My Wildlife Encounters

  The stark green rolling mountains juxtaposed with dense mist made the whole scenery murky. Indistinct shrieks from the crested serpent eagle and very many atypical calls from the background gave me an inkling of how plentiful this obscure beauty was with life. Enchanted with its sheer beauty I walked towards the boundaries of the jungle.  A thin stream traversed my path, pebbles, and cobbles overrunning them and partially submerged in water. A thin-film of slime encapsulated these stones, reminding me of how concealed one can become if one is forever submissive. The surefooted water striders and the geometric patterns of the streams dumbfounded me. The moss-painted stones alongside the stream, interlaced with ferns and dainty petite blooms made it a pure paradise. As I strolled through further, the gust of wind reflexed the delicate blooms of Impatiens and wafted the malodorous smell of a nearby stinkhorn. It made me repulsive. A carpet of violet-mauve-colored flowers under a tree se

  The flashing of the white leaves of Mussaenda  along with the scintillating rays from the nearby water droplets on the grass blades, the unbearable heat, and dryness from the sun made me sit down beneath the shady canopy of a humongous tree. The hysterical laugh of the Treepies and the noisy chattering of the Mynas from the nearby canopies told me that no one likes the scorching rays of the afternoon sun. The wilted tender leaves and the blooms stood as a witness for how hot the day was. Lying down on a relatively cool grassy carpet and looking at the glistening sun rays changing their incidence between the canopy leaves was truly blissful. Waking up to the fissle of dry leaves caused by the sprints of a mongoose, I dusted my bag and walked further and reached a swampy mangrove patch with treetops so closely knit to each other making the entire place look like a dark dungeon, the inundated ground made it all damp and marshy. Long sticks of breathing roots standstill from the ground e

  Indistinct bellowing of Sambar deers in the adjacent coffee estate followed by few gunshots to startle them woke me up from my slumber. A lousy morning in a tent amidst the rainforest had a lot to offer. I stood under a tree watching the drops of water caught between the thick bunch of mosses slowly trickling away down the branches. The heady scent of an overripe jackfruit from a nearby tree was intoxicating. Slowly walked away from there and reached a nearby river.  The composed sound of the flowing water and the monotonous pattering of raindrops on the large leaves of Colacasia were in a rhythm. I sat there mesmerized, listening to mother nature's symphony. The zephyr carried flimsy petals of some delicate flower and dropped them on the water, poor petal was carried away by the swift water against its will. A water apple tree was bent low due to the fruits it bore, somehow reminding me of how everything filled with values being down to earth. A pile of coconut husks some intact

  A thick carpet of withered leaves some decomposed losing their form, some stern and intact with a rustle. Tiny ground beetles hopping away from my steps, wriggly worm curling between the undercover, pale shades of mushrooms growing out from this leaf bed. Such busy was living below my boots. Above these was I walking amidst a dense forest, so dense that it never showed me the sun despite being a hot afternoon. I had to constantly reassure myself that it was day and not dusk while encountering pillars of sun rays that escaped the leafspaces of the canopy. Unfamiliar calls, creaking noise of the bamboo, damp intuitions of something staring at me filled up space. In a state of quandary, I maneuvered through this wild land. Slowly, consuming a lot of time did I reach a place that underlooked the towering continuous mountain ranges of the Western ghats. Many shades of green and a single shade of blue speckled with white were the natural hues that my eyes could perceive until the farthest

The Forest trail adjacent to the freshwater stream was all water-soaked. The pill millipedes and slimy snails marched towards the vegetation clearing up the path for me. My trekking boots squelched through the wet mud leaving behind a boot imprint on the soil. Slender loops of flesh were nearing me, I bowed down to have a closer look those were leeches awaiting a blood meal. The continual fall of  Euonymus indicus  bloom made the path a tropical paradise. The moss-laden tree barks and the intertwined creepers falling from the tree denoted pure co-existence amidst the rainforest. Tiny little  Impatiens  blooming through the cracked boulders reminded me of being beautiful amidst the hard times. The tiny little bees hovering around them stood as a witness for help at the right time.  As, I moved more deep into the jungles, space echoed the cackling noise of the hornbills. A redolence of  Elaeocarpus  blooms wafted through the air. I lifted my head to admire the blooms instead, I stood awe

The leaf blades festooned with tiny ice beads slowly transformed into droplets with the gentle warmth of the sun. Little beetles struggling to walk on these leaves disoriented these subtle drop patterns. Dainty heads of the wild daisy with their decompound leaves carpeting the grassy path were all the welcoming signs as we headed towards the peak. The hill was indeed an epitome of patience, taking care of her own minuscule of native trees and also giving equal space without any partiality to the monocultures of tea by sacrificing her own indigenous vegetation. The handsome blooms of tea, enthralling colors of dipterocarps and trilly calls of the bee-eaters remind us of their harmonious living. With all of these sightings we progressed on the peak, just accomplished quarter way through, the dead logs of wood at a corner putout a podium of fungus, the hue on their caps, the structure of their stalks and color of their spores all tell us that nature is the finest architect, this st