The Sunderbans

The brochure for the Sunderbans reads like an advertisement for a theme park, bone-chilling, do so at your own risk etc.
After reading The Hungry Tide, I knew if I traveled anywhere in India, it would be the Sunderbans, the most dangerous place in the world.
The Sunderbans is located just south of Calcutta and consists of the world’s largest mangrove forest. The many rivers and rivulets in this area come from the Hoogly better known as the Ganga River. Saltwater from the Bay of Bengal mixes with the fresh water of the rivers during the high tides providing habitats for many marine animals such as crocodiles, dolphins, otters, monitor lizards, and sharks. In the forest there are monkeys, many birds, spotted deer, wild boars, and of course, the Bengal tiger.
Had Elizabeth Tester from Western North Carolina not come to India prior to the NC delegation, I probably would not be writing this story. A simple conversation over lunch about why I hadn’t done any traveling in India raised the question “if you did want to go somewhere, where would it be?”
Without hesitation, I said, “The Sunderbans.”
Elizabeth made all the arrangements and the last week in January found us headed to the Sunderbans for three days and two nights.
We had a two hour bus ride from Calcutta and then another two hours by boat to The Tiger Camp. Our group seemed friendly enough and came from all over the place, Sweden, Italy, India, America, and Holland. Most of them however came for just a day and a night.
Our hut was pleasant enough and we shared it with a young woman from Holland and an American male from Colorado. That was a bit strange, sharing a room with a total male stranger. Needless to say, I left my jamies in my bag and slept in my clothes. Is that un-American or what?
We were back on the water right after lunch with our eyes peeled for The Tiger. Actually we saw very little except some spotted deer and birds. Our one day trippers were not too happy about that and seemed to think the tiger camp staff could conjure up tigers at will. I think they got a refund.
I loved the quiet of the river and the possibility of seeing something from the observation decks. We did see some monkeys and some cool birds.
In the evening, before supper, we were entertained by tribal dancers.
The Sunderbans also has the largest delta in the world. It is full of rivers, rivulets, and creeks. These are tidal rivers and all who live in the Sunderbans know exactly when the tides are. Animals take advantage of the low tide to swim across the river to different areas of the forest, and fishermen know not to get caught away from home at low tide.
It was at low tide that we saw tiger tracks entering the river from one side and emerging on the other.
At one point on the river, the captain pulled us very close to the bank, shut the engine off and let us just look. A whole boat full of people, and not one sound for some twenty minutes. It was wonderful! But there was no tiger, at least not yet.
Even though we had been instructed not to all run to one side of the boat or the other, when the captain whispered “TIGER”, we did exactly that. We did it quietly though, so I guess it was okay, and we didn’t capsize the boat.
Seeing a tiger in the wild was truly amazing. The importance of camouflage became clear. The tiger was lying in an opening with the sun shining down on him, but he was still hard to see with his stripes looking like shadows and his fur blending in with the foliage. Through binoculars, he was clearly visible and oh, so majestic looking. After a short time, he got up and ambled back into the forest. Several people in our group had zoom lenses on their digital cameras and all promised to share the photos, which they did.
This is a tiger preserve, but to actually see a tiger is quite an event, very rare.
Many people visit the Sunderbans but few ever get to see the tiger.
We kept being told, “You are very lucky!” Indeed, I felt lucky.
The next morning we were back on the river early and again enjoyed breakfast on the boat. I think that was my favorite part, eating breakfast at sunrise on the river.
Could we see another tiger? That would have been really rare, so we were happy with our one sighting. We did see lots of spotted deer and some more monkeys, and some kingfishers. And then it was time to head back.
One afternoon, we visited a neighboring village which was well maintained. The houses, mud and some brick with straw and tile roofs were larger than most village houses I had seen. Many folks kept gardens. All had to fetch their water from a community well, but what was striking was this village got its electricity from solar panels. How strange to see solar panels on a straw roof and a TV dish nearby. I found myself wondering a lot how things like affordable solar panels and probably homemade can be done in rural villages in India but not in the US where we like to boast about how clever we are. We have a lot to learn from our brothers and sisters here.
So, that’s the story of the Sunderbans. I’m glad to have gone there.

