17 October 2008
I was feeling apprehensive as we left fieldbase yesterday, a sense of impending doom coming over me as we drove out of Mysore. Maybe it was residual tension from the arguments and personality clashes that had been taking place over the previous few days, or maybe it was the rules, regulations and restrictions starting to bother me, but either way the promised lifting of a load off our shoulders as we left fieldbase behind us seemed instead to be working in reverse.
We stopped off in Sargur for fruit purchases and a last glimpse of civilisation. The girls were already desperate for a wee and there was no toilet in sight. I tried coconut water from a green coconut, which tasted weird - not what I was expecting.
Felt stressed and tense all day, especially when we discovered we had no bleach, but after scrubbing our accommodation at the Chikka Boirgie Forest Guest House from top to bottom the mood started to lighten.
Zoe made a fab spag bol for dinner using soya mince, a simple bit of meal preparation that turned into an extreme culinary feat when a rain storm resulted in a power cut and we had to quickly move gas stoves, canisters, pots and pans inside our house out of the rain (as well as putting up mosquito nets in the dark).
Zoe and I are sharing the house next to the main rangers' accommodation, whilst the venturers are in the main guest house with Hamish. I felt mildly guilty about evicting one of the rangers from our special separate house, until I realised how nice the personal space was going to be! Night time weeing in a bucket will be worth it for a little peace and quiet from time to time. We have real mattresses (stolen from the venturers' dorms), mosquito nets handing from the rafters, enough space for our personal belongings, and some of the largest, noisiest and stupidest bugs I've ever seen!
After dinner I led a quick review, we made a simple plan for our first work day (though not detailed enough as it turned out) and we managed to make it to bed by 10.45pm.
First day of work was crazily disorganised - mostly our fault for not anticipating how difficult it would be to get 13 people fed, watered, washed and into the jeeps by 7am. Once we were finally on our way, we all enjoyed the fresh air and views from the back of our Mahindra jeeps.
Arrived at the project site 30 minutes behind schedule and convinced we'd missed the puja (ceremony to bless the worksite), but there was no sign of the contractor. Three hours later he finally rolled up, and we were able to start the process of clearing the worksite of rocks, clearing a path up the hill from the track to the worksite and digging the foundations - all after the puja of course once the site had been marked out.
Although it wasn't a particularly long work day, we didn't have enough water (due to power cuts the night before affecting the electric pump at the bore well) and given the exposure of the worksite, even with the tarpaulin "awning" erected next to one of the jeeps, I still ended up with a sun-induced headache.
Remedied this back at the CHikka Boirgie Guest House with some serious trangia scrubbing in peace and quiet - lack of human contact, a mindless task to complete and an awe-inspiring view proved to be exactly what the doctor ordered!
18 October 2008
Great day at the project site spent lugging huge blocks of granite up the Nanjaveda Betta hill. Great team work and fun - highlights included:
- Pretending the blocks of rock were babies (carring on our hips)
- Will - the fantastic day leader - organising a chain to carry rocks up the hill
- Seeing Ayesha, the smallest person in the group, carrying rocks as big as she was (almost!)
- Team spirit
- Amazing curry by Zoe and the two venturers who stayed at the guest house
- Hearing the elephant trumpet
- Zebra patterned birds and green parrots
- Supporting each other
- Physical work
- Fun
20 October 2008
Currently in our guest house sheltering from a storm - with rain so hard it's spraying through the roof. I can see a fine mist of rain in front of my head torch as I write - not exactly what you expect when you have a roof over your head! It has stormed every night since we got here, which has basically resulted in nightly power cuts and more extreme cookery.
Yesterday was my day to stay at the guest house with two of the venturers and cook and clean for the group. Not really a rest day but we had fun anyway - we planned a birthday party for one of the venturers, Andy, who is spending his 20th birthday building an anti-poaching camp in India. We made him a card, crown, wrapped his presents - a toy car, helicopter, cheesy wallet replete with naked lady on the front, drum / whistle and a lungi (what else does a young man need?), made a pass the parcel and elephant picture for "pin the tail on the elephant" game and prepared a dinner of pasta salad, birthday cup cakes (whilst we were decorating these we discovered Indian chocolate doesn't melt; it just crumbles) and nibbles in mess tins.
When the party was due to start there was the by now predictable power cut and we had to move out of the storm into our little house for a party by candlelight. My dodgy drawing of an elephant's tail meant we ended up playing "pin the willy on the elephant" instead. All the hard work preparing the party was well worth it to see Andy's face!
