It’s grumble in the jungle | Patna News – Times of India
Valmikinagar: Elections do not grab your attention as you enter Bihar‘s solitary tiger park, Valmiki Tiger Reserve, under the harsh, belting sun. Instead, a bounteous swathe of emerald cover soothes your senses. Suddenly beyond Naurangia, you find crowds and think of elections again.
Scores of men and women are squatting with faces towards the jungles, with ‘lotus’ filled with water, leaves and flowers.A furlong ahead, many more similar congregations are found near a Mutt, the environs around mela-like with balloons, mithai, clothes and toy vendors. An ice cream van has run out of Choco bars. But alas for an itinerant journalist, it is ostensibly not a poll deal.
Instead, an annual ritual of worship for the safety of their jungle and zameen. It is tradition handed down since a seer began these rituals generations ago when the Tharu tribal hamlets around the jungles suffered loss of home and hearth to jungle fires. Saving the environment is their pious duty. “Kiska hawa hai,” I ask. The adolescents are not interested. “Jo paisa dega,” one of them sneers.
At Belahwa-Madanpur, a few kilometres away, as the sun tilts, one finds villagers from the vicinity at the weekly haat (market) on the premises of a govt school abutting the forests. The wares vary from jungle herbs to veggies, meat-fish and poultry to kirana items and clothes. The heat is waning, this is a potluck to find villagers agreeing to discuss politics.
Sheshnath Oraon, with his spread of readymade garments, introduces himself as a farmer who earlier dabbled in Congress politics. “Neta rahin (Was a neta)…Laltene ke vote dem,” the once Congress worker honestly speaks of supporting the alliance partner RJD.
Laleshwar Kushwaha, selling his home-grown green vegetables, is a bigger farmer than Oraon. He grows sugar cane on 80% of his ten acres. He too will vote for the RJD that has nominated Deepak Yadav, owner of Tirupati Sugar Ltd, the once decrepit and sick sugar mill at Bagaha. “The mill pays me within a few days of delivering the cane,” Kushwaha’s choice is clinched by the mill caring for him.
Lalji Chauhan, overhearing the farmer’s choice, butts in with his overview of the hawa that everyone is trying to feel in the summer heatwave, “Modi ke hulla ba.” BJP ally JD-U has fielded Sunil Kumar who won Valmikinagar seat in 2020 bypolls following his sitting MP father Baidyanath Mahto’s demise.
Ghanshyam Rai, a Tharu selling clothes, proclaims to have been an RSS worker. He is not happy with Nitish’s flip-flops. “Vikas Modi ka hi den hai,” he says. Rai finds rebuttal from another Tharu, Gautam Mahto, who pooh-poohs Modi’s 5kg free ration scheme: “Dada bharose adauri-bhaat naa dekhal jai ki Modi deehen ta khyil jai (Can’t see a plate of meal on grand dad’s assurance that one’ll eat only when Modi gives),” he says.
The sun is even stronger the next day. And the Himalayas peers down an idyllic countryside that is quieter. Dozens of schoolboys are taking a dip in the cool, sea-green waters of the Done canal besides Shivnaha village. “We are all maha-dalits,” says Sanoj Kumar who wants to study medicine. What about the rest? They give a carefree laughter as they pose with love and V-signs, one even flashing his second-hand I-Phone.
The grumble in the jungle hits you harder while meeting Sharda, A Tharu woman idling with other women outside her home in Kanghusri village. Her husband Dwarka Mahto is away, working. The family invested in eldest son Mukesh’s education. Sharda called up Mukesh in Surat for me to speak directly. “I did BSc in agriculture from Punjab,” Mukesh said, spilling angst. “Found no job, emigrated to Surat, learned tailoring.” “I also sent my younger son Dinesh to Surat. Both brothers are tailors now,” Sharda says in resignation.
Scores of men and women are squatting with faces towards the jungles, with ‘lotus’ filled with water, leaves and flowers.A furlong ahead, many more similar congregations are found near a Mutt, the environs around mela-like with balloons, mithai, clothes and toy vendors. An ice cream van has run out of Choco bars. But alas for an itinerant journalist, it is ostensibly not a poll deal.
Instead, an annual ritual of worship for the safety of their jungle and zameen. It is tradition handed down since a seer began these rituals generations ago when the Tharu tribal hamlets around the jungles suffered loss of home and hearth to jungle fires. Saving the environment is their pious duty. “Kiska hawa hai,” I ask. The adolescents are not interested. “Jo paisa dega,” one of them sneers.
At Belahwa-Madanpur, a few kilometres away, as the sun tilts, one finds villagers from the vicinity at the weekly haat (market) on the premises of a govt school abutting the forests. The wares vary from jungle herbs to veggies, meat-fish and poultry to kirana items and clothes. The heat is waning, this is a potluck to find villagers agreeing to discuss politics.
Sheshnath Oraon, with his spread of readymade garments, introduces himself as a farmer who earlier dabbled in Congress politics. “Neta rahin (Was a neta)…Laltene ke vote dem,” the once Congress worker honestly speaks of supporting the alliance partner RJD.
Laleshwar Kushwaha, selling his home-grown green vegetables, is a bigger farmer than Oraon. He grows sugar cane on 80% of his ten acres. He too will vote for the RJD that has nominated Deepak Yadav, owner of Tirupati Sugar Ltd, the once decrepit and sick sugar mill at Bagaha. “The mill pays me within a few days of delivering the cane,” Kushwaha’s choice is clinched by the mill caring for him.
Lalji Chauhan, overhearing the farmer’s choice, butts in with his overview of the hawa that everyone is trying to feel in the summer heatwave, “Modi ke hulla ba.” BJP ally JD-U has fielded Sunil Kumar who won Valmikinagar seat in 2020 bypolls following his sitting MP father Baidyanath Mahto’s demise.
Ghanshyam Rai, a Tharu selling clothes, proclaims to have been an RSS worker. He is not happy with Nitish’s flip-flops. “Vikas Modi ka hi den hai,” he says. Rai finds rebuttal from another Tharu, Gautam Mahto, who pooh-poohs Modi’s 5kg free ration scheme: “Dada bharose adauri-bhaat naa dekhal jai ki Modi deehen ta khyil jai (Can’t see a plate of meal on grand dad’s assurance that one’ll eat only when Modi gives),” he says.
The sun is even stronger the next day. And the Himalayas peers down an idyllic countryside that is quieter. Dozens of schoolboys are taking a dip in the cool, sea-green waters of the Done canal besides Shivnaha village. “We are all maha-dalits,” says Sanoj Kumar who wants to study medicine. What about the rest? They give a carefree laughter as they pose with love and V-signs, one even flashing his second-hand I-Phone.
The grumble in the jungle hits you harder while meeting Sharda, A Tharu woman idling with other women outside her home in Kanghusri village. Her husband Dwarka Mahto is away, working. The family invested in eldest son Mukesh’s education. Sharda called up Mukesh in Surat for me to speak directly. “I did BSc in agriculture from Punjab,” Mukesh said, spilling angst. “Found no job, emigrated to Surat, learned tailoring.” “I also sent my younger son Dinesh to Surat. Both brothers are tailors now,” Sharda says in resignation.
