Thursday, May 27th, 2010 - Day 5

21:41 Hrs. Forest Trails, Bannerghatta National Park, India.

I couldn't begin to describe this day on this page and do it justice. It was a day I will most certainly never forget.

Our day was to start early this morning and a few of us were delaying breakfast in order to help load the van with our stuff. I waited on the steps of the ERCF guest house as many new Indian arrivals relaxed outside. With them were many children, mostly boys, probably ages 6-13. All smiling and grinning at me as I sat there, I called a young boy over and offered my hand. He shook it gently. His older brother (I assume) did the same. I would later discover that handshakes are meant to be a very gentle thing in India. As a few more boys gathered around, I managed to teach them how to do a high five, with a bunch of 'too slows' mixed in. The boys then proceeded to identify my as Peter Parker, Spiderman. Apparently this is how Indians perceived the Tobey Maguire movies.

As the news passed around the camp that Spiderman was present, I received more and more grins and episodes of laughter, from adults and children alike.

The bus arrived and as we began hauling bags there, the boys became unsatisfied with one handshake, or one high five. Eventually I got roped into a few pictures, including one posing as the web spinner, as well as a few 'autographs' on notecards. When all was said and done, the van was loaded and I had some new penpals...

Our first stop of the day was quite literally in the middle of nowhere. We walked a little ways and arrived at the cusp of a dam. To our left, a beautiful reservoir with a gorgeous background. To our right, as the water poured over the dam, solid, frothy white soap appeared to form like a bathtub filled with far too many bubbles. Pollution. All from Bangalore city, and all serving as the surrouding villages' drinking and irrigiation water. We stood for awhile as our guide Kavitha explained the situation. Skanda, the masters student elaborated that the people knew the water was bad, but were unaware of any means to solve it, or even who to complain to.

We continued on and stopped next at a small rural village. (I think it's safe to say Bangalore with it's lighhts, traffic, and pollution was behind us.) This village had tremendous evidence of the caste system alive and well in India. We had been earlier in the day to an ATREE field station briefly where Kavitha discussed the geopgraphy of the surrounding Bannerghatta National Park, Bilikal Reserve Forest, and Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary areas. The whole stretch is now the remnants of a once much wider slephant corridor. We also learned about ATREE's research work in the field, examining demographics and making communities aware of their environment. The village we were now at had large woven panels similar to the concentric circle ball game at many arcades. Inside each level, were many large white silk worms, hard at work crafting cocoons for their hibernation. The cocoons will eventually be boiled, and the silk extracted for weaving.

Our next stop would be at another piece of ATREE land, used for agriculture (sustainable and efficient) for the adjoining village. Trekking down below the plot's bund, we sought shade under a very large tamarind tree (sucking the hydrating sour leaves) and began assisting the locals in preparing day's lunch. Cucumbers, nan, pickle, sambar, rice, curds, Ragi (millet) balls (at which I tried a hand at making myself) were all prepared over an open fire we made ourselves. While lunch cooked, I and a few others got pulled into a game in the field by the kids that had gathered. With everybody in a line facing opposite directions, it is essentially a game of tag, meets a game of duck, duck, goose. After a delicious meal, the freshest of it's kind, and a fairly successful attempt to teach these kids OUR duck, duck, goose as well as many pictures (at the children's request), we climbed the bund and were taught and showed the manual plow and growing process used in most rural villages. And of course, each tried a row ourselves, including Lisa and Geeta! If that doesn't get us on the cover of the KU website, I don't know what would. Exhausted after a 'hard day's work' cooking and farming, we loaded back up and returned to the field station for a short rest. Well that was the plan anyway. The roads became far more narrow in the country and a large bus was headed our way...We began to pull over the the left (that's where they drive) but apparently not slow enough. A flat. Out of the van everybody. Fortunately we had a spare and Ramu went right to work replacing it.

After our rest, we continued through granite country for over an hour, through the national park, to the forest trails campground. This place knocks the socks off of UTC, no offense. Permanent tents in a circle, western toilets with TP, and incredibly delicious food (can you say mango puree?), we are falling asleep under a full moon and bright starry sky far from the pollution of Bangalore. After some adventures trying to ride some random horses meandering around and a violent game of cabardi with Ramu (the odds seemed stacked in his favor) of course...

~Enjoying the night air,

-David