Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

^0 S E C O N D M O O N 06big stainless steel platters, placed in front of each of us to eat from. Wesat on mats on the dirt floor and ate, as one does in India, with the righthand. Then after more water for washing our hands again we couldreturn to the rope beds as our plates disappeared back to the kitchen andto the cooks we never saw. Having sat and talked for a while, we thankedthem and left the village following the nephew’s directions. The possibilityof going by boat had been mentioned, but nothing came of it, andso we had to go the long way round by the road.I had discovered Udaipur Nature Reserve in a typically Indian leafleton the wildlife of Bihar. This simply listed all the state’s nature reserveswith a line or two of information on each, including the district nameand nearest railway station. “Udaipur Sanctuary 6 sq. km wetland andforest with resident waterfowl and migrants. Best time to visitNov.–Mar. 1 Rest house 5 Rps.” I knew India well enough to take thatwith a pinch of salt. Still it seemed a good idea, as we would be passing,to check it out. The idea of a roof over our heads with a bird sanctuaryoutside was appealing to both of us, and if it really were there, we couldstop for a day’s rest.We knew we had reached the sanctuary by the forest departmentsign...and the sudden absence of trees. Up until then we had been passinggroves of mangoes and occasional trees on field edges and beside theroad. These trees were all owned by someone and thus protected; thetrees in the nature reserve were owned by the government and hadbecome fair game. Ahead of us each side of the road was a wasteland ofdead tree stumps and bare ground. The forestry department had beentrying to rectify this lack recently, and there were some newly plantedtrees amid the stumps of the old ones. As we went farther into the sanctuarythings got better, and the stumps became stunted regrown trees.It was about then that we met one of the forest guards coming downthe road in his uniform of green rough cotton trousers and jacket.The guard escorted us to the rest house, which from a distance lookedlike a great place to stay. It must have once been a shooting lodge and1 1 8