Snake encounters

I have never been much of a wildlife person. Preferred “being wild” to “in the wild”. Over the years, there have been the odd trips here and there with friends who have a deeper appreciation for the wild and her denizens. Without exception all these trips have been memorable and yet I remain unconverted. I have never bothered figuring out why this was the case and I am not going to do so now. So please continue reading the post without fear of being subjected to psycho babbling.

The last few months, since my move to Goa, I have had practical, real world, on the ground reasons for taking more than a cursory look at the world around me. To begin with, the place around Arco Iris is beautiful and the visual beauty will not escape even a blind man. More relevantly, Curtorim is a fairly heavily wooded area. It is natural that it has a far degree of wildlife presence in the form of birds, reptiles and a handful of mammals (not the big cat variety though, more like jackals and mongoose). The mammals, by and large, keep to themselves. You can spot the neighbourhood mongoose, friendly guy that he is, on a lucky day and the jackals make it a point to come as a pack almost every other night to Arco, do the ceremonial symphony and slink away. The birds, in and around the property are beautiful. Again, not much of a birder myself, but fortunately, been in the company of friends who are interested in avifauna. Thanks to them, I know that you can sight babblers, robin magpies, common kingfishers, whistling ducks, egrets, cormorants, the white heron, Indian owls and so on within a 500 metre radius of Arco. Since the property abuts the Corjim lake, I am told by local birders that one can spot upto 40 bird species within a 1 km radius. I guess, I have digressed. The point is the birds are beautiful and with the exception of the odd bat that manages to find its way inside the house, they largely go unnoticed by me.

The reptiles are a different kettle of fish altogether (nice turn of phrase, even though I am saying it myself) . I am pretty much petrified of them, snakes in particular. Unfortunately for me, over the last few months, we have had a couple of visits from them. Fortunately for us, we had picked up a list of snake rescuers with their mobile numbers (a lot of them volunteers) available in Goa and it was post a frantic call triggered by a snake deciding to drop by that we had a very friendly Forest Department official coming to rescue the bugger. He had a cup of tea with us and in true Goan fashion managed to find a link in his family tree to Beni’s. Brief though the interaction was, I realised that he sincerely enjoyed what he was doing for a living. He called us this morning to find out if we would be interested in accompanying him to Karmel ghat and witnessing the release of a few pythons, vipers and a cobra that he had rescued the last week. Yes, he had rescued about 8 pythons in the last week alone in just South Goa!!. I found the numbers unbelievable, but he reassured me that these numbers were par for an average week. This was too good an opportunity even for an agnost like me and I promptly rushed to join him.

In the Forest Department Office’s parking lot in Margao, I was mightily impressed with the grace, strength, sensitivity and dexterity of the officer as he transferred these giant snakes from their cages to the sacks which would be their transit homes till their release a few minutes later. He ensured that the cobra and the vipers would have sufficient moisture around their sacks to survive the trip back home. Being aware of the contents in the sack, I drove a respectful distance behind his Forest Department truck to Karmel ghat where he was releasing the snakes. Karmel ghat is about 25 kms from Arco (not far enough for me considering that they are used regularly by the FD for releasing rescued snakes) and it took us about 40 minutes to reach the place. Once there we parked our respective vehicles by the side of NH 17 and he unloaded the 5 sacks and proceeded to take them one by one to the insides of the forest. Again, I followed in awe struck silence. He started by releasing the pythons one by one. In the wild, they looked even more magnificent. Silent so far, they started hissing ( I took it as their excitement to be back in their rightful places) and proceeded to find their way here and there. Their on ground speed took me by surprise. This coupled with their massive size made for an amazing sight. A couple of them snaked their way up trees and decided to have an afternoon siesta. It also, to an extent, explaines why wildlife enthusiasts go to extreme lengths to spot animals in the wild as opposed to seeing them inside zoos. At the same time, it was sad to see a couple of empty plastic bottle containers even this deep into the forest. I am no angel myself when it comes to such issues, but the line has to be drawn somewhere.

The officer left the vipers and the cobra for last. For my benefit, the officer added that the viper was a Russell Viper. I am not sure if I have the spelling right. He (ie Mr. Viper) made very impressive noises and slithered away and quickly made himself invisible (at least to my untrained eyes). I guess the officer saved the best for last when he released the cobra. Looks ordinary enough except when he spreads (is that the word for it) his hood. Manages to look elegant, graceful and fierce at the same time. Much like a Lara cover drive. In the middle of all this, I did manage to take a couple of photographs. Again, given my indifference to photography (at least in this case I have some philosophical underpinnings for the indifference), I am not sure they will do justice to the spectacle that unfolded this morning in front of me.

