It was summer again, and it was high time that I put up the long awaited Facebook status message saying “Will be out of town please contact on phone”. I was late for my bus as usual and on top of it my car crawled by inches along the ever famous “100 feet road traffic” with my dad rapping the wheel and giving me this lecture on “time management”.
At Mudumalai, my friend and and I were to join Hope , Vijay, Davy and Allen. My job this summer was to be a nanny (to be exact) to a bunch of kids attending a wildlife camp at Mudumalai.
We boarded the bus along with the kids and after a head count, we were off to Mudhumalai!
Learning from Nature
The following week was filled with waking kids at 6.30 a.m. every morning for treks, with Hope teaching them the names of birds during the bird watching treks, Davy teaching them the names of the butterflies and moths which mud-puddle near the horse stables and in the bushes. Allen and Vijay took the responsibility of teaching and showing them a different reptile or amphibian every day. Being a student of Zoology, I enjoyed teaching them about plants and trees, while Saraha, a microbiology student, tutored them on microbes.
After a nice breakfast, the late morning was spent playing in a cold stream near the camp site. Children had fun collecting fish with handnets, hopping from boulder to boulder and splashing water while balancing on top of a bamboo raft.
After a hot bath, the afternoons were spent with kids with pursed lips and furrowed brows; every one engaged in different activities like aero-modelling, glass painting and chocolate making.
Meanwhile, we got ready for the evening's game battle with fierce competition between the three teams. The day would end with all of us staring at the stars through a telescope and a nice cuddly camp-fire if there was no rain. We got to see elephants ,Samba deer, Malabar tree frogs and bison in excess during the night safaris and during the visit to Bandipur National Park.
A wonderful experience
It was a beautiful experience to sleep in tree houses where monkeys play, and to live in complete wilderness at the mercy of rain and cold. It was wonderful to open a child's eye to the wonders of the wild — to see, to touch and to hear nature, in close proximity.
At the end of the week, we as a team had learnt not to be afraid of the deep dark forest and instead the children took home some crazy stories and a deep awe and understanding of nature. Who knows if the children of tomorrow will get to see what these kids have experienced. For me, it was a beautiful experience to hold a sleeping child in my arms by a camp-fire and know that maybe one day she might just stand to protect our mother nature.
Finally, we bid goodbye to a bus filled with kids, and walked hesitantly back to a silent camp.
Nina is a student of Zoology (III year) in Madras Christian College
