SANDEEP JAJABOR: Prof.Prakasam, Vicks vaporub and rainforests of Kerala- June 2011

Prof.R.Prakasam and
his friend Dr. Suresh Kumar( 3rd from front)

In June 2011, I went to IMG Trivandrum to conduct a one-week training course on Design of Training (DoT). The moment my programme was finalised, I wrote to my dear and respected friend Professor R.Prakasam (PP for short) of IMG, reminding him of the promise that I had extracted from him, few months ago, during an evening party in Canberra Australia where we had gone together for a training. Prof Prakasam, after finishing his second peg but before the start of the third, during our discussion on the rainforests of Australia, which I was praising, interrupted me and announced that the rain forests of India are far better. He further promised that whenever I visit Kerela he would take me to the best rainforest that India has to offer. I did not take him seriously then, for I too was at the end of my third and beginning of the fourth. As luck would have it immediately after my return from Australia, Government of India requested me to go to IMG Trivandrum to conduct the DoT course. It is only in 2014 that I have been able to locate the photographs and therefore, uploading them in the blog.

Only a month ago, wild elephants rampaged through this night shelter

meant for the forest guards. There are two rooms on the left with

open windows and on the right is the open kitchen.

I slept in the room on the extreme left. Note the column on left
about to fall down.

Professor R.Prakasam (PP for short) is an authority on Rural Development and is gem of a person. What endears him to everyone is his fine sense of humour. He is very soft spoken and despite being in the profession of teaching is a reticent person. Therefore, on reaching Trivandrum on Saturday, when I made an attempt to extract from him the destination where he is taking me on Friday, he only smiled and said " do not worry. You are going to have a unique experience". There was a mysterious smile on his face while speaking the words “unique experience". On my further query, all I could get was that we are going to Kalathupuzha which is Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary and is part of Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve, which owes its name to the endemic species of tree found in this forest and adjoining forest in Tamil Nadu. He also hinted that the night stay may not be very comfortable but it would be a "unique experience" for me.

On Friday after finishing the course, I , my co-trainer Shri Sarangi, PP and two of his friends started at around 5 PM from Trivandrum by an Toyota Innova. I was excited like a child and looking forward to the visit. It is not every day that you get an opportunity to spend a night in the famed rainforest forest of Kerela. The Wildlife Sanctuary is located 64 km from Kollam and 74 kms from Thiruvananthapuram. Prof.Prakasam also requested one of his close friend, Dr. Suresh Kumar who is now Director of Economics and statistics Department to accompany us. On our way we bought the vegetables and other items for the dinner as the plan was to prepare the dinner in the forest. One particular item purchased by PP caught my attention. In the list of items he ordered in the shop, were three packets of 'Vicks vaporub'. Unable to contain my curiosity I asked PP "What will you do with three packets of vicks vaporub Prof.?"- No reply only a mysterious smile.

The Prof also informed that for dinner it will be the famous Malyalee delicacy of boiled Tropioca with rice.

We reached the outskirts of the sanctuary by 7 pm and by then it was quite dark. The last 7 kilometers which we travelled to reach the place where we parked the car(about which more later) was through dense forest and a very narrow kachcha road. When we finally parked our car, there was a forest guard standing with a torch to guide us further. As we got down from the car, I could not see any hotel or a guest house or even a forest rest house that I had expected. By now it was pitch dark all around. It was so dark that whenever the guard switched of his torch, it was difficult to see the person standing next to you.

We reached the outskirts of the sanctuary by 7 pm and by then it was quite dark. The last 7 kilometres was through dense forest and a very narrow kachcha road. When we finally parked our car, there was a forest guard standing with a torch to guide us further. I could not see any hotel or a guest house or even a forest rest house that I had expected. All around us was only darkness and darkness. It was so dark that whenever the guard switched of his torch, we could not see even our own hands.

