It was a very beautiful day when we visited Nagzira wildlife sanctuary. March 2022 last weekend four of our friends travelled nearly 160 km from Durg early morning to reach Sakoli by 8.30 am, as we were told the Sanctuary gate will close by 9 am. From Sakoli, the Sanctuary gate is 12 km, and from the gate, our stay was further 11 odd kilometres in the jungle.
We have to book the stay well in advance, and have the option to pay for the safari and guide at the Sanctuary gate. We had booked a log hut, through Maharashtra Eco Tourism. The log hut didn’t look very appealing but the surrounding was simply fabulous. Erie jungle, greenery, a lake to laze by, huge trees added to the romance in the air. My favourite corner was a huge tree by the lake.. the morning hours spent by the lake was priceless and soothing the soul. The chirping birds and the cool breeze by the lake made the time spent memorable. There is nothing to write about the safari but a local man said a leopard crosses the area of our log hut to drink water and we trained our ears and eyes to any moving thing for more than an hour. It became really dark by 6.30 pm, we sat still waiting for the leopard on the balcony of the log hut. It was a full paisa vasool hour spent with our friends. Sometimes we laughed out loud, sometimes we were whispering, and one minute my friend was so annoyed with husband’s silly jokes, she blazed her guns at him and said if you repeat once more I will throw you down the balcony. I remembered her action and laughed at it next day morning….
We were out of the Sanctuary by 8 am as we had further plans. Also I wanted to spend sometime with the mahua picking local people. Mahua is fruit tree, it blooms by March end. On our way to the Sanctuary we had seen lot of people picking this fruit. Light green fragile fruit keeps falling down from the tree and we saw children with the nimble fingers pick the fruit very fast.
Mahua is famous for intoxication in parts of India. But the fruit is used in many ways by the tribals as it is tastes much like kismish. It is dried and kept for years. Every part of the Mahua tree is used for various purposes, it seems.
Mahua flowers are rich in total sugars, out of which reducing sugar are present in high amount. The flowers are also fermented to produce the alcoholic drink mahua, a country liquor. Tribals of Surguja and Bastar in Chhattisgarh and peoples of Western Orissa, Santhals of Santhal Paraganas (Jharkhand), Koya tribals of North-East Andhra Pradesh, Bhil tribals in western Madhya Pradesh and tribals of North Maharashtra consider the tree and the mahua drink as part of their cultural heritage. Mahua is an essential drink for tribal men and women during celebrations.
Mahua flowers are also used to manufacture jam, which is made by tribal co-operatives in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra.
Apart from that there is another company located in Wardha district of Maharashtra,” Sevagram Agro Industries” who are dealing in Mahua products at very large scale and exporting innovative products such as seed oil and Mahua Jam to Arab countries. (as per wikipedia)
Since we started early morning we could be part of this scene as this is a dawn activity. Our trip became very special to have witnessed livelihood moments of the tribals in the month of March-April. I was so excited to record these moments and I learnt later, we see this only for two months, during the year. We also purchased few laddos and squash and tamarind toffees from the local shop outside the Sanctuary.
I am so delighted to share this link – a poem on Mahua picking by Dr. Richa Nagar
Jacinta Kerketta is an Adivasi (Indigenous Indian) poet of the Oraon tribe of Jharkhand with Kurukh (a dying native language) as her mother tongue. English translation of few of her poems has been maintained by researcher-professor Richa Nagar at the University of Minnesota(https://richa.nagar.umn.edu/…/transla…/thirteen-poems…), from where I copy here one poem since it refers to the fruit Mahua,
Intezaar/ Waiting
They are waiting for us to become civilized
And we are waiting for them to become human.
Kyon Mahua Tode Nahi Jate Ped Se?/ Why the Mahua is not Plucked from the Tree?
Mother, why do you wait all night for the mahua to drop?
Why don’t you not just pluck all the mahua from the tree?
Mother says –
They live in the womb all night long.
When the time for their birth comes
They fall by themselves to the earth.
We pick them up and bring them home.
When the tree is going through Labor pains all night long
Tell me, how I can shake the branch hard?
Say, how I can forcibly pluck the mahua from a tree?
We just wait Because we love them.
musings-of-a-fiftyplus 
Feel like visiting the place after reading this.
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