Today was another day of grafting, shifting sand up the hill this morning and granite blocks up the hill this afternoon. One of the rangers told us there was an elephant nearby that you could see from the hillside, but the thing we ended up gawping at for 20 minutes turned out to be a rock instead.
The foundations are now almost laid, Mark and Antje are coming out tomorrow and the day after we are hoping to go to Mudumulai elephant sanctuary for a day off.
Today has been another excellent day of work - I really enjoy lugging stuff up hills and feeling like part of a strong team. It's also nice to have a little mental break from all the project management / organisational side of things!
22nd October 2008, 6.08am
We finished the foundations yesterday so now have two days off whilst the cement cures. Antje, Mark and Vijay came out to the project site to see us, which was lovely. I think Mark was surprised by how quickly the Alpha 2 project group has bonded, and also by how quickly the APC is going up. He had a private chat to each of the project managers, which I found helpful, and also said to all 3 of us that we needed to pace the work and slow down so there's enough to do in phase 2. I suggested rolling stones back down the hill, which weirdly enough the venturers didn't seem to mind as a suggestion!
Anyway, we had hoped to take the group to Mudumala National Park today to the elephant sanctuary but we couldn't get accommodation sorted in time. So now we're taking a day trip to a temple and calling Dr Raju to see if he might be able to organise something for tomorrow, otherwise we will try to take the group swimming.
Now just need to make porridge so group can leave at 9am.
23rd October 2008
Currently sitting on top of a hill in the National Park, about 4km from our guest house at Chikka Boirgie. We can see across unspoiled forests to the blue Nilgiri mountains where Ooty is located. We had planned to go swimming today but will the recent rain this proved impossible, so instead the rangers suggested a day trip to a nearby temple next to Byalkuppe hill. Think we are now atop Byalkuppe Bette just behind the temple, with views one way to Hediyala village, the Chikka Boirgie guesthouse, a reservoir and farmland (mostly cotton and tobacco), the other way to mountains and forests undisturbed by human presence.
Mr Nagaraju, who is responsible for this tract of forest, explained that all the animals in the forest - elephants, tigers, panthers etc. - are watching us, but so far all we've seen are dragon flies, and all we've heard is the distant rumble of thunder that indicates another afternoon storm is not far away.
We can also see across to the hills where we spent our day yesterday, one of which was called the Gopalawami Better, on top of which was a Krishna temple. This was an interesting visit with beautiful views back down to the plain below, but best of all was spotting half a dozen elephants sheltering beneath a tree in the valley below as we descended the hill (praying the bus brakes didn't fail!)
We rounded off yesterday with a slap up meal in the nearby town of Gundlupet - well slap up for the carnivores amongst us who ordered four fried whole chickens, half a sheep and some rice. I had dhal, which was... well, I've had better. Roll on the veg restaurants once I'm no longer beholder to the culinary desires of others.
Anyway, today's somewhat impromptu trip has been amazing thus far. Tonight Manu, one of the forest rangers, is cooking a feast for us all using the veg we bought in Gundlupet. Zoe is going to Hediyala for fresh chicken, curry leaf and more ingredients, then we'll get cracking with the chapatis!
25th October 2008
The rain just isn't stopping! It feels and looks like bloody Wales, only with giant idiot beetles that keep getting stuck on their backs in our kitchen, no running water (for 48 hours now) and constant power cuts. Yesterday I was on cooking and cleaning duty whilst the others went to the worksite, but as the rain is still going strong it looks like another day at the accommodation since many of the dirt tracks through the forest are impassable.
Sita, our guard dog, is pregnant. We're taking care of her with porridge and curry leftovers, which seem to go down a treat. She's a fantastic dog - logal, good-natured and protective - although her boyfriend, who rocked up a couple of days ago, seems a bit of a ne'er do well. Lots of barking at cows, barging into the house, sticking in nose in our bin and growling at shadows.
It's not 6.15am and am already bored. Bloody Bala!
26th October 2008
Yesterday I felt very low - mostly rain induced - but an impromptu visit from Gavin (the country director) with vehicle and cigarette lighter for charging sat phone, immediately made me feel better. In fact I was so relieved I cried! It made me realise how worried I've been about being isolated, without proper, fully charged communications equipment, whilst feeling responsible for the well-being of 12 other people. We eventually made it to the worksite for midday for an afternoon transporting bricks up the hill. By the end of the day I felt back to normal, and Gary, Andy and Hamish had prepared a delicious okra, potato and soya curry for us all. And the electricity/ water was back on!!
After a bucket shower we did a quick review of jobs over the next few days and set up a game of Cluedo. Not such a bad day after all...
