The Spring Orchestra

Chapter One

It was our first night halt of the four day trek in eastern part of Radhanagari Sanctuary. The forest in this area is undisturbed due to its topography and inaccessibility. We chose this destination to trace the source of river Kalama which ends up in Kalamawadi Dam. We trekked on slippery hills and unfathomable forests. The heavy sacks on shoulders pinched in our muscles and sweat on necks run down our backs. It was terribly humid day as the monsoon was closing in. We declared it a day at around 4 pm as there is always a chance of getting lost in the forest.

We chose an open area in small valley to settle for night. We started picking up dry wood and sticks to prepare food and make fire to protect ourselves from so called wild beasts. In frenetic pace all of us collected so much wood that was more than sufficient for a week. This was partly due to fear of Sloth Bears and the darkness. The light faded very fast and within an hour and half the evening crawled in. The Junglefowls started calling, yes it was time to go for the roost, the Jungle Babblers chuckled, and couple of Malabar Whistling Thrushes sung a song for a minute. Soon a silence seeped in the valley.

The wind was mild and the only sound we could here was the spring. It was nice to hear it dribble on rocks and make its way in a forest. It could be the sweetest song of nature I had ever heard. I resumed to my work of making meal, within an hour or so we made rice and pithala and put some eggs into it. The aroma and taste of baked besan and eggs satisfied us and our hunger. The work was distributed hence my part of job was over. We had our dinner and started talking on wildlife. The time passed and cool air started flowing in the valley. We put two camp fires on either side of our temporary shelter to get maximum warmth and protection from beasts.

I chose to sleep close to the fire so that I could get maximum warmth, which was benefit of being the chef. As time passed I came back to the song of nature. The flow of the water was constant hence the rhythm. It was so mesmerizing and soothing that it took me into Trans. I could hear nothing but the spring but my Trans was soon over by the chorus of frogs. Now this added into the melody of nature’s song. The frogs were not consistent they kept changing their pace and pitch. Sometimes there were duets sometimes cacophony and sometimes it was chorus. It took me lot of time to understand the pattern. My civilized brain took time to understand what was going on. It was a song sung by male frogs to attract females. This song kept on and on for long time, all of a sudden everything stopped there was huge thud on the other end of the valley. That could be a branch from an old tree fallen down. There was pin drop silence for about 5 minute and I came back to the song of the spring.