Some of the peculiar sentiments of woodcutters from Tamil Nadu have won a place in the hearts of officials and combing parties of the Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) and the Forest Department.
The woodcutters eyeing the best red sanders trees in about six lakh hectares of Rayalaseema districts had over the years carved out some entry and exit routes from Talakona in Chittoor district to Lankamalleswara wildlife sanctuary in Kadapa and even up to Nallamala hills in Kurnool district.
Strategic personnel of the combing parties say that the woodcutters generally fix a time slot for both entering and exiting the hills, carrying loads of red sanders logs on their shoulders. Some of the groups from the TN districts had consecrated the idols of their choicest goddesses. This could be no idol in real sense, but a clump of stones, smeared with vermilion and turmeric powders. Their adventure into the jungles would usually commence close to the midnight hour, after applying the sentimental material on the stones, preferably under trees, and breaking coconuts. They name stones after their village goddesses such as Anjeramma, Ankalamma, Kankalamma, Amman, Mariamman and others.
The combing parties recently found a clump of rocks formation by woodcutters at the top of a hill close to Bhakarapeta ghat section.
From this point, the real trekking starts into the red sanders belt. Several such sentimental stone-builds could be seen along the forest fringe areas.
The combing parties observe that the woodcutters carrying logs, each weighing between 25-40 kg, have to climb steep gradients and negotiate dangerous slopes. “In the silent valleys at nights, we can hear the groups chant -- Govinda Govinda -- in a bid to regain their sagging energy. After all, they are human beings,” says a Task Force inspector.
Whenever they escape from the combing parties, they would make it a point to regroup again.
After escape, the woodcutters give a break for nine days before resuming their errands. If a group would come across a snake, it foretells danger sign and in case of spotting a reptile twice, they take a long break, sitting idle in the forest. Some other interesting sentiments include the woodcutters carry with them sarees of their mothers and wives and some times dhotis of their fathers, to be used as head support while carrying weighty logs. Before felling a tree, some woodcutters perambulate it thrice.
A forest official holds the integrity of the woodcutters in awe, “though what they are doing is criminal activity.” He says that during investigation, the nabbed woodcutters never divulge any information pertaining to those who would escape. At the most, they disclose the names of middlemen, and not their colleagues. “This is the main reason, why it is not possible to trace the fugitives,” he says.
