The plan was set, we gathered the tools, and it was time to execute it. Prashanth had a fracture in his right arm and I was sorry that he could not take part in this great adventure.
"I will bring the pineapples for you", I consoled him.
It was the annual day at school and the farewell party for Aravindan sir, an enthusiastic headmaster who brought many changes to the government UP school, Attoor. A perfect opportunity to execute the plan unnoticed. I wanted to listen to his valedictory speech. But I decided to stick to the larger plan. Suresh and Anish are ready with their kits and knives and Vipin has brought buttermilk and gooseberries for the road. It's time to make our way to the Asurankund. No one will notice our absence as everyone will be busy with the anniversary.
Asurankund is a rain forest in the Western Ghats, and our school is right in ints valley. I don't know the exact origin of the name 'Asurankund'. Asuran refers to a demonic person from the myth, and 'Kund' refers to a pit in Malayalam. The pit is nothing but a large lake on the hilltop and there is a small agricultural dam connected to it. But the most attractive thing was the information from Suresh. There is a pineapple mountain there!
Suresh lives in the same village, and he used to go to the forest to get the dry wood. They used to sell the bundle of dry wood, used for burning, for home use. He knows the terrain well. He is our guide and hero. There is a road to the dam that small vehicles can drive on. I was always liked such roads that led into the mountains. But we did not take that route. Suresh had a different plan.
There is a playground at the back of our school. Even though it cannot be called a real playground, we used to play many games there. Behind the compound was a rubber plantation that extended into the mountains. Over the years, many of these forest areas were taken over by (some legal, some illegal) such plantations. As a result, half the mountain that you see from a distance is full of rubber trees. This is not a new problem. Before rubber, it was cashew. The "rich" farmers always had a piece of Western Ghats for their money crops.
We started to cross the rubber plantation. The ground of the plantation was filled with leaves of rubber trees. At the end of the plantation, there were two huge rocks, looking like an elephant from behind. From above, the school looked far away.
"Come, I will show you the Maruthi," said Suresh. Maramuthi was the tree grandmother. She was a giant peepal tree with wrinkles all over her body. There was a big lump of termite with red coloured offerings spread on it.
"Guys, guys, I have something to show you." Suresh never seized to surprise. He showed us a large unit of a hive on a tree nearby. He climbed the tree with ease and plucked off a piece of the hive. I was startled. I remembered hearing the story of Chathan, an old worker in our village, who was killed by wild bees from the forest.
"Da, do you think it is a good idea? The bees might hurt you." I expressed my concern.
" Na. don't worry da, the queen has left the hive, and so have the other bees. So no problem."
For a moment I felt ashamed of my lack of knowledge. Forget that! We were getting the honey! Its flavour was intense and felt different from the one we buy. We continued uphill, munching on the remaining hive (yes they are yummy). Some parts of the mountain were not as foresty as I thought. We walked for a long time without much shade, and summer was at its peak. The cumin flavoured buttermilk was bliss. But it was not enough for four sweaty kids. Once again, Suresh came to the rescue.
"Don't worry I know a place."
We took a detour from the main way and found a nice little pond that almost dried up. It reminded me of the watering hole in the Jungle Book that came on DD1. Like the deers, cheetahs and other animals in the Jungle Book, we bent down and drank from the pond. The most delicious water in the world, I thought. Near the pond, we sat for a while. While walking towards the main lake, we saw a skeleton of a king cobra. We wanted to break it off and keep some of the bones. As hard as we hit it with the stones, we could not break it into pieces. The journey continues. There was a small old house that looked abandoned. Moreover, it looked haunted. No one, not even Suresh, dared to check it out. So we suppressed our curiosity and moved ahead. The terrain changed now and it appeared more foresty than before. Suddenly, as we walk, the narrow frames restricted by woods changed and we entered into a wide expanse of Asurankund Lake. On the other side, there was a piece of land stretching into the lake with a palm tree at the end. There we saw a wild boar digging up the ground. I gathered some more sticks, just in case. But it was too far to be of any harm. We saw the dam and the construction around it. There was not a human around. I wanted to spend some more time admiring the beauty of the site. But Suresh was on a mission. Still long way to the pineapple mountain.
Ever since the first encounter, I have come to Asurandkund several times. But I cannot remember the route we took from there to the pineapple mountains. As we walked forward, we saw two women with a stack of dry woods on their heads coming. Suresh knows them. They asked
"where are you kids going?" they asked.
"Where do you think we are going" Suresh was like tit for tat.
"Okay, so please bring some apples for us as well" I got confused: are we going for pineapples or apples?
"Hey, if you want them, just go and collect yourselves," Suresh said playfully. We continued. This time we went through shallow paths where only one person can hardly walk. On the left, there was a deep trench which I never dared to look at. After 30 minutes, we arrived at the destination. There it was ! a mountain and valley full of pineapples. There was a small house at the top of the hill. The farm had a big metal gate at the entrance.
"There might be a guard. We should just cross the fence, not the gate."
It was a wire fence supported by wooden posts. We looked around if anyone watching. I was not much of a trespasser myself. But peer pressure makes you do anything. We found one place where some of the wires were broken. We crossed the fence one by one and reached in the middle of hundreds of thousands of pineapples. Suresh took the pocket knife and started cutting one small pineapple. We were looking for the riper ones. Suddenly we were all stunned by a voice.
"who is there ?"
A man, probably in his forties, appeared with his big black dog. He had a big moustache and wore shorts and a shirt khaki in colour resembling a bird watcher. He had a long hanging dagger on his waist. The dog looks like a hound. We felt that we got caught by a villain which we used to see in movies.
"Ahm.. we just came inside.. we are from school, just want to see and get some pineapple" I could's believe Vipin said that.
"Which standard you are studying?" Even his sound reminded me of classic villains like Jose Prakash.
"We are in 6th standard. Sorry, we came here. We will go back right away" This time, I did not take any chance.
"Any way you came for Pineapples, then don't go empty-handed" He smiled.
That was a relief. He told that it was his plantation. He took us to the place where the principles are ripe.
"Why did you come with these small plastic kits? Why didn't you bring big sacks," he asked.
Faith in humanity restored! We had many pineapples and carried some in the kits for Prashanth and other friends.
"By the way how did you come ?" He asked. We said we came through the fence.
" Good lord. Never do that again. The fence has many Thotta"
Thotta was the local bomb for keeping the wild boar away. It is generally attached to a string. When one of the strings gets off, the bomb will trigger. We looked at each other in fear and relief.
We came back through the main gate. The farm owner waved and said, "Next time, come with some adults and don't forget to bring big sacks".
We head back to school. It was already 3 or 4 'O'clock in the afternoon. I got worried that I will miss the speech by Aravindan sir. Moreover, I just remembered my parents might have come for the speech and will look for me. Maybe due to that anxiety, I don't have the slightest memory of the return trip.
When reaching the school, the whole school were for us. The story of 4 kids went to the forest alone spread everywhere. The physical and emotional punishments followed is a discussion for another day.
I still wonder what was the farm really about. Forest land is illegal to use for framing. But if they are anyway doing it illegally why risk with just pineapples? Maybe there was a secret weed farm nearby. We were so lucky to come back unharmed. Thinking about the risks, I would have responded the similar way that my parents had (except the physical punishments). Nevertheless, the memory of the first adventurous trekking will always stick with me.
Great trekking ;)