THE SPEAKING TREE

  Rafeeq on the water harvesting structure Naseera Begam smiles as she proudly shows her prized Holstein-Friesian cow. A Murrah buffalo and another H-F heifer calmly chew cud lined up in the neat and clean cattle shed. “She gives 30 litres of milk worth two thousand rupees a day!” explains Naseera Begam as she pampers the invaluable cow. On average, she needs about more than a quintal of green fodder every day to feed her livestock that contributes a major share in her family income. The entire green fodder is produced from her agricultural land throughout the year. A decade ago, Naseera Begam owned low milk yielding non-descript breed of cattle, that grazed in the forests while some green fodder was purchased at a premium from another village. Her land was parched and degraded that grew not much of greenery. Today, her land is fertile and irrigated to grow a variety of crops and fodder. This is the story of Naseera Begum and other households in a less known village of Himachal Pra...

  A lady working in her agricultural field, Sirmour, HP Women have always been an intricate part of traditional forest conservation practices in India. Apart from the feminine deities and Goddesses venerated in relation to nature and sacred groves dedicated to Goddesses, women have always lead the path of conservation. The ever-respected Amrita Devi led the villagers to save khejri trees from axe in a village of Rajasthan about three centuries ago. The Chipko movement in Western Himalayas saw momentum only with the participation of women in large numbers. There are numerous occasions when women exemplified the theory that forests are better protected by them. The feminine gender is always associated with compassion, care, love and benevolence. It is this very character of women that prompted communities to attribute feminine values to earth as Mother Earth and nature as Mother Nature. The definite connection between forests and women though conspicuous, is still less understood. ...

Cicadas raised an eerie orchestra into thick air stuffed with spicy aroma of humus, intermittently joined by croaking frogs, probably hiding somewhere in the bushes. A pile of elephant dung, partially decomposed, lie on the narrow road. Sun is lit just above in the sky, yet it is dark all around.  Knee roots  The forest patch is dense with trees having unique physiognomy. There are roots that bend and emerge out of the moist soil like knees of folded leg - knee roots help the roots to breathe. Water stands still in small pools, only to be disturbed by falling leaves or an occasional frog diving into it at the slightest noise. Shallow and narrow channels of water criss-cross the forest floor. The soil is reddish brown, water-logged. I am inside a  Myristica  fresh-water swamp forest at Sasthanada in Kulathupuzha Range of Thiruvananthapuram Forest Division. And everything in this rare ecosystem seems to be spry. The Sasthanada Myristica swamp forest is one among t...

  As I walk down the meadow and pass through the oak forest along a trail, a little girl child appears from behind the trees and greets “ namastey ” and runs away towards a pair of huts yelling “ biskoot wale uncle aaye! Biskoot wale uncle aaye!! ” indicating the uncle who brings biscuits has arrived.  This little girl is Amna. She is announcing my arrival to her siblings who would gather around me to receive their share of goodies I would be distributing. I am at Deoban in Chakrata Forest Division of Uttarakhand – a gift of nature situated above 2800m adorned by kharsu oak forests and patches of high-altitude meadows. I am here to study the forest dependence patterns of the transhumant Van Gujjars – the people who believe themselves to be the part of forest ecosystem. Mystique forest of Deoban The Van Gujjars are a transhumant community probably having their roots in Afghanistan later descending across Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and parts of  Uttar...