Prof Prakasam's "unique experience' was now making some sense to me. "where are we going to stay tonight. Tents I guess" I said. No response from PP. He started walking into the darkness along with the guard. After 50 steps, we came to a clearing in the forest the size of tennis court, which was surrounded on all four sides by a trench approximately six feet wide and five feet deep. Right in the middle of that clearing, I could see an outline of a small building. Later we came to know that this was constructed a few months ago as a night shelter for the forest guards. It was covered with tin sheds on the top but the tin on the roof was broken and one of the column was also broken and was dangerously leaning on one side. A glow of a small lantern was the only source of light which revealed the presence of this construction. The only way to go inside the plot of land was a foot bridge of four bamboos kept side by side.

It is difficult to put in words the feeling of being in a rain forest at night. Those who, in their childhood were scared of ghost, ( I do not know of any exception) can easily comprehend that eerie feeling one always gets in darkness. There is always a feeling that someone is watching you or standing behind you. Calls of various animals and birds from the forest made matter worse.

The explanation about the trench came from the forest guard. He informed that the trench was dug up to prevent wild elephants from further damaging the building. Few months ago a herd which migrates annually through this corridor found this construction and tried to buldoz it down. Before they could do heavy damage, the guards somehow managed to scare them away. He also said that the herd is nearby and we may be able to see it next morning.

By now the welcome tea and snacks were ready and we all assembled in the balcony of the shelter. As we were drinking tea, I noticed that Prof Prakasam was again and again looking at the floor all around with help of his torch. I guessed that he was looking for snakes as a matter of precaution and unable to suppress the fear ejaculated "looking for stray snakes Professor? ". PP sensed the fear in my voice and said " oh! not snakes. I am worried about something much more vexatious and dangerous then snakes". It sent a chill down my spine.
" You mean scorpions",I said, the fear in my face fortunately shielded by the darkness.

No reply from PP but a faint smile was discernible in the flickering candle light. Since there was very little light, we had nothing to do except sit and gossip. As we were getting ready for the dinner the unexplained ‘mysterious smile’ on Professor’s face got an opportunity to explain itself.

Mr.Sarangi who was sitting next to me was fiddling with his torch for a long time. Every now and then he was focusing it on the nearby trees which were almost looming over the roof. Whether he was doing it out of fear or fun is difficult to know but this apparent fidgeting came to a halt when he changed the direction and focused the torch on the floor. The moment he looked down he gave a little whimper. Everyone looked down except PP who continued to 'smile' and looked the least concerned. Mr.Sarangi's whimper by now had turned to a hysterical shout and it was apparent that he was shaken (see photograph of Mr.Sarangi below). There was blood oozing from his leg (just below the knee and from the foot). There was so much blood that some of it had accumulated on the floor. There was a big leach (the size of a grape) on Mr.Sarangi's leg just below the knee and one on the foot, which after sucking blood had departed but was sluggishly limping away on the floor. Mr.Sarangi had no idea when or how it happened. What followed, thereafter was a commotion. Somebody running to fetch common salt, somebody looking for matchstick but PP simply stood up from the chair, came to Mr.Sarangi and told him to calm down. He took out a packet of vicks vaporub from his pocket and rubbed it over the leach with his bare fingers.

leach infested forest

The pulpy and blood soaked leach immediately disengaged itself. PP picked it up and threw it back into the forest floor( the mysterious smile never ever leaving him). Leaches put an anti-coagulant and long after they have disengaged themselves, blood continue to ooze.

All this drama was over in a few minutes but it had shaken both Mr. Sarangi and I to the core. As we managed to calm down a little we found that on the floor there were leaches coming from all sides towards our feet. It was a scene straight out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Sarangi and I were now jumping up and down and trying to trample as many as we could. PP and his friends and particularly the two cooks were having a hearty laugh at our expense. It is now that PP gave us the second shock by announcing " please do not spoil the floor by killing these innocent creatures as we three are going to sleep on the floor tonight" and quickly added to my relief " of course you and Sarangi will sleep on the cot inside the room " .

