[16:59 @ Rm.112, Kanha Jungle Lodge]
At
06:50 this morning, Tirath came to the lodge.
At 07:00, Faiyaz left with him in the Gypsy to visit villages, with my
bulging media folder (which contains two of the latest Jaipur newspaper
clippings) in his hands.
Anne,
Chris L., Chris C. and I, being non-Indians and deemed unsuitable for initial
village visits, stayed behind at the lodge to read and talk. The large and loud group of Indian tourists
went into the park, leaving us in peace and quiet to chart our courses.
Faiyaz
returned around 16:00 with a big grin on his humble and honest face, and my
media folder clutched in his hands like a box of diamonds. He had a highly fruitful day, dropping by
village after village, talking about this “genuine and dedicated” Canadian
conservationist, persuading about 8 panchayat leaders, one of whom representing
as many 12 villages, to come to the Tiger Trust Conservation Centre day after
tomorrow, the 23rd, at 13:30.
They will leave around 19:00 the same day.
“It
is much easier than I originally thought to get the villagers interested to
come to see you, and some of them have to walk 5-6 hours through forest just to
get out on to the road to be picked up,” he reported.
I
arranged for him to go out again with Tirath to do the same with more villages,
aiming for another meeting on the 25th. The 24th, he will go into the nontourist part of the
park with a guide and guard provided by the park to access the villages on the
other side.
I
also advised him to let me be the custodian of the Gypsy key so that Tarun
cannot get it from him and have us grounded.
As of the 23rd, for three days, a large group of about 20
tourists will be here for about three days, and Tarun will just have to hire
more Gypsies. We have a job to do, a
budget to do it with, and we’ll do it.
[23:41] This evening, about 19:00, Anne, Faiyaz and I went to Baihar to
see Jharia to get a map of the 40 peripheral villages, and to call
Bandhavgarh. Jharia has left town on
business, and after some difficulty, we did reach Pushpinder, manager of the
Jungle Lodge at Bandhavgarh, who informed Faiyaz that Tarun had left
Bandhavgarh for Kanha with Amar as of 15:00, and should arrive at Kanha around
22:00, and that Pradeep had no problem with me and Anne not going to
Bandhavgarh. This, however, where
Pradeep is concerned, as he told Pushpinder, means that Kim would have to stay
at Bandhavgarh in Anne’s place, which to Kim is unfair, as she told me when she
got on the phone with me. I said to her
that she is a volunteer, not a prisoner.
I added that the tourist season is winding down, but campaigning action
is cranking up, and if she wants to do conservation work instead of tourist
work, she should ask Pradeep for her to come to Kanha as well, and I would
support her should this be her decision.
And I told her briefly about our panchayat plan. She may be able to come with the major
tourist group of Mr. Harris on Tuesday the 23rd.
While
driving, under Anne’s orchestration, we made up a song to be sung to Chris
tomorrow evening, the eve of his permanent departure. It is a modification of the Beatles’ Yesterday:
Yesterday
Our
goodbyes still seemed so far away
But
o now we have to part we say
O
we believe in yesterday
Suddenly
We’re
not half the team we used to be
Now
that you’re going across the sea
O
we believe in yesterday
Why
you have to go we don’t know
We
wish you’d stay
We
love all your songs
Now
we long for yesterday
I
said to Anne, “I think Christopher will cry when he hears this.”
Anne
said, “I think I will too.”
Tarun
arrived around 22:00. Before he did, I
had said a couple of times to the gang, “I hope he’s got the right slide
projector and the slides with him.”
What I need are the Tiger Trust 220 volt slide projector, the 140-slot
slide tray with the 130 duped slides, and an extra 80-slot empty tray for Anne
to use after my own departure at the end of March. I had given the list in writing for Veejay to give to Pradeep
before I left Delhi. Well, guess
what? Instead, Tarun was given the WCWC
110 volt projector without the voltage converter, and an empty slide tray
without any slides. I blew my top and
stormed back to my room, but not before exclaiming, “Fucking incompetent
bastards!”