28th October 2008
Weather has gone fantastically lovely - at last! - which has made a huge difference to my spirits.
Yesterday I was at the guest house with two of the venturers, Jamie and Jaga, supposedly planning a party for our evening visitors from fieldbase, Pat and Sam. Unfortunately, we had a huge pile of rubbish to contend with, which meant I spent most of the afternoon staring despondently at a smouldering bag of rice boxes, poo bags and rotten vegetable peelings, trying not to inhale toxic plastic fumes whilst feeling immensely guilty about all the damage we were wrecking on the environment with all the hazardous waste we've failed to separate for the past 12 days.
3 hours of guilty plastic pyre watching later, we were ready to Dettol up and cook dinner for our guests.
Unfortunately Pat had a migraine, so she had to head straight for her bed without dinner. Sam set up the "shop", basically a collection of cigarettes, fizzy drinks, chocolate and crisps, and I played the role of work experience girl in adding up the prices.
Slept really badly and started the day in a grumpy mood. However, on the way to project site we stopped in the tribal village we pass through each day and took photos of the children there. These children have been interested in our movements through their village since day one of our project, from their serious gazes on day one, through to shy waves and smiles as they grew accustomed to our daily passage through their village, to running alongside the jeeps and waving and jumping on the wall for a better view of our approaching vehicle.
We then introduced Pat and Sam to the worksite where a small building has suddenly started to take shape. More photo opportunities ensued, followed by a gentle introduction to our daily work routine with some classic chain activity passing water up the hill. We moved on to bricks and sand before breaking for lunch, but not before a wild elephant sighting across the valley. Actually, my eye sight is so crap I couldn't really tell it was an elephant, but it was definitely too big for a cow!
Pat and Sam stayed for lunch, an impromptu barber session with Gary and Andy and more shop activity, before heading off to Alpha one, the community project group, who were having a Diwali party in their village that evening.
A few more "bandolee" of sand later, and we too were ready for the off. On the way home the two jeep drivers tried to have a race.
"Go more slowly," I urged our driver. "Less than 40kmph please. Raleigh rules - safety first."
To which he replied, "Ah yes, but speed second."
31st October 2008
"Rest day" today, which basically means cooking, cleaning and burning rubbish. Manu (one of the rangers) is taking me and the two boys, Gary and Will, to a tomato garden nearby to pick tomatoes and funny green things for dinner.
Diwali passed fairly uneventfully at the Chikka Boirgie Guest House, although we had a day off on Wednesday when the masons and labourers were on holiday. We had an exciting trip into some proper jungle, including forging a small river. On arrival at the waterfalls we saw an amazing creature, like a monkey but with a long red bushy tail, swinging into the trees. We spent the day lazing by the waterfall, paddling in the river and sunbathing. We had lunch at a nearby anti-poaching camp next to the river, where the rangers there had cultivated an amazing garden filled with curry leaf, tomatoes and fresh vegetables.
On the way back to the guest house we stopped in Chikka Boirgie Village to listen to the Diwali music piping out of the temple. The forest guard asked the local priest to open up the inside of the temple for us, where we received a blessing of water and flowers in our hair. In the evening we ate the special Diwali cakes that Pat had brought from fieldbase.
Yesterday we were back at work on the Nanjadeva Betta hillside, shifting sand and water to the top of the hill. The labourers didn't turn up until midday, and the builders didn't show up at all, so it was a day of hot graft with bandolee chains and plenty of water breaks.
The scaffolding has now gone up and looks decidedly dodgy - spindly tree trunks stuck into piles of sand and held together with twine. Perhaps the highlight of the day was seeing all the cows grazing with their horns painted a variety of different colours of Diwali. Cows with bright blue spotted horns - not something you see every day.
Later...
Today has been amazing. Manu took us to his friend's farm to pick tomatoes for dinner (and the long green veg that has the consistency of aubergine but cooks more quickly). We walked through Chikka Boirgie village and crossed through a river to get there, before walking through fields of cotton and grazing cows with their brightly coloured Diwali horns.
After picking tomatoes we looked round the rest of the farm which comprised a banana plantation, cotton fields and other veg. We were given a leaf to eat that tasted like pepper - Gary and Will said it gave them a buzz but I'm not convinced. We also saw chillis drying out in the sun and were given another strange dish to try that tasted a bit like dried cranberries, but Manu said wasn't fruit.
He took us through a tribal village on the way back and we looked inside one woman - Sunitra's - house. Basically a mud hut with a thatched roof and the most pristine, immaculate floor I think I've ever seen. Two small rooms - one a kitchen with some cooking pots simmering in the corner and one sleeping/living area with nothing in it except a hammock to sleep in.
