8th April 2013 7.30 AM
Its finally here. The last major exercise of the training curriculum in the life of any forester and perhaps the most important one too. We were to stay in pitched tents for 15 days. After a hearty breakfast, we all pack our belongings armed with adequate stationeries and other provisions and set out for Thano Range led by our irreplaceable Chandershekhar who was to be our Group leader for these 15 days in camp.
10.45 AM
We all alight from our vehicles and get busy setting up our tents . As usual the butterfingers on me ends up with a nasty wound but i Take a rish and decide I wont take a tetanus shot. Hamklet and I decide to stay together are assisted in setting up of our tents by Sunny and harish and Vijay. Two hours later, everyone 's tent is up and running.
1.45PM
After lunch our then Course Director Mr Surender Mehra arrives accompanied by Nidhi Ma'em and we set out on a field trip to get acquainted with the area . Surender sir explains how to go about the collection of data and performing a transect walk for wildlife survey etc. He is ably assisted by Nidhi Ma'em who painstakingly explains each and every detail over and over again till we are confident and raring to go.
9th April 2013
We are again taken out on a reconnaisance survey by our academy faculty and given a overview of each and every compartment.
10 th April 2013 7.00 AM
We had been divided into several groups. My group comprises of the able Prashanta PKM, ever jovial Vivek, Hemlata, Hitashi and Rakesh. Prashanta quickly organises the group and assigns different tasks to the different members of the group. We quickly get into the Academy bus who then drops us off into our assigned areas. We alight from the bus and then get down to business.
We then quickly enter the jungles of Thano armed with only our wits and equipment. I had been tasked with measuring the diameter of trees using a calliper. For a person who's held a instrument for the first time , I was soon to become proficient in the use of the calliper as the days went by. We have our packed lunch comprising of parathas and achar in the sal forests of Thano. I dont exactly like parathas but hunger drives me to relish my lunch with Gusto.
Post lunch, we resume our work, venturing deeper into the forest guided by Vivek armed with his compass toensure that we were going in the right direction and that we do not stray into some other's group's compartment. . We return back to our starting point and discover that we are the last group to return.
Thereafter we return to our camp. Lokesh takes me to a Community bathing spot where i relish the cool water falling on me.
10th April 2013 7.00AM
We venture again to our assigned compartments but this time we are wiser from the previous day's experience and so now are able to take data more easily. In the evening we learn that we are again the last group to return .
Back in the camp, we end up in the local market which was to become our lifeline in the months to come. I order a double omlette. Omlette never tasted more delicious in my whole life.
The days pass by rapidly. On one ocassion, my group got lost but however Vivek and his trusty compass led us back to civilization. One memorable moment was Vivek imitating the sound of the red Jungle fowl who came scurrying towards us fooled by Vivek's mimicry upto the distance of just a few metres away from us.
Back in camp , I find out that Langurs had raided my tent and made off with eatables and our brighly coloured soaps . I borrow soap from Prashant to take my bath.
Fastforward to 15th April 2013 8 AM
Todays is the day of the socio economic survey . We make a beeline to the villages assigned to us and go about from house to house gathering Data. It however felt that the villagers were so used to batches comming every year that they could shoot off replies confidently.
16th April 2013 8 AM
I spend most of the day sleeping. In the evening, after a quck bath, we start compiling the data. Santosh and Sunny compile the data in the laptop and have it printed and distributed among the batchmates .
The days pass by quickly . We had spent those days writing and compiling our Preliminary Working Plan which is to be shown to our faculty. However we all do make out time for the omlette and cold drinks in the local bazaar unfailing in the evenings .
20th April 2013 10 AM
Its Viva day today. Several high ranking officers have been invited to take part in our viva. I am the 6th one to be called for Viva, my board comprising of a CCF and Meera Ma'em. I choese to give my viva in Hindi. Unfortunately my lack of taxonomy knowledge leads to my undoing as i fail to be unable to identify a Sal sapling. Thereafter its local Bazaar time again as i head there for my daily dose of omlette there with Amit in the evening . I make a second trip later along with Vivek and Shezade. In the evening I again find that my tent has been raided by langurs with Hamklet cursing the poor animals in every language possible .
21st April 2013
We spend most of the day playing cricket with the local kids and volleyball. We even have a local tournament named Vijay memorial Trophy in which we would all try to play using Vijay's unique one handed style of playing Volleyball .
22nd April 2013 3 PM
We unpitch our tents and head back in the bus for our Academy relieved at being finally being able to be sleep in our beds again. For now its a brief period of Relaxation before we start on the task of writing the working plan .
