Inside the Forest. #2
Trudging through the grasses as tall as me under the scattered
canopies of Boswellia serrata makes
me ponder over my belongingness to a forest and the belongingness of the forest
towards its parent, and as to numerous phenomena that have taken place over a
period of centuries. A long procession of birth, evolution, survival,
destruction and rebirth is emanated by the forest.
It is a deciduous forest which is showing its colours of the
monsoon. Most of the vegetation in the forest has its own niches and emerges in
variable combinations. After walking sometime through the trail, I see Tamarindus indica shadowing the path. I
take the liberty to pluck its leaves. While one side of the trail is really
dense with a lot of undergrowth evoking a sense of mystery, the opposite side
runs into a valley which forms rather an open scrub area. This transition from
a denser grain of the forest to a sparse one brings in the school of thought
that just as Aravallis after moving in a chain tend to scatter eventually, a
similar pattern is observed in the grains of the forest. The non-uniformity is
distinctly visible but it doesn’t give a sense of abruptness. Different storeys
and layers of the forest emerge after one another and from each other in levels
and the flow is slow, continuous and palpable.
A realisation dawns upon me that nature imitates itself in
broader ways only if we look more closely and probably the human ways are
ideally derived from the nature itself. These imitations are possibly a result
of the ‘want’ to survive. The nuances in this process lead to adaptations or
invasions, both striving to thrive. The humankind deduces these features of
adjusting, invading and seizing the thrones from the very existing notions
observed in the forest. The forest enhouses the indicators of moisture as well
as rocky surfaces. The colonies of Parthenium
and
Lantana downright signal an invasion
whereas Boswellia serrata along with Acacia luecophloea, A. nilotica, Euphorbia caducifolia,
etc. restores the faith in the struggle of the forest. I believe that Zinnia showing up with yellow flowers at
rare spots inside the forest pave the way to the regenerative potential of the
forest and the fact that if the Sajjangarh hill is left undisturbed, the
condition of the forest will ameliorate with more plant species spreading,
pushing in and out.
While the repeated human interference on the hill in the
form of exploitation, over use of resources, depletion, poaching, negligence
and insensitivity are clearly evident, the present in which I find myself
possibly drooling has a picture of a victimised hill under recovery, a positive
one if I may be allowed to call it on a matter of mere three days’ visit.
I sit down to sketch when various sounds diminish and blur
from behind the thick growth of the ‘green’. Butterflies frisk around while I
notice the leaf patterns. The quiet spells of the forest are broken by whooping
Langurs and some growls. The humming bees, twittering birds, crinkling insects
along with the swooshing grass seem to sing much wider part of the daily
chorus. This is an experience away from the rush and melee which fosters in me
the realisation and acknowledgement of my mere existence in a bigger web of
life. The forest storeys and the forest floors portray a constant movement,
change, growth and decay. It occurs to me that I am walking through a forest
which is the most fecund expression of nature. It existed much before my kind
of species began to thrive. It evokes the idea of a floating permanence which
the nature beholds.
Forests and its bounties will remain unexplored no matter how many times we look at it and from how many angles. The mosses will continue to cover the rocks in deep. Thence, the notions of sustenance will continue which brings in the need to create a surrounding keeping in view the permanence of nature and impermanence of humankind.
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