I immediately went to the room and with the help of torch checked every nook and corner for leaches. There were a few but they were all on the floor lying in wait for a victim. After all this traumatic experience, I had to sooth my nerves and resorted to the ancient Ayurvedic medicine (somrasa) which never fails to produce quick results in such trying conditions. A single gulp of 60 ml. brought me back to my normal self.

It was a great relief to be allowed one of the three cots. Since we two were given one cot each, the third was left for the driver to occupy. PP and his two friends were to sleep on the floor. Of course I was feeling guilty but did not have the courage to offer them the cots.

Within half-an-hour of the leach episode, our dinner of boiled tropioca and rice was served. What a delicious dinner it was!. I can never ever forget the taste of it. Of course the setting in which we were having our dinner was out of the world. Deep inside a rain forest and almost in the elements was an unforgettable experience. Despite the fear of a leach attack and despite repeatedly checking our feet with the torch, we ate our dinner in peace.

I was the first to hit the bed. Prof. gave me and Mr.Sarangi one vicks vaporub to take care for any untoward incident for the night. He also assured us that there is nothing better than vicks vaporub to fight leaches. There was no mattress on any of the cot. Fortunately I was carrying my sleeping bag and after getting into it I simply zipped myself in leaving a small opening to breath. I Could not get any sleep the whole night and woke up every now and then and would check for leaches by throwing the light at the opening of the sleeping bag. At the crack of dawn I woke up as any more sleep was not possible.

I was feeling happy to be awake and checked my entire body for any leach and thanked god that I was unscathed. Mr. Sarangi also was safe. As we were complementing each other on our success, our Driver came out of the room adjacent and showed us his shirt which was soaked in blood from top to bottom on one side. A leach managed to enter his shirt and sucked blood all night and when he tossed to one side in his sleep it might have got crushed. It was really scary.

One by one everyone woke up. After finishing our breakfast all of us went out for sighting the elephant herd. The full fury of the leaches was now to be seen on the forest floor. The forest guard also informed from the month of April onward, the increase of the heat and moisture, creates the optimum breeding conditions for the leach. As we walked on the forest path, we saw leaches coming towards us from all sides. None of us could avoid leaches despite our constant vigil on our feet and shoes.These leaches which were waiting in the leaf laded path, latched on to our feet the moment they felt the vibrations of our shoes. Once they got hold of anyone's shoes it would find its way to the flesh.

Anticipating this problem I had put two pairs of socks. I also tucked my trouser bottoms inside my socks. This prevented leaches from getting inside my trousers but I could not prevent them entering my shoes. They can squeeze in even from the smallest of gaps. I found at least 10 to 15 leaches inside my shoes when we all came back after the trek. The entire experience was so stressful that I was exhausted and wanted badly to get out of the forest as quickly as possible.

We had actually trekked deep inside the forest to a river which was 3 kms away. We expected the herd of elephants there the elephants had moved further deep into the forest the earlier night. We could see fresh elephant dung and the guard after inspection said that it should not be more than 12 hours old.

This is one of the best rain forest in India. Birds of all varieties abound. As we walked the leach infested path, the forest resounded with the songs of Hill Mynah. Any one who has heard their call would know how beautiful it is. In a far of tree we also saw a lone Pied Hornbill. These sightings to some extent made me forget about leaches for some time.

After we came back to the night shelter, it took us an hour to get rid of leaches. Mr.Sarangi had one high up his thighs. PP had many all over his body but he was not the least affected by it. He was rubbing vicks vaporub and one by one plucking them away. One of his friend was holding a leach on his palm and showing me its mouth and the sucker/ orifice through which it sucks blood. I somehow managed to click a few shots to show it to my daughter Ishani.
At around 9 AM we said good bye to the Forest and reached Trivandrum at around 2 PM. Prof.Prakasam before getting down at his residence looked at me and said " when are you coming next. I will arrange another such night stay in another forest in the famed Silent Valley?" with a ' trade mark 'mysterious smile' intact on his face. Just as the driver started the car, PP gave me the last packet of Vicks vaporub as the memento of the visit.