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Journalism of Courage
In the Bombay of the early 90s,a letter from a young boy reached Mugdha Karnik,who used to conduct treks for nature lovers across rural Maharashtra. The boy had asked: Are there no such nature corners in the city? What are people who live in the city expected to do?
It got me thinking; though I must admit it was a rather blunt note from someone of such an innocent age, recalls Karnik,now the Director of the Centre of Extra Murals Studies,University of Mumbai.
The boys query triggered the idea of a nature trail within the city. The idea became a reality when the Monsoon Nature Trail at Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) began.
Now in its 15th year,the nature trail,undertaken by the Centre of Extra Murals Studies,is assisted by botanists,zoologists and Ayurvedic experts. The trails have led to discovery of several species of fauna and flora,which have been documented for studies.
It also cultivated a whole new segment of nature lovers,who have taken the interest forward and developed serious conservationists of housewives and urban employees.
For Karnik,who continues to conduct nature trails across the state,zeroing in on the right location was not tough. The National Park in Borivili comes under the Western Ghats,which,as a whole,is considered a bio-diversity hotspot, says Karnik.
The monsoon trail began last week. It will see experts taking people in groups into the thick interiors of the forest at SGNP and introducing the urban citizens to bio-diversity and bio-culture.
Greenery on its own does not have personality,Karnik observes. The idea is to try to introduce the nature lover as one who walks through leafy paths and fresh atmosphere,with a little rain.
For the experts,who have been doing the walk for 15 monsoons,every trip was a discovery. There is a certain celebration when you see a new species of flora or fungi,an enthusiasm that multiplies when the discovery is not in a botany book,but in the middle of a forest, says Dr R Desai,a botanist and now a guide in the SGNP monsoon nature trail,who still recalls spotting a mushroom with a white skirt and red stock.
Dr Desai says the first week this season was also fascinating,with encounters with the Oak Leaf butterfly (an endangered butterfly whose beautiful blue wings resemble a dry leaf when it camouflages itself),or with lichen (a symbiotic association of fungus and algae,also known as the pollution meter as it only grows in places with zero pollution),or the hemi desmus indicus (also known as the Anathamool in Sanskrit,the roots of which are spread over kilometres and have medicinal value),among other things. Dr Desai,of course,has tales of pug mark spotting,too.
The senior team leader,also a senior Botanist,C S Lattoo,says,Over the years,I have seen many directing the knowledge they gain from nature trails to more serious research.
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