A PRECIOUS WILDERNESS

IN BHUJ, A TROPICAL THORN FOREST HAS DEFIED TIME AND DEVELOPMENT FOR 150 YEARS. THANKS TO ONE MAN'S DEDICATION, ITS WILD HEART STILL BEATS STRONG

- 

IF YOU'RE A BOOTED EAGLE FLYING SOUTHWEST of Bhuj, at some point, you'll spot an emerald-green kidney bean-a tiny speck of colour on the crumpled brown paper of the earth. Swoop down sharply, gliding along the edge of the Pragsar Lake on a clear day, and you'll get a glorious bird's-eye view of Chadva Rakhal... a living lab of 12,792 acres of tropical thorn forest in the arid "wastelands" of Kutch. A wild anomaly that continues to stay wild, 150 years after it was first seeded as an idea. In February this year, I arrived here on the wings of a promise I had made to Jehan Bhujwala. A naturalist whose last name announces his fealty to the land in three short syllables. Bhuj is where his Parsi ancestors witnessed floods and droughts, plagues and wars. Bhuj is his fulcrum. His natural habitat... And I was here to walk with him at Chadva Rakhal, the forest he's been restoring and protecting for 20-odd years.

RIGHT OFF THE BEAT

It was 8.45 am, and the sun was already threatening to have a meltdown. But the sky was obstinately cool blue. We were entering the Rakhal from its northern edge near the lake, where a royal orchard of chikoos and tamarinds rises like a daydream in a desert. The heat now sifted through the canopy, evaporating with each step. The plip-plop of falling objects-a seed here, a pod there-the crunch of twigs underfoot, and birdsong (lots of it!), drawing us into the quieter folds of the forest.