Itahari bazaarai ma...

Oh timro hamro maya basyo

Itahari bazaarai ma...

I passed out while writing the previous post, two nights ago. Much has happened since--mostly, the filling of a vast and empty vessel--my ignorance about this area. I can't get into the specifics, for lack of time, what what, but, here are a few points:

There is a real and intense friction between groups, ethnic and political, of which the poorest are the perpetual victims;

There is a really good chance that the best beef/veal to be got for good money in Kolkata actually comes from the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve.

I am not kidding. One half of my mind thought: WTF? How can that be allowed?

The other half thought: sweeet... grass-fed, wild beeves, fit for the gods...

There is no real consensus among responsible scientists about how many species of birds there are in Nepal, of how many of each. Those who flaunt numbers around are usually not scientifically trained, and don't have any stake in serious scholarship.

The Warden is the King.

The King has courtiers. Some of these courtiers keep herds of cattle inside the reserve, thus depleting grass and grazing/roaming area. This forces wildlife towards artificially created and managed grasslands where improved varieties are available: farms, with wheat and rice. This leads to a direct confrontation between the small farmer and the smaller animal: Arna, deers, boars. This leads to the punitive trapping of wild animals.

In one method, farmers put small hooks in the ears of corns: wheat, for instance. Fishing hooks, with barbs. Cheap, but efficient. Deer strays away from the reserve, discovers rewarding pastures in a wheat field, nibbles on some fresh wheat grass and corn, bites into a barb. Deer panics, moves the barb around in its tongue, throat--but the barb doesn't give. It digs in deeper, or moves further down he digestive tract. Deer is in pain. Barb creates an infection, or deer bleeds internally to death, slowly, slowly. Undeserved.

Why fishing hooks? Because they are the cheapest. One costs no more than a couple of rupees.

Another method: odorless, tasteless poison. Undetectable to the animals.

There are tons of birds here: Koshi Tappu is renowned the world over as a bird sanctuary. It is a protected wetland. Therefore, some birds here eat fish: commarants, storks, kingfishers, whatnot. There are also quite a few indigenous and other type of people who are dependent entirely upon the wetlands and their produce of fish, ferns and snails for survival.

Protected birds from all over the word come and eat the fish in the rivers. They also eat the fish that people grow in their ponds.

What do the fishermen do to scare off the exotic fowls? Reportedly, [what an ugly word this is... I am sure this is my first use of the word, ever], they play Kantipur FM, really loud, right through the night.

India--more specifically, Bihar Government--is the villain.

Nepal allowed India a 199 year lease to manage Koshi from the point where it enters the Terai through a narrow breach in the Chure range. Because of that, much madnes has followed. The one point I understand now runs thus:

Koshi silts up too much, too fast. It silt up with sand so fine it would be the envy of tropical islands, but is of no commercial use whatsoever [unless you wanted to make glass]. There are 56 gates on Koshi Barrage, of which only 4 are open at any time, meaning there is an effort to dam-up and slow-down the flow of water. This resistance/shring up of the water's kinetic energy assists in silting of sand. This means India leaves the fine sand behind, but takes the water to feed its canals. When water level rises, more sand is brought--not red clay, but white sand. This forces the water to cut under the already sandy banks, so that Koshi breaks out of its path and

displaces thousands with every flood.

So, India is the villain--especially because, under the 199 year lease, India is responsible for the maintainance of the banks, the spurs and all other engineering structures responsible for keeping Koshi in check.

I have been told that the three terribly woesome rivers of Nepal are that way because India dammed them to better control them. Indians think of the rivers as engineering problems, which is a bit dumb. "There is no telling what will happen with wind, water, or fire," said one man. Sounds too folksy to take seriously, but no amount of science can compensate for the complexity of these phenomena: how do you fully account for all variables around these elements? The folksy statement is clearly more scientifically cautious than the "everything is an engineering problem" attitude of the Indian state.

More later, dudes.

Spur number 2688.

Laxmi Kali Hatti, 3 months

hehehe