Its finally here. The last major exercise of the training curriculum in the life of any forester and perhaps the most important one too. We were to stay in pitched tents for 15 days. After a hearty breakfast, we all pack our belongings armed with adequate stationeries and other provisions and set out for Thano Range led by our irreplaceable Chandershekhar who was to be our Group leader for these 15 days in camp.
10.45 AM
We all alight from our vehicles and get busy setting up our tents . As usual the butterfingers on me ends up with a nasty wound but i Take a rish and decide I wont take a tetanus shot. Hamklet and I decide to stay together are assisted in setting up of our tents by Sunny and harish and Vijay. Two hours later, everyone 's tent is up and running.
1.45PM
After lunch our then Course Director Mr Surender Mehra arrives accompanied by Nidhi Ma'em and we set out on a field trip to get acquainted with the area . Surender sir explains how to go about the collection of data and performing a transect walk for wildlife survey etc. He is ably assisted by Nidhi Ma'em who painstakingly explains each and every detail over and over again till we are confident and raring to go.
9th April 2013
We are again taken out on a reconnaisance survey by our academy faculty and given a overview of each and every compartment.
10 th April 2013 7.00 AM
We had been divided into several groups. My group comprises of the able Prashanta PKM, ever jovial Vivek, Hemlata, Hitashi and Rakesh. Prashanta quickly organises the group and assigns different tasks to the different members of the group. We quickly get into the Academy bus who then drops us off into our assigned areas. We alight from the bus and then get down to business.
We then quickly enter the jungles of Thano armed with only our wits and equipment. I had been tasked with measuring the diameter of trees using a calliper. For a person who's held a instrument for the first time , I was soon to become proficient in the use of the calliper as the days went by. We have our packed lunch comprising of parathas and achar in the sal forests of Thano. I dont exactly like parathas but hunger drives me to relish my lunch with Gusto.
 |
| Vivek Modi demonstrates the use of a calliper |
 |
| Rakesh with his Ranging Rod |
Post lunch, we resume our work, venturing deeper into the forest guided by Vivek armed with his compass toensure that we were going in the right direction and that we do not stray into some other's group's compartment. . We return back to our starting point and discover that we are the last group to return.
Thereafter we return to our camp. Lokesh takes me to a Community bathing spot where i relish the cool water falling on me.
10th April 2013 7.00AM
We venture again to our assigned compartments but this time we are wiser from the previous day's experience and so now are able to take data more easily. In the evening we learn that we are again the last group to return .
Back in the camp, we end up in the local market which was to become our lifeline in the months to come. I order a double omlette. Omlette never tasted more delicious in my whole life.
The days pass by rapidly. On one ocassion, my group got lost but however Vivek and his trusty compass led us back to civilization. One memorable moment was Vivek imitating the sound of the red Jungle fowl who came scurrying towards us fooled by Vivek's mimicry upto the distance of just a few metres away from us.
Back in camp , I find out that Langurs had raided my tent and made off with eatables and our brighly coloured soaps . I borrow soap from Prashant to take my bath.
 |
| Amit posing for the camera during one of the "Relaxed" moments :-) |
Fastforward to 15th April 2013 8 AM
Todays is the day of the socio economic survey . We make a beeline to the villages assigned to us and go about from house to house gathering Data. It however felt that the villagers were so used to batches comming every year that they could shoot off replies confidently.
16th April 2013 8 AM
 |
| Sanjay and Sunny hard at work compiling the data in a laptop |
The days pass by quickly . We had spent those days writing and compiling our Preliminary Working Plan which is to be shown to our faculty. However we all do make out time for the omlette and cold drinks in the local bazaar unfailing in the evenings .
20th April 2013 10 AM
Its Viva day today. Several high ranking officers have been invited to take part in our viva. I am the 6th one to be called for Viva, my board comprising of a CCF and Meera Ma'em. I choese to give my viva in Hindi. Unfortunately my lack of taxonomy knowledge leads to my undoing as i fail to be unable to identify a Sal sapling. Thereafter its local Bazaar time again as i head there for my daily dose of omlette there with Amit in the evening . I make a second trip later along with Vivek and Shezade. In the evening I again find that my tent has been raided by langurs with Hamklet cursing the poor animals in every language possible .
21st April 2013
We spend most of the day playing cricket with the local kids and volleyball. We even have a local tournament named Vijay memorial Trophy in which we would all try to play using Vijay's unique one handed style of playing Volleyball .
 |
| After a hearty Game of Cricket and volleyball |
22nd April 2013 3 PM
We unpitch our tents and head back in the bus for our Academy relieved at being finally being able to be sleep in our beds again. For now its a brief period of Relaxation before we start on the task of writing the working plan .
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