It was morning when the group consisted of Gelango, his younger brother Samango and Deboshree entered the jungle. Deboshree had carried all her essentials in her backpack. Both the brothers had too much physical stamina. They had carried two skin bags containing corn, rice, and other essential items along with drinking water in skin bags. Apart from these, both of them carried bows along with two kinds of arrows, one kind of long in size for general use and ordinary for fishing and other purposes; another kind of short with a detachable head fastened to the shaft by a thong for hunting purpose, a bamboo blowpipe with darts, one spear and machete. Deboshree thought these tribal folks were just as physically capable to carry for anything and everything. They were walking through an umber-brown, ancient forest. It reeked of age. Its woody incense was from centuries of snapping branches crashing to the forest's floor and rotting silently. The composting, organic smell rose in waves like a miasma. Every sprawling tree they passed under reminded Deboshree of a watchful guardian, a silent sentinel of the groves.
They decided to venture deeper into the tangled heart of this primeval forest. They hoped that it would reveal its dark secrets to them. The further they went, the more mystical and spellbinding it became. Huge roots spread-eagled the ground, twisting like the great backs of sea dinosaurs. The foliage became thick and lush, forming an arch of fairy-tale-green above their heads. Arthritic boughs, gnarled with age, dripped their bounty of nuts onto the path. Big banyan trees, a forest of Sal, Teak, Mahogany, Ashoka, Gul Mohar, Peepal, Arjuna, and berry trees flanked the trail, making it impenetrable on either side. Shuffling noises came from deep in the interior, deadened by the cunningly woven web of leaves. A troupe of shambling badgers crossed the winding trail in front of them at one point. They were finishing up their early morning foraging and looked startled to see them. They arrived at a wide glade, where the trees fell away, revealing the bespeckled sky. They sat down with their backs against lightning blasted tree trunk and watched it fade away.
"Madam, you take rest for a while here. We are searching those valuable herbs here," said Gelango and the two brothers moved towards the nearby dense jungle.
Deboshree was sitting on the tree trunk and was glancing around the beauty of the jungle. As if on cue, an avian aria erupted from the knot of trees. The solitary songbird was soon joined by his beaked companions, creating a symphony of song. The heart-haunting melody was an elixir for the soul. The sap sweet fragrance of the forest washed over them and they were seduced by its comforting goodness. They placed some stinging nettle leaves into the broth they were brewing and it added a tingling, chlorophyll flavor. After one hour, Deboshree could see two brothers emerging from the forest with some plants.
"Madam, only two herbs were found here. To search the rest of the herbs, we have to go further deep into the jungle and I know the way," said Gelango.
Deboshree immediately picked up her camera from her backpack, inspected the plants, and took 10 nos of snaps of those plants. She noted down the details of plants in her notebook.
"Madam, see the roots. We have to dry these plants outside in the sunshine for 7 days then we will cut off the leaves and branches. Then we take out the roots only which will be dipped in water for another 7days. Then we will extract the juices," Gelango explained.
When they were leaving, Deboshree glanced over her shoulder. The forest glade looked freeze-frame perfect in the enhanced light of the full sunshine. The enchanted forest beckoned her into its pulsing heart. How could she resist such a lush Garden of Eden? The deep, haunting ballad of its ancient song called out to her. As old as Adam, the forest was still steeped in plushness and opulence. The aroma of the forest was great.
With a light heart, Deboshree plunged into the overarching vault of leaf and limb. It was not what she had expected. The exquisiteness of the dawn's light had not yet lanced to the lush, greensward. Because of this, hoods of black shadow hung in the groves. Coils of vaporous mist enwrapped the shaggy heads of the teak trees. They writhed around them like a conjuror's milky smoke, sensuous and illusory. Sieves of mist caressed the lichen-encrusted bark. Adding its phantasmal gas to the damp breath of the forest, it glided with deadly intent. It deadened sound, haunted glades, and poured into empty spaces.
A sepulchral silence overhung the hallowed ground where the trees dared not grow. Nothing stirred, nothing shone, nothing sang. A hollow echoing, like the hushed tones of a great, slabbed cathedral, entombed the wood. Then a finger of supernal light poked through the misty mesh. It was followed by a whole loom of light, filtering down in seams of gold. Like the luminal glow of the gods, it chased the shadows, banished the gloom, and spilled into spaces where the mist once stalked. The fluty piping of a songbird split the silence just as the forest became flooded with light. A fusillade of trilling and warbling detonated all around her as the primordial forest came alive with the troubadours of the trees. Deboshree darted between shafts of lustrous-gold light as she went, admiring the butterflies. They pirouetted in the air, their wings a-whirr like little ripples of silk.