Back in India

Greetings from Durgapur!
I left a very cold, snowy North Carolina on Jan. 4th.
I know this trip by heart and pretty much know what to expect at each airport as I make my way east, but the flight from Dubai to Kolkata was a bit more interesting and in some ways unnerving.
I was seated in seat D30 which is an aisle seat in the middle section of the cabin, not my favorite place to sit. Next to me was a young Indian man, a Muslim. Next to him was another Indian man, maybe a little older than the man next to me. These two men were friends but were obviously from different castes/classes. The younger man looked to be from the scheduled caste which is the caste that most of India’s poor belong to. I’m guessing this by his appearance, not his dress, but his features. The poor have definite facial features that those in the higher classes don’t have.
The young man, whom I will call Mr. Impatient, was, I think, a first time flyer. He couldn’t get the TV monitor to work and was busy pushing every key available, but to no avail. Actually, it wasn’t turned on yet, but he kept fiddling with it so I tried to help him. I usually have trouble with this stuff myself, but anyway, I gave it a try, and nothing. He couldn’t get situated in his seat, kept dropping things like the headset and rearranging his blanket. Finally he was settled for awhile, and I watched UP.
Breakfast was served at about 3:00 AM and this presented Mr. Impatient with some more things to fret about. First, the meal was not to his liking, he wanted a vegetarian meal, but the Flight Attendant had a little trouble communicating with him. She kept asking him if he wanted veg. Of course he had no idea what she was talking about. His friend helped him out here and the change was made. I was wishing I had ordered veg, because it looked quite nice. After the man in front of Mr. Impatient finished his breakfast, without thinking, tilted his seat all the way back. Mr. I’s containers started toppling over, and he began to bang on the back of the seat and yelling at the man to put his seat up. In his surprise, the man became flustered and couldn’t get his seat up. It took help from his neighbor and three of us behind to get the seat back up. Whew! By now, the folks sitting around us are tuned into Mr. Inpatient’s every move. All of us are wondering, “What’s next?”
Being a Muslim, Mr. I wanted to pray at the 5:00 prayer time, but his breakfast tray is still sitting there. He stands up and shouts “Hello, hello?” Everyone turns to him and stares. The flight attendant comes quickly. There is a lot of loud talking on the part of Mr. I., but the flight attendant is calm and tries to calm this man down explaining that the cart is on the way and to wait just a few more minutes. Nothing doing. He wants out of his seat now, so he plops his tray on top of mine pretty much forcing the flight attendant to take it away. I explain to him in body language that the cart is in the aisle and he can’t get by it so he must stay in his seat. Soon the cart passed our aisle and the two friends get up and head straight to the bathrooms, Mr. I on the left and his friend on the right. Now the bathroom on the left apparently is in a mess, so Mr. I heads straight through the cabin to the first class bathroom. At this point the two men sitting on the aisle seats in the row in front of us get up simultaneously and head after Mr. Impatient.
We’re all rubber-necking trying to see just where Mr. Impatient has gone. I’m guessing he was praying in the space between the cockpit and the first-class cabin. He was gone quite awhile, but his friend returned after using the bathroom.
While Mr. I was gone, the man in front of me called the flight attendant over and expressed his concern about this man. All the while the man was talking, the flight attendant was patting him on the shoulder, rubbing his arm, and generally trying to console him. “It’s okay.” The flight attendant asked me if the man had been abusive to me. Well, no. A bit of a nuisance, yes, but rude or abusive, no, but when he finally returned, I found myself watching him out of the corner of my eye, just in case…
It wasn’t until the plane touched down that I felt more at ease. I guess he was just a confused, first time flier. Alhamdulilah!
Things went smoothly through customs and my bags were there and in decent shape and Rev. Swagata Das was at the gate to greet me.
The ride back to Durgapur was fast with our driver doing all the typical things I have come to expect from Indian drivers: blowing the horn non-stop, tail-gaiting (really tailgating), passing recklessly, etc. We had a flat which the driver quickly changed, but the spare was warped or something so the ride became very rough. Did the driver slow down to compensate for this? Not on your life!
I was happy to see the children but sad to learn that some of the older girls had left the hostel. New children had taken their place, and so the work continues.
The sewing center is almost finished and is really nice. It will be dedicated when Bishop Taylor comes in February.
If you get too cold and are tired of shoveling snow, come on over. The weather here is very nice this time of year.
Blessings to all,
Lynn