Gopallapuram by Ki. Rajanarayanan

Author:Ki. Rajanarayanan [Ki. Rajanarayanan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9788184758559
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2011-12-21T00:00:00+00:00

17

IN THE FOREST, THEY FOUND palm fruit, ivy gourd, spurge fruit and tomatoes to eat. Weapons, like swords, knives, axes and trench knives, that they had brought along to protect themselves from bandits, came in handy to chop down the thicket. They built small clay huts before the rains. The first to be built was the temple for the goddess. They bound branches of neem, portia, and mulberry with palm fibre and planted them firm as walls; they wove a roof with dried straw and grass.

They fought hard with the dense spurge thicket. The piles of shrubs that they had chopped down grew as high as mountains guarding the flattened land. The cacti that were cut would not dry, but started to sprout again. It did not seem as if they could get a sizeable plot ready before the rains for cultivation. They were exhausted. The cacti had to be dug up from their roots, with clumps of soil. That meant removing the rubble from under them. The huge pits that were uncovered by removing the bigger stones had to be filled up. They came upon strange tubers and weird roots, but they didn’t know if they could eat those. Sometimes they discovered fat red nut sedge that they ate. They also discovered several wild greens to cook as well. They found eggs of wild birds which could be fried with the greens.

They made sure the grains they brought along were not completely used up. Instead, they stored them away to be cultivated and settled on the food they could forage. Some plucked aloe vera, rinsing the leaves of their bitterness before eating. ‘This is divine; it can cure any stomach ulcer,’ said Grandmother.

The water in the small pond was clear and sweet. They claimed that water was capable of being their meal and renewed their strength. They hunted birds and small animals. There were plenty of beehives tucked among the cacti. They removed pots of honey from the honeycombs, which they used as a dip to go with fried meat. With the leftover meat, they air-dried small pieces to make cured meat. This would come in handy during the monsoons.

They realized the only way to clear the thicket completely and quickly was to burn it down. There were several reasons for this decision.

The rains would come soon. It was impossible to clear it manually. They were too tired. They had battled with the thorny cacti for days.

Not all agreed to this decision because though it was easy to destroy the thicket it was not easy to create one when they needed it again. Say the rains were delayed. Then they would be out of tubers, birds, eggs, meat and keerai that they had managed to forage for this long. If the winds were to turn while the thicket was being burnt down, it could be dangerous for all of them.

The discussion seemed never-ending. Finally it was the grandmother who came up with the solution. She suggested they separate the part they wanted cleared from the rest of the jungle.

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