The glory of the forest was revealed in the birthstone-bright light. Almond-brown trees stood serenely, awash with a tender glow. Their bark looked like riffled toast and gems of amber clasped their crusty exterior. The first blush of the morn gave the leafy bower a green-going-to-gold complexion.
Gelango was leading the group, Deboshree was in middle, and Samango, the younger brother was behind Deboshree. Deboshree was feeling very protective of them. After all, they were quite young boys, Gelango must be 22 years and his younger brother Samango, 20 years and she was quite older than them as she was 34 years old like their aunt.
On the way, Deboshree asked, "Gelango, tell me one thing. At this young age, how could you be able to speak fluently and communicate with me easily in our folk language whereas your people could neither speak nor understand our language!"
"It so happened Madam, Pakul, and myself, we both are close friends. When we both were 8 years old, once we went inside the jungle to play without the knowledge of our parents. When we wanted to return to our village, we lost our way in the jungle. We wandered the whole day in the jungle but couldn't get our way to our village. After getting hungry, we both consumed fruits from the jungle and quenched our thirst from nearby stream water, and stayed the whole night under a tree. The next day, morning, again we tried to find our way in the jungle in vain we couldn't get the way and, in the process, we had come out from the jungle and were near the town. The townsfolks saw us but we couldn't communicate with them. Then one kind gentleman rescued us and we both stayed with him. He was an old man with his wife and staying alone. We both stayed with them for 10 years and learned the language, customs, and traditions of your people. Although we were there, we both always wanted to come back to the jungle, to our parents, to our tribes. That was the call of our motherland and the call of our tribes. When our old mentor died followed by his wife then we both were left alone and friendless. So, at last, we decided to come back to the jungle, our mother, and reunited with our families. Pakul and myself, we are the only two persons who could communicate with outside persons like you," Gelango narrated the whole episode of his life, and Deboshree was stunned to hear it.
"My God! so surprising story," Deboshree exclaimed and then said, "Gelango, tell me another thing. We have not brought any food items. What's to eat! Where to stay?"
"Madam, you might have seen a lot of huts on the bank of the river near our two villages which are community huts or you may call those bachelors huts as, during menstrual cycles, girls and women used to stay on those huts. Sometimes, young boys are also made to stay there for training of hunting and other purposes. Similarly, in and around jungles, you will find a lot of community huts that are situated just near the small rivers or near the streams. Sometimes, our people would go into the deep jungle like us in search of medicinal herbs, for hunting, for fetching firewoods, for fetching sal and teak woods for carpentry works, for gathering fruits from the jungle, and for other so many works as we depend upon the jungle. For this purpose, sometimes, we remain in the jungle for days and weeks also. Our village chief Okato has done a good thing. He has arranged to build several community huts in and around the jungle just near the rivers and streams. All the people of our villages know the location of these community huts and they take shelter at night in these community huts," explained Gelango.
"But why near the rivers and streams?" asked Deboshree.
"Madam, the basic requirement is drinking water, cooking and lastly refreshment by taking a bath which the rivers and streams provide to us. All these huts contain a leafy bed with a cloth, an earthen pot for keeping water, and outside of the hut, you will find several earthen cooking pots fastened by ropes hung in trees. Even you will find firewood outside the huts. While in the jungle, during day time, we usually take fruits which are found in abundance in the jungle. We also hunt deer, wild boars, jungle fowls, and other birds the meat of which we roast or cook in the evening near the huts for our dinner. Apart from these, we also bring rice and corns with us whenever we come to the jungle so that those could be boiled in the evening for our dinner," said Gelango.
"So, today you both are arranging sumptuous dinner for me," smiled Deboshree, "But what's about our lunch?"
"Wait, Madam," he smiled back.
It was afternoon. After some time, they came across a small patch of wild pineapples. Gelango signaled his brother. Samango selected some ripe ones for them and drew his machete and hacked off the leaves and horny rinds. Deboshree started devouring one of these fragrant fruits and ate it with gusto. After going few yards ahead, they found a clump of wild bananas and all of them ate till their stomachs were filled with the fruits.
"Now, we have to find the stream for our night halt as well as we have to arrange something for our dinner also," said Gelango and led the way.
