 |
| Migratory birds fly over Deepor Beel in Guwahati. Picture by UB Photos |
Both are silent warriors in the jungles of Assam, battling to save endangered species of wildlife. While Dibru-Saikhowa ranger Pankaj Sarma is relentless in his war against poachers, Maan Barua is working as a naturalist in Kaziranga to promote a form of eco-tourism that is sensitive to wildlife.
It came as no surprise, therefore, that both of them were among the select few to win the Sanctuary-ABN AMRO Wildlife Awards this year.
The awards were given away at a glittering function at the Tata National Centre for the Performing Arts at Mumbai last Saturday before a distinguished gathering. ?I?m delighted ? I?m also touched to receive such an award,? said Maan Barua.
Twenty-two-year-old Barua grew up in and around Kaziranga and is recognised as one of the country?s most promising naturalists and ornithologists.
Forty-three-year-old Pankaj Sharma, who has served as a forest ranger for over two decades, feels that recognition has finally come to him.
The citation to Sharma said, ?Between 1993 and 1997, he was part of a crack team in charge of the Kaziranga National Park, when armed poachers were rampant. Thanks to his bravery and that of his colleagues, the number of rhinos poached fell from 25 in 1992 to six in 1996.?
Irshad Ahmed hails from Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, a hotbed of militancy. The first reaction when he saw the lush green forests and undulating hills of the Patkai range in Assam was of awe. He had grown up in the hills, true. But, ?I haven?t seen anything like this before,? said Arshad, as he and 30 of his friends set out on a 106-km Dehing-Patkai adventure trek under the National Cadet Corps (NCC).
?I am thrilled to visit a place in the extreme eastern corner of our country. Only on reaching here have I found that it is totally different from what I had visualised. The people are very generous and simple,? Irshad, a first year college student, said at Lekhapani, from where the trek began.
The trek was flagged off by the general officer commanding (GOC) of the 2 Mountain division, Maj Gen. P.S. Rana last week. Around 1,000 cadets from 16 states of the country are participating in the trek organised by the NCC. The 20-day trek ends on December 20.
?You are the future of this vast and diverse country and as a disciplined and dedicated force, you should be prepared to take the country up the ladders of progress,? Maj Gen. Rana said in his brief address to the cadets.
In the Mizo traditional calendar, December is called Pawlkut Thla, the month of the harvest festival.
Though such traditional festivals are not observed anymore, the festive mood remains.
Conveniently, Christmas is in December and this has turned the traditional festive fervour into Christmas joy.
The romance of December can clearly be seen from the musical extravaganzas that are continuously being organised for Aizawl residents since winter arrived.
Not to mention the Grammy-winning US Gospel rock band Petra, who took the city by storm. There have been a number of concerts at the city?s largest hall, Vanapa Hall, where local artistes are also performing.
Vanapa Hall is now booked for such events till Christmas.
First was a concert on Wednesday and Thursday in remembrance of one of the state?s music icons, Saitluanga Sailo, who died in April this year.
Next week will see concerts such as a winter concert and Zephyr musical-cum-drama group show.
For music lovers, Mizoram is becoming the hot destination during the winter chill.
Believe it or not, porters working on contract for the public sector Food Corporation of India?s Ramnagar depot near Silchar town, go laughing to their respective banks at the end of every month.
Their average monthly salary is pegged at a modest Rs 8,000, with a stipulation that they should either load or unload a minimum of 90 bags of cereals everyday. But they are in a position to pick up an additional Rs 4,000 each month by way of a sly subterfuge. And they do so over the entire month.
In an elaborate scam, an army of some 130 labourers of the FCI, hit the jackpot at the turn of every month in a mind-boggling manner.
Additional unauthorised labourers are brought in from outside to carry the excess load every day.
Each such outside labourer is paid a paltry sum of Rs 100 and a sackfull of rice by this unholy cartel of porters at the end of each day.
As FCI insiders at their Silchar district headquarters point out, each porter on the payroll carries an incredible 350 bags extra each day.
 |
On a cool morning recently, the air was filled with chimes as every Presbyterian church in the Christian state of Mizoram rang their bells 100 times to mark the centenary of Kohhran Hmeichhia, the women?s wing of the church.
The streets and markets in every town and village in the remote state looked practically deserted as the women, attired in hand-woven colourful Mizo clothes, poured out into each church of the largest Christian denomination in the state, and offered Thanksgiving prayers.
These prayers heralded the centenary of the Kohhran Hmeichhia, which came into being in 1904, just 10 years after the arrival of the first missionaries from England for proselytising Mizoram.
To hail the crowning glory of the evangelical triumph in Mizoram, women in every church on this day unveiled an inscription recording the glory of Christ and partook of an elaborate feast.