Before deciding to join the Forest Department official on the trip I had checked with him if it was within the rules of the department to let citizens witness these weekly episodes and he replied saying that it was one of the better ways of creating awareness amongst people about the need to be sympathetic to the requirements of these creatures. I cannot agree more. During the course of this trip, I realised that there are by and large only four venomous snakes in and around Goa and most of the chappies that we see slithering here and there are by and large harmless. Not that it converted me to a snake lover, but at least it helped me start the process of understanding them to a certain extent. A final word on the commitment of these officers and volunteers. Based on the couple of experiences that I have had with them, they are a wonderfully committed and passionate bunch of guys. They are rendering yeoman service to society without so much as even an acknowledgement. The least I could do was offer them the use of Arco Iris for conducting an awareness programme on snakes for the interested residents of Curtorim.

5 month reckoner

It is now 5 months since our move from Bangalore to Goa. Besides the obvious urge to spend some part of our lives away from the hustle and bustle of urban India, the prime objective for us in setting up Arco Iris as a homestay was to experience first hand and subsequently make available local experiences which reflect the culture and heritage of “rural” India in general and Goa in particular to the world at large. In the particular case of Goa, we wanted to explore life beyond the touristy stereotype of sun, sand, beaches and feni.

During this period, “discovery” of the life around us has been exhilarating and we are excited at the possibility of sharing this with our friends and guests. As you can well imagine, this is a continuous process of discovery which has just about commenced and will continue to unfurl as we move along. It is still, thankfully, some way from being a finished product in that sense. Our explorations have led us, for instance, to:

1. the almost 400 years old Rachol Seminary, one of the oldest in Asia and just about 8 kms from Arco Iris. There are currently about 70 odd seminarians along with the administrative staff and faculty housed in the seminary. During the visit you will have an opportunity to meet and interact with seminarians and understand their journey from a seminarian to a priest. The building itself is rich in history, having being owned by Muslim and Hindu kings in the past. The well stocked library, which is open for the public to browse, has an extensive collection of books on philosophy and theology ;

2. a boat ride across the Zuari with a local “Gondolier” !!. The Zuari can be reached by walking about a km from Arco and since there are a couple of fishermen resident there, one can go on a leisurely boat ride with them ;

3. a birding trip with a local naturalist and birder to the Maina, Curtorim and Corjem (which Arco overlooks) lakes. If you are lucky, you will spot species endemic to this region ;

4. a visit to and lunch at the Palacio de Deao (about 10kms) or Figueredo mansion (about 15 kms). The Palacio is a 225 years old palace in Quepem and the 400 years old Figueredo mansion is home to two charming Goan ladies who relish the opportunity of talking to guests who drop in for tea or have the lavish lunch that they serve ;

5. a heritage walk in Chandor followed by a visit to the 4 centuries old Braganza Mansion. Incidentally the Fernandes house is an Archaelogical Survey of India excavation site. The chapel in Chandor is the only church I know of where once a year during the carnival period (February or March) the Catholic priest performs a “puja” dressed like a Hindu priest ;

6. the bakery which prides itself on being the preferred supplier to the Rachol Seminary for the last few decades. To this day, they use a wood fired oven for the baking process. You will be encouraged to try your hand at making delicious Goan “pao” for your dinner ;

7. a chance meeting with the venerable Mr. Mathew Fernandez, a retired lecturer, now teaching Portuguese to whoever is interested.

Other possibilities include visit to a prawn hatchery, witnessing the process of restoring antique furniture and picking up a few restored pieces, viewing a second division football match at the local grounds, visiting local artisan and skilled workers like weavers, potters and toddy tappers at work. There is also the stretch of beach from Benaulim right to Karwar and further which is relatively unspoilt and waiting to be experienced. Right through this period what has been remarkable has been experiencing the welcoming friendliness of the local citizens.

Ponda is just about 25 kms from Arco and this means that almost all the wildlife sanctuaries in the state can be reached within 90 minutes. This is something that we are very keen to experience at the earliest.

Unsupervised excellence

When we set out to restore Arco Iris, there was very little that Beni or I knew about what we were getting into. Suffice to say that it was completely uncharted territory for us and with a little more knowledge of the process we would have shied away. Ignorance does have its benefits.

