed in the last one month inside the forest . These were people who went in as gatherers , especially of honey and crabs . What makes these people go into the forest enormously  risking their lives  for what appears to be small rewards ? What makes them accept death in as natural a manner as life itself ?  The humans in this unique ecosystem that is self sustaining , seemed to live as one with the entire nature they were a part of and were completely accepting of the circle of life , much like in the African Savannah. 

The Sunderbans Tiger Reserve , a part of the  larger Sunderbans region consists of 12 Islands two of which are inhabited -Goshaba and Bali . of these two , we stayed and visited at Bali Islands at http://www.tripadvisor.in/Hotel_Review-g2282865-d1005955-Reviews-Sundarban_Bali_Jungle_Camp-Sundarbans_National_Park_West_Bengal.html  .   We reached  here after a four hour drive from Kolkotta  through bad roads to Godkhali Boat Jetty and then an hours journey by boat through the backwaters . On route we had a chai stop at Afreen tea stall , a shop run by a local family , supported by Help Tourism  .

The resort itself was a charming oasis of  relative luxury considering how isolated the region is . There is no electricity in the village but the  resort had power between 6 and 10.30 in the evening and early in the morning through gensets which was a shame considering parts of the village had solar panel generated power .

  The last day of our trip , we took an early morning walk into the village of Bali that revealed a community that was  so much in a state of oneness with nature . Mud houses . each with their own fish ponds , Men engaged in farming or poultry or  tending to animals , womenfolk who were busy with  composting systems , house work or goat herding , cattle that looked happy and healthy ,  Young mothers who looked happy and vibrant,  Children who looked healthy, chirpy and happy , many species of birds that were so much a part of ecosystem . There were little packaged products and virtually no plastic .  A few disconcerting signs of that dreaded  D word  Development were the presence of some motorized vehicles , a large boat filled with Bricks and evidence of construction activity that resulted in some structures that stuck out like a sore thumb and Tourists like us roaming round again sticking out like a sore thumb !   Ajit and Soumya in our group , both doctors,  had cut out one day out of our planned three days of exploration in the boat in favor of spending time at the village and interacting with its people  and I felt I missed out on that after seeing how vibrant the village was .

Regular cups of Chai  and an extremely tasty and simple  lunch cooked on the boat were the interludes on three long , serene  days on the boat that began at 7 am and ended at 5.30 pm . During the whole time we were cruising through the jade green waters , alternating between regular  periods of high tide, when a trunks of the mangroves got submerged and low tides when large part of the banks on either side got exposed and the birds and animals came out  looking for food or to simply forage or sun themselves on the banks . These mangrove forests are the largest in the world and the estuaries that support them are very large and deep in many places .  Early mornings on the boat were super chill and I discovered I was severely underprepared on the first day and I had goosebumps the size of gooseberries on hand due to the cold and that ensured I was equipped with additional layers in the remaining two days .  The afternoons and evenings were glorious and I spent most of the time on the front deck of the boat, just soaking in the beauty of the Bans , feeling verity lucky to be here .

Sunderbans is home to 7 varieties of Kingfishers and its not hard to imagine why . The white throated , black capped , brown winged , collared , common , and  Pied kingfishers were spotted by us quite regularly and presented stops for photos .  A variety of water birds and waders including darters, cormorants , herons , egrets , whimbrels , sandpipers , plovers , curlews and redshanks were all spotted ashore during the low tides .  The Tigers are very difficult to spot here compared to the average Indian forest and we were not disappointed that we didn’t see any though we encountered fresh pug marks in the wet  sand on a couple of occasions . The Boat captain as well as Animesh were excellent at spotting birds and animals and on a couple of occasions they spotted large salt water crocodiles from a mile away . These Huge crocs were sunning themselves on the bank and as our boat approached them , the speed with which they slipped back into the water was stunning .  The fact that they could be swimming right under our boats was also disconcerting . We also sighted the osprey , crested serpent  eagle and white bellied sea eagle a very close range .

The evenings at the Bali Jungle camp were short and there was just enough time to reflect on the day that went over a drink , followed by hot dinner which included a good portion of the local cuisine . Bedtime was at 8.30 and on all the nights I slept blissfully  for more than 8 hours – something  i don’t remember having done in a while !! On one of the evenings the villagers from the Island enacted the Legend of Bonbibi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonbibi in a super cute way .

Sunsets from the boat on all the days were really glorious with the evening hues adding to the beauty  . On the last day of our trip , the mood of everyone was particularly reflective , almost melancholic . I was lost in my own thoughts too , reflecting on the last few days and particularly on some moments that had passed a couple of hours ago ..

A huge flock of Plovers was sitting on the shore opposite and they looked ready to fly . I was standing on the front deck with my camera and heavy lens mounted on a tripod beside me . I took out the other camera with a smaller focal length and was I was looking through the viewfinder , waiting for the birds to fly . A few seconds passed and as I was still waiting , the boat tilted distinctively to the right . At the same instant I heard a rumble of the tripod moving and almost immediately followed by a big splash in the water as I saw the Tripod with the camera and lens fall into the Croc infested waters . The boat was moving and in an instant the whole equipment moved  away from my reach and through the corner of my eye I remember Animesh hanging on to the side of the Boat , desperately throwing a lasso at the Tripod . For what seemed an eternity I  saw the camera and lens attempting to stay up for a brief instant before disappearing into the jade green  Croc infested waters …

Post Script : Losing my camera and the lens which had been my constant companion on my nature trips for the last five years and had given me and the viewers of the images taken on it , immense joy was a mind numbing experience is the closest I can describe it truthfully . But to come back to the story in the inscriptions , if there was a place where I had to sacrifice it and let it rest with Nature , this would probably be  the place where it would make a sense of poetic justice at least ! Small consolation was that , I had changed the data cards in the Camera the day before and the last batch of images taken with the 500 mm was all that were left with me .  We captured the GPS location where the equipment went in and gave it to the Forest office in the forlorn hope that they may be able to retrieve something of it . But I think the Canon 500mm f4 and the Canon 7D mounted on the Gitzo tripod and Wimberley head are resting in peace under there somewhere being inspected by the crocs !