On arrival back in Chikka Boirgie Manu took us to the local school, where we met Teacher Sheik and 12 small children. The teacher asked us if we would like to come and teach a lesson tomorrow - so I volunteered some of the venturers to do this.
Came back to the guest house, had lunch, cleaned a bit, bucket washed, burned rubbish, sat in the sun with Sita. In the past hour there has been great consternation in the usually peaceful Chikka Boirgie guest house, because the rangers have caught some people stealing rare woods from the national park. One of the reasons we are building an anti-poaching camp, not to mention to protect the wildlife in the park.
1st November 2008
We had a campfire last night with the rangers - a wonderful end to a wonderful day. Now we're nearing the end of this project phase I find myself appreciating it more and more. The location, Sita the dog, the morning mists, sunrises over the Nilgiri hills, sunsets over the field at the back of our little house, the rangers who are so kind to us, our drivers who are so much more than just drivers, checking we have enough water on the worksite and looking after our shelter at the start and finish of each day. It's such as special place.
Sita sat next to me by the fire. I thought she was just chilling out watching the flames but it turned out she had her eye on the biscuits. She's acquired quite a taste for biscuits, not to mention porridge, pasta, noodles, rice, tuna (the latter is a secret as tuna is a precious commodity round here), all the staples of expedition diet.
This morning was crisp and cold; it felt like a September "back to school" morning in the UK. We watching the sun rise and a herd of deer go past with Sita, who sat on my feet and made strange murmuring noises like she was talking to us. She got a splodge of porridge at breakfast time for her trouble, but I accidentally splattered her head with some of it. She didn't seem to mind.
A good day's work at the site - sand and brick carrying so nothing very exciting. It passed quickly though and I felt full of energy and life.
I started to give feedback to some of the venturers about their performance on this phase. I feel like everyone has done so well and that individuals have really developed over the past fortnight or so. I feel like I haven't always assumed the role of "project manager" in the way that I should have, in particular I feel as though we have neglected formal reviews and learning/development type chats. Doing some feedback today made me feel back in my element as project manager - at least the l&d side of things.
Now we're nearing the end of the phase I am appreciating everything so much more. In the beginning I was so intent on experiencing everything the phase had to offer that the act of seeking new experiences almost became a stressor in itself. The additional stresses and responsibilities of being a project manager also meant I wasn't always appreciating the project for what it was/is. I still sometimes find it difficult to abide by the Raleigh rules and approach to risk, rather than simply accepting my own judgement. Thinking "inside the box" whilst trying to suppress any potential cynicism and retain my integrity all at the same time, has paradoxically meant that any common sense I did have has probably gone out of the window by now!
When we got home Hamish and the girls had made potato fritters and onion rings, which was an unexpected treat. Amie, Cara and Emma had spent their morning in the Chikka Boirgie village school, so they were full of stories of games and teaching which was just lovely to hear.
Watched the sun set (with Sita), did another feedback review, and am now sitting on our porch while Manu cooks dinner with everyone who stayed behind today.
Sita's friend/son/lover, who we call Spider-Dog due to the weird spidery-fly creatures crawling around his neck, is handing around trying to break in to the kitchen and raid the bin. Something of a contrast to Sita, who has perfect manners (although a growing penchant for biscuits).
3 November 2008
Well, it's back to Mysore and urban craziness, but we had an amazing last day on project phase. Firstly we worked a half day carrying bricks and water up the hill, with a prompt finish for photos at midday.
We then took off for the temple in the glade of the forest that we visited on 24th October, next to Myalkuppe Bette hill. Ate lunch by the temple and climbed the hill, where we had a little space for reflection and more one-to-one reviews. We looked across the National Park towards the blue Nilgiri mountains, and saw wave upon wave of green, blue and grey hills undulating into the misty distance.
On descending the hill a few of us entered the temple and received a blessing. We saw a family of monkeys running through the glade, but then on the drive back to the guest house we saw more monkeys - this time of the fluffy faced variet - come crashing through the foliage as they leapt huge distances from tree to tree.
Once back at Chikka Boirgie I watched the sunset and we started packing up the accommodation to leave it clean for the rangers and the next project group.
So sad to leave this morning, after a final sunrise. I cried when I said goodbye to Sita, who I have grown to love so much. Not being a natural dog person, this is some development!
I'm already missing the tranquility, fresh air, views, rangers and Sita from Chikka Boirgie. Maybe not carrying those blocks of granite up that hill though!