In the process we have come across “professionals” and artisans covering the entire spectrum of reliability. We have had contractors with impeccable credentials abandoning the project midway. The fact that we were in Bangalore most of the time compounded the problems. Amidst this general chaos and climate of unreliability, the attitudes of a few people involved in the restoration process have been the saving graces. It would be to assume that but for their presence, we would have abandoned our efforts a long time back. These are the instances of what Subroto Bagchi would call “unsupervised excellence”.

A case in point was Upinder. He came to work on the project following a good reference. To begin with, he was reporting to the site contractor and his mandate was to reconstruct the columns that were holding the balcony in front. The contractor he was reporting to disappeared one fine day and we were left high and dry with components like the roof (a tiled one to further complicate issues), plastering and masonry in different stages of completion. Upi refused to be fazed by the turn of events and he carried on with his column. His commitment to perfection was such that he did almost everything himself, be it making the mould, casting it, etc. This did affect his pace of work, but inspite of constant rebukes from us, requesting him to delegate more and increase his workforce, he steadfastly refused and continued along his chosen path. Not one to be easily satisfied with his output, much to our chagrin, he had to undo and redo his work a couple of times. There were times when his apparent intransigence was exasperating. Our eyes were opened only after he finished his first column (out of a total of 10). It was only then did we realise that Upi was better left alone to follow his own methods. He was, first and foremost, answerable to himself. To him, our approval was incidental. Considering our ignorance of his field of expertise, he could have gotten away with a lot less. But his attention to detail and most importantly, pride in his work ensured that he delivered way above our expectations. All this was even more commendable considering that he was being remunerated NOT on a time and material basis, but on a fixed contract basis.

Gradually, we started entrusting Upi with additional work and he continued to maintain his high standards right till the end. With him around even the requirement for a site contractor was alleviated. He required no supervision. Encouraged by his comforting presence on the site, we were becoming more and more ambitious in terms of the aesthetics of the house. Where we would have been delighted with plain plastering, we started demanding intricate patterns, moulds and motifs. Upi never refused. In fact, as would befit an artist, he seemed to look forward to such outrageous demands. And never did his output fail to impress. Watching Upi painstakingly and diligently work was a lesson to someone like me who has rarely managed to see the human effort that goes inside producing anything worthwhile.

We were almost emotional when the time came for him to depart. It was at this time that I noticed how gnarled his hands were. Seeing them one would be hard pressed to believe that they are capable of producing such exceptional work.

Upi, literally, left no stone unturned during his association with us. Having known him during this period it is unlikely that he would not have done the same anywhere else. I wish I could say the same about myself. The least I can do is write about such examples of excellence. I am looking forward to another post along similar lines shortly.

Of times gone by

When I was growing up in Kerala I distinctly remember my mother exchanging old clothes for new “eversilver” vessels and plastic buckets. This barter ensured that there would be no throwing away of much ravaged shirts, trousers and sarees. My mother quite revelled in these negotiations and invariably succeeded in getting an extra tumbler or an additional mug from the hapless vendor. As my dad’s job took us to increasingly urbanised India, I could gather that my mother was missing these interactions. Over a period of time, my childhood memory of these exchanges faded away. It was only a few days back here in Curtorim, when I saw a “vessel seller” offering vessels in exchange for old clothes that my memory of these episodes was revived. But for my inability to speak Konkani, I was game to closing a transaction for old times’ sake. I was also curious to understand how the vendor was converting his sale proceeds to cash at the end of the day.

When we were in Bangalore, empty milk sachets were consigned to the dust bin and I presume there was a system for garbage disposal which would take care of waste management. All I can say is that although it did not particularly bother me at that time, t did not work very well. For a start there was no proper system of segragation and on the odd occasion one could see the bins being emptied across the street and being set on fire. Here in Goa, the “raddhiwala” makes it a point to ask for empty milk sachets which he is keen to acquire for a price. The stint in Goa has made me parsimonious if not anything else and my eyes have been opened to responsible garbage disposal. There is communal responsibility for managing individual and collective waste. Any individual irresponsibility in this regard is looked down upon by the rest of the community. This is not to say that the perils of urban waste management have not affected Goa. Newspapers are rife with how Panjim and Margao are struggling with the realities of urban sprawls and it is there for all to see. For the time being at least, up country Goa seems to be managing this relatively well by adopting age old traditions and practices.

Although Panjim is close to 40 kms from Curtorim, in terms of time, the journey does not take more than an hour by private transport. The most redeeming aspect is the absence of traffic lights anywhere along the way. I am yet to come across the much reviled traffic signal anywhere in Goa. For someone from Bangalore whose life has been traumatised by stop-start traffic (I had to navigate my way past 14 traffic signals to reach my place of work from home, a distance of 12 kms) the last few years, this is nirvana. The driving etiquette of Goans is also a huge step up from the vulgarity of what is dished out by drivers elsewhere in the country.

