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Illness [with editorial inputs from my friend #Lulifix as we call Lulu, Dr. Sandeep Mohanty] Continuing from my earlier real-life accounts posted previously, this is another unforgettable experience to reminisce about. Whenever we brothers fell sick, we used to be cured by jhaar phoonk (traditional healing by chanting and blowing) administered by a Nepalese priest. This stands in complete contrast to modern medical practice. And believe me, we used to be cured by the very next day, without any medication. The nearest hospital was the district hospital, about 20 kilometres away and reachable only by an elephant ride across 6–7 Himalayan streams and dusty roads. Now, bridges and pucca roads connect Koronu with Roing. More interestingly, Google Maps now shows a travel time of 17–18 minutes for a journey that once took half a day one way, or even longer if the streams were swollen with rainwater from the hills. That is great development for the people of that region. Many small villages ...

My father was posted in the interiors of NEFA, now  Arunachal Pradesh, during his early days in service to the nation. CPWD was entrusted with building of roads following the Chinese invasion of 1962. There was much work to do and the deadlines were strict despite non availability of skilled labour and licenced government contractors. The recruitment then was huge in numbers. Reaching the place of posting was a herculean task. One may say, difficult area posting instead of hard area. That made the life of an engineer more challenging to sustain, who first studied the subject for a life unlike the one he encountered. They all travelled by train to a certain point and then by launch or steamer up the mighty Brahmaputra and then, by a bus that would ply once a day loading all it could, both within, atop and some tied to the rods wherever available. Then there was the arduous treks and elephant rides across the crazy Himalayan streams from the nearest motorable point. Well, all fo...

Encounter with Madness We are two brothers, separated by a period of 4 years. Being the eldest, I would take the lead while venturing into the forest with other village boys to collect wild berries and elephant apple with which mom used to make delicious sour daal   and sweet aachaar   My brother was too young to accompany then. The boys from the village were well trained since childhood to spot any unusual movement in the bushes or thickets and the animal that would lurk behind. It was in one of the evenings that we spotted an elephant screaming and coming towards us.  Sensing trouble, we hurried back to our homes as fast as we could. The animals are too fast to outrun humans, being on 4 feet. Their running was a double engine scenario. The screaming of the elephant could be heard well within the home as it was uprooting banana plantains and trying to fell trees with might. That alerted the villagers who approached the headman to kill it. It was a double-barrel rifle ...