And
this is a lenient statement. Pradeep
had asked me to leave the Big Cub in Delhi for his use, which needs the blower
which needs the only remaining voltage converter, since Manoj had burnt out the
other one at the Dilli Haat, and I had granted that request. So, the WCWC 110 volt projector should be
the one to remain in Delhi since it too needs the voltage converter to
run. But Pradeep also said he did not
want to part with his 220 volt slide projector because he feared the power
surges out here would fry it. No, it
bloody well won’t. I’ve got my laptop
computer plugged into the wall day in day out, and the Hi8 cam battery charger,
without any ill effect. The very worst
that can happen to a slide projector is to blow a bulb, and I have a half dozen
to spare, and the appliances are protected by a fuse next to the door of the
room. Instead, he sends me the WCWC 110
volt projector without the voltage converter, which would fry for damn sure. We’re providing him with $60,000 a year, and
letting him use the Big Cub, and he wouldn’t even let me use his projector for
what I have traveled half way around the world to do. And now that the panchayat leaders are coming in day after
tomorrow to pay us homage, what do I have to show them? All I have now is the Champions of the Wild
video, which is in English, and which does not show the Chinese medicines, nor
the habitat diminishing maps, nor the devastated landscapes after deforestation
and overgrazing, nor... With the language
barrier already standing in the way, I need all the help I can get. Coming to visit us in groups of 7-8 over the
next three weeks are the most powerful and influential village council leaders
in the whole of Kanha’s buffer zone. At
best, my presentation will be much weakened, at the crucial time when finally
we have kick-started what may be the best and most comprehensive outreach
program ever launched at Kanha by any organization at any time.
I
felt like quitting on the spot and flying back to Vancouver on the first
available flight and canning the whole thing.
But even before the second thought, I knew of course I wouldn’t. I’ll just have to make the best of what
little I am given to work with.
After
cooling off a little, I came back out and said to Tarun, “It’s not your fault. Don’t worry about it.” As it happens he was pissed off at the
Dynamic Tours people himself, because tried as he did, he did not get the money
he needed from the Delhi office for the Harris group of tourists due to arrive
at Kanha also day after tomorrow, resulting in his departure from Delhi being
delayed for several hours for nothing.
I can believe it, and we can howl our rage all we want. Nobody in Delhi would hear it, and now, what
is Tarun going to use to hire more Gypsies with?
He
and I planned to go to Baihar to call Delhi first thing in the morning, and
have Manoj send a “boy” (Tarun’s term) on the 14:30 train with the right slide
projector and the slides tomorrow, who will arrive at Gondia on the 23rd
10:00, who will then take a bus to the Kanha Jungle Lodge, hopefully arriving
just on time for the later afternoon slideshow.
“If
there is interest at head office to do that,” Tarun added acidly, and the acid
was not aimed at me.
My
reply: “Interest is not a factor. It is
a matter of necessity. This is what I
have come from Canada to do and it has to be done, period.”
On
the OMNI-SCIENCE plane, however, things worked out much more smoothly. Off and on through the day, I led Anne,
Chris and Faiyaz to construct the following all important diagram, which speaks
for itself.
Social Planetary Organisms
(not yet)
the Planetary
Level of Organization
Nonsocial Planetary Organism
(not yet)
Social
National Organisms
(e.g. Canada,
Britain)
the National
Level of Organization
Nonsocial National Organisms
(e.g. Iraq, Afghanistan)
Social City
Organisms
(e.g.
Vancouver, Shanghai)
the City Level
of Organization
Nonsocial City Organisms
(e.g. ancient city-states)
Social Tribal
Organisms
(e.g. human
tribal cultures, whale pods)
the Tribal Level
of Organization
Nonsocial Tribal Organisms
(e.g. termite mound, bee hive)
Social
Metabion Organisms
(e.g. termite,
human)
the Metabion
level of organization
Nonsocial Metabion Organisms (e.g.
dragonfly)
Social
Cellular Organisms
(e.g. neurons,
live cells)
the Cellular
Level of Organization
Nonsocial Cellular Organisms
(e.g. amoeba, paramecium)
Social
Molecules
(e.g. protein
molecules in cell)
the Molecular
Level of Organization
Nonsocial Molecules
(e.g. CuSO4 in rock)
The
term “metabion”, in my original construct in the 80s, was “metazoan”, meaning
“multicellular animals”, which obviously excluded the multi-cellular
plants. Thus, ‘metabion” –
“multicellular organisms”, literally.
“In the above seven-level structure, all things on Earth and of Earth are accounted for,” said Raminothna. “Now, hasn’t this left the Superorganism Concept way behind?”