As you enter through the front door of the base camp of Bustard Recovery Program, you’ll be greeted by a GIB (Great Indian Bustard) statue which looks ‘almost’ like a GIB. Oh, you can sight many more GIBs painted on the walls along with several other paintings, some of which you may not be able to decipher the meaning of. These painting were probably some creative outbursts of some of the members (interns, staffs) of the research team in the recent past.
On my first day, I was introduced to everyone present at the base camp, through their individual roles in the project. It was fascinating to know that apart from the mutual interest in the bird, each and everyone has some specific field of interest. Beside the bird lovers, there are fanatic herpetologists, arachnologists, some working on mammals, some on the existing threats of the birds and some interested in the landscape and also people working on social outreach and awareness. I was even introduced to the cook as a potential researcher of the team, who is apparently pretty good in field work. One can really feel the positive aura in that house full of so determined and focused people from all over the country living in a remote village on the sand dunes of Thar Desert. The common quote says, following your passion will keep you happy and that was clearly visible in that room.
Life in base camp, isn’t what normal people aspire for. We live with bare minimum necessities, without the usual luxuries one gets at home. We don’t get to enjoy the fun and frolic of a city life, which all of the people living there was once used to. Living in a remote village area, far away from home, missing out on family occasions and hangouts with your friends isn’t a happy thing for sure. But you have to sacrifice something to gain something right? And that particular life choice only had brought all these people together. The choice between following your passion and the commoner’s lifestyle wasn’t actually difficult for me and surely not for the others who are living there for years now.
Mostly people work hard to get a high salary job just to enjoy a luxurious life. So, one might not understand why will a person willingly want to lead a life like this. The difference is pretty simple, it's about what makes you happy, the work or the lifestyle. It’s the uncommon first option for the wildlifers. And hence, as you can expect our days pretty much pass by working almost the entire day. There is no concept of weekends or holidays for any of us. What is a Sunday or a Monday to a bird? Is there any festivity or an ‘important individual’s birthday’ holiday in the animal kingdom? I think not.
Our days start quite early. Half of the people living in the base camp, work in field research or in situ conservation and the other half works in the Breeding Centre or ex situ conservation. Around 6’o clock in the morning or sometimes even earlier, people leave for their individual roles. We again get to meet over lunch back at the base camp. But it’s a hurried break, and often the field people don’t get to come back during lunch. So usually it is only during dinner time, that everyone gets to meet again. Apart from our everyday daal chawal and sabji, occasionally much to our delight someone is in the mood for cooking. And over our sometimes delicious or sometimes boring food, all of us sit to discuss our day’s work, with our Sir as our guide and guardian. I am delighted to listen to the everyday stories of the breeding centre people. They absolutely act like parents talking about their own kids which are actually the birds of the breeding centre (btw, each of those birds have very cute names). They will jokingly refer to them as some spoilt kids, “bacche bigar rahe hain”. They tell me about which one of the birds is very curious, the one who is a foodie, who is very naughty and who is obedient. The field people will talk about their findings of the day, which everyone is always eager to listen to. Apart from the assigned work, we wait to listen to the interesting adventures of the everyday field work. On lucky days, we get to see the pictures or videos of some rare species that one spotted while working in field. In between all these chit chats, serious scientific research also gets discussed, the stuck problems anyone is facing both in field and in centre gets solved, important decisions and plans for our progress are made.
Without any form of entertainment outside, and no families or friends, we are like a family living secluded from the rest of the world. Of course, we sometimes do get to enjoy and have our own form of entertainment. On some evenings, while coming back from field, will drive up to the sand dunes inside the Desert National Park, where tourists are not allowed to enter. That’s like our own private place to chill where we will sit on top of the sand hills and enjoy the beautiful sunset. Pushing each other and rolling down those sandy hills is like a usual game for these folks. Our occasional getaways to Jaisalmer are always there. Visiting the Golden Fort or Shonar Kella now feels like visiting our neighborhood’s mall. We try to check off our to do list of having the particular mango milkshake, or the chaat, on these visits but always manage to miss out on something or the other. Well, since we are almost 20 people living in the base camp, birthdays keep on coming every now and then. And that’s a moment for the experimental bakers in the house. Sometimes their creations are so brilliant that the cake only exists for hardly few minutes making us crave for more and sometimes they get too experimental and people laugh more rather than eating it. On cold winter nights, we gather some wood and have our own bonfire sessions in the open courtyard of our base camp. If you are good with identifying constellations, look up to the clear sky and watch the dazzling beauty of the millions of twinkling stars. Even if you have no idea about constellations, am sure you will be mesmerized by the beauty of those skies, and occasionally wish upon a shooting star too. Once the summer arrives, our fanatic herpetologists start with their daily wanderings at night. Take a good torch and join the walk on the sand, you’ll get amazed to encounter all the snakes, sandfish, geckos, scorpions, hedgehogs and all other kinds of species. In search of more thrill for adventure, on some moody days, we end up visiting the popular haunted forts and villages nearby.
But I feel the most satisfying days are the ones when after days of endless tiresome struggle, we suddenly reach our stepping stone in research work. Those are the days when the house gets filled with proud smiles and our little celebrations for that day ends with discussing the next step.
Good one