31. When in the wilderness, connect to your wild side

In that moment, the perpetrator of everything unfortunate, Rishi, was sitting in a remote guest house in the forests of Dindori. It was on his insistence that I decided to make the long journey to a lost home and found myself in the middle of an angry crowd. He on the other hand, was up to his usual junglaboutery.

The poet philosopher must be lost in his thoughts, I managed a smile, but the mob saw this as an affront. Ki korchis, ameder mondir k e kaeno dekchis. My long day ahead had just begun.

Unaware of the commotion, Rishi was indeed sipping sweet milk less tea in an ancient forest. A forest officer’s son – he was the only one amongst us who followed his childhood dream till the very end.

He was our unlikely friend in school, connected through families. We were the sons of miners and he of the forester, both bent upon extracting valuable resources. Our fathers tore the earth and his did the same to trees, all under the garb of ideologies like mining and forestry.

We were already in the last year of school. Rishi was so painfully shy that even the usual bullies kept their distance from this brooding jungle boy. It was Prahlad who made an effort and walked up to him, after months of silence.

He warmed upto Prahlad as everyone does and we soon found that we had common interests. His father controlled the forests around the mines and we began meeting outdoors. Our world view bloomed.

From the confines of the mines, we got access to the silent forests beyond, with a promise of cool rivers and sweet fruits. Rishi became our best friend and we, his.

Those few months of roaming in the wild was breathtaking. But we had to separate soon as Prahlad’s father decided to send him away for further education, likely due to his growing disobedience over further explorations. Our good times in this ecotone of the forest and the mine was over forever.

But as providence would have it, three years later, we found ourselves in a mediocre yet eclectic college. Three years together and Rishi taught us to love the forests in ways that we never felt possible.

Rishi yawned at the glowing sun and nodded at his Baiga bhai.