CANOPY

Passing by landscape The people who witnessed first train chugging off from Bombay to Thane in 1853 wouldn’t have had the slightest im agination that one day a 64000 km long network of railway lines would run over the entire length and breadth of India. Traveling long  distances on board Indian Railways has always been on my list of favourites since childhood days – and over the past two decades there have been several journeys aboard the Indian Railway that I would cherish forever. A berth in the train transforms into wonderful moments both inside the cabin and outside as well. Every compartment of the train is a cocktail of diverse cultures and regions, and more importantly the train takes you through the myriad ecological regions of India. The collage of diverse landscapes spread across time and distance always caught my eyes aboard the Indian Railway network. My earliest train journey was aboard the Kanyakumari Jayanti – Janata Express running between Mumbai CST...

A fter an arduous back-bone breaking journey I reached the sleepy village of Magnal. Cut off from the screaming so called developed areas of Sirmour District, Magnal is located in a remote area of Shillai Forest Range. Serenity and tranquility are the two words that define Magnal appropriately. Purpose of my journey was to study the floristics of this primitive sacred grove by the village side. Very view of the half-a-hectare sacred grove standing majestic amidst the wheat fields enthralled my senses. The cross section looked like a dark green dome placed over a light green carpet of young wheat crop in the back drop of huge but barren mountains.  Magnal Sacred Grove Accompanied by village elders, the moment I stepped into the grove, I knew that I was in a sacred tiny world intricately woven in a fabric of culture, traditions and ecology. The huge oak trees ( Quercus leucotrichophora ) stood majestically spreading their boughs over adjacent wheat fields...

The DFO's coccoon Forests exist beyond the files. Weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, yearly......mention it....all kinds of reports are sent to the seats higher up in the hierarchy and that too punctually. And these reports cover everything but forestry. Files – thin and fat – come in and go out. The DFO studies some of them and just brushes across the others before he creates an abstract sketch usually with a Pilot pen held between his weary fingers – the sketch is called as Signature. He is well aware that no one higher in the hierarchy would ever bother to go through the reports he sends so religiously. The higher offices are definitely large warehouses or sinks that can store or absorb all the A4 and letter sized papers produced in the Universe. But still he doesn’t depart from his meticulous paper works. Thanks to the ball bearing fitted extra large chair, he rotates and turns around – many times without a reason and at other times to give a glance at the compu...