A Smoker’s Guide to Abstinence

Masochistic that I am, one of the objectives that I set for myself following the move to Goa was to cut down on my cigarettes. There are a few more which I intend making public depending on how close I get to achieving them.

To aid me in this process some of the tools that I have relied on, with varying degrees of success:

1. Not smoking inside the house. No doubt it has helped in keeping the house smokefree but at the cost of keeping me outside my own house most of the day. The one time that this succeeded big time was when it was raining. I realised that holding an umbrella in one hand and a cigarette in the only other was not as cool as it looks.

2. Smoking not more than one cigarette during a clock hour. Example, I will try and restrict myself to one cigarette between 10 AM and 11 AM. This works well. On the flip side, my eyes are more or less all the time on my watch. Particularly embarassing (to them more than me) when any visitor drops in. Considering that even I have not figured out a way to smoke when I am asleep, the benchmark that I was hoping to set was that the number of cigarettes that I smoke in a day will be equal to or less than my waking hours during the day. During the course of this self inflicted torture, I have realised that it is more motivating to wear a watch with a digital display and watching the progress of the seconds counter is positively uplifting.

3. Given the success of Tool 2 above (hereinafter referred to as the Clock Hour Tool), I have made subtle alterations to further enhance its effectiveness. I postpone smoking the cigarette once the clock goes past the 45th minute of the hour and wait till the hour ticks over. I have been warned that this is an extreme case of self inflicted torment and that such tendencies require urgent medical attention. As of now, I am paying no heed to such alarmist pleas.

4. Changing brands. I remember the results of some hare-brained survey on the net which claimed emphatically that smokers exhibit the highest degree of brand loyalty. Like most things found on the internet, this turns out to be a lot of poppycock, at least in my case. I changed brands after moving to Curtorim, also partly because my brand was unavailable in the immediate vicinity. The fact remains that this did not help me reduce one bit even though I imagined onset of severe headaches and very sore throats. I braved these inconveniences and continued on my merry way. The only fall out of this experiment is that I have convinced my source of cigarettes here to stock my brand, which to give him credit, he has done pronto.

Let me take a smokey break before I continue.

5. Indulge in activities which are difficult to execute with a smoke in hand. Two thumbs up to this. I can say with utmost truth that I have not lit up whilst running and cycling. Maybe one of the reasons that I am not running and cycling as much as I should be. For the same reason, I have avoided extreme guilt when I find myself dozing away in the afternoons. Observant readers would have noticed that elsewhere in this post I have confessed to my inability to smoke and sleep at the same time.

6. Avoid activities that encourage smoking. Hence the decision to curtail cricket watching especially the ones involving India. Thankfully, of late, India has developed the laudable habit of making early exits from various tournaments. Lost revenues for ITC.

7. Restricting purchase to one pack at a time. Praiseworthy. However, this has had some dark unintended consequences. It is something like this. Please bear in mind the fact that my cigarette vendor is almost 2 kms away here in Curtorim. So a leisurely walk to replenish stock is out of the question. The cigarettes I smoke must be some of the worst in terms of their carbon footprint. Given that I am genetically predisposed to laziness, I cajole Beni to take a drive and get me my packet. She grudgingly agrees and to save herself another trip she ends up buying and stocking a few more packets, which drives me crazy as this acts as a disincentive for me to space out my quota. Familial bonhomie is shattered. We are working on this. So this tool can be a double edged sword and should be deployed ideally only by evolved minds.

As much as these tools have benefited me, this post would not be complete without a compilation of those extenuating factors which have pushed me into a dilemma on the advisability of tobacco abstinence.

1. Rereading “Cigarettes are sublime” – a charming book by Richard Klein. This was one of my first book acquisitions. Any smoker worth his tobacco should own a copy and give it pride of place in his/ her book collection.

2. Seeing photographs of Nelson Mandela with a cigarette in hand splattered all across the photos section of “A long walk to freedom”. In today’s rabid anti-tobacco world, it is natural for us smokers to be treated like a pariah. The fact that smoking has helped produce luminaries like Mandela and Obama should motivate us to carry on with this rich legacy. Especially during such troubled times. Patrik Sjoberg, the former world champion high jumper from Sweden was a 40 days a smoker when he established the then world record of 2.42m. It is indeed a high achieving club, this smokers’ club.

As you can see this is a life long obsession. I guess one can honestly say that the destination will not be half as much fun as the journey.