DRIVING THROUGH A FOREST FIRE
realisations on mountaintop - the rude and not-so-rude
Just last week, my family made a road trip to Amba Ghat. For those who have not heard of Amba Ghat, think Kolhapur (for those who have not heard of Kolhapur, Google it). For a substantial part of the vacation, we oscillated between our beds and the dining area with momentary diversions to table tennis and kayaking. Half way through our trip, I was itching to get out and explore the city around us.
To my delight, the resort offered a guided tour of the several places in and around Amba Ghat. This included a wildlife safari, a mountain view of the Konkan region, and what caught my interest - Pavan Khind. Any history buff would recognise this place as the 17th century battlefield where the Maratha army took a last stand under command of the legendary general - Baji Prabhu Deshpande. I am not a history buff so I learnt this at the reception. However, I knew of Baji Prabhu Deshpande from my earlier trip to Kolhapur several years ago. The opportunity of visiting this battlefield, situated at (not around) a mountain pass - I could not pass up on (no pun intended).
Getting to Pavan Khind required us to drive through a forest and climb a mountain considering the battlefield was situated in a pass. The journey through a forest was quite exciting, especially considering that I was sitting on the roof of a jeep speeding through the bush. Once we crossed the forest, we reached a village on the Ghats. As we drove, my brother pointed towards some smoke coming from a mountain. The mountain kept getting closer, the smoke - which there was plenty of - became more noticeable. We were soon on the mountain, catching glimpses on charred shrubbery & trees.
Our guide and driver parked the car at a cliff once we achieved sufficient altitude on the mountain. As we peaked down the mountain, we expected to see the aftermath of a forest fire extinguished just hours before our journey. Surprisingly, what we got was much more - fire. We saw flames (that we probably missed on our way up) licking and climbing their way up the mountain. They engulfed large chunks of dry and dead, while sparring some greenery which probably evolved over centuries to withstand the scorch.
This changed things for us (and especially our driver) who had just realised that we were driving through an active forest fire! We promptly drove off, with fire blazing on either side of our ride.
More surprising than the burning mountain was the reaction (or lack thereof) of the people living around it. Everybody just continued with their lives as an active forest fire raged on behind them. No panic, no running, no failed attempts at extinguishing the flames - just letting nature do its thing. It also hinted at the generations of residents preceding the ones I drove past that had witnessed these fires, built homes and lives around them, and had taught their children to accept and not fear the flames.