Cosmic Dance - I should have realized this before!. Review on Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary

The indescribable beauty of the earth can only be witnessed in the wildlife sanctuaries , places where it lies untouched by the human hand, a place which is last of its kind, where no man intervenes, no one dares to vandalize the very essence of what earth gave us – and what can symbolize this more deeply than two butterflies in love? Oblivious to the patches of sunshine filtering through the great rainforest, the dense green foliage, the magic of this place is rooted in love – love was what the earth showers aplenty, making up for its moments of fury when it lashes out in rainstorms, crumbles egos during earthquakes, makes you lose a dear one in a tsunami - nature the destroyer is first nature the creator.

I and my wife headed for this destination as mere tourists but returned as a strange mixture full of peace, reverence and awe – such is Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, a lake with dense rainforest all around it – a place where tigers roam free and you encounter wild elephants sauntering across your path.

Located in the erstwhile state of Kerala (“God’s Own Country” – thanks god for sharing!) head off for the place from either Cochin or Trivandrum, or take a shortcut across from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. The journey itself is soothing - the road cuts through hills of teas estates, lush green landscapes with silvery canals, waterways, rivers and lakes – lots of water, because Kerala is a lot of backwaters, but then you leave all that behind and enter the edge of the forest.

We stayed at the Periyar House, a government run old-styled hotel – the best part is that it is located right inside the forest reserve. They do not allow you to venture out at night, for your own safety, but I did dare to sneak out once in a foolhardy moment and was rewarded with three sambar deer staring at me peacefully, blinking at my torch light. Wretched me, trespassing on wildlife returned meekly to the hotel, though awed and humbled and stimulated enough for the next days events.

The highlight of the whole trip is a ride on the Periyar Lake, and the early morning tour is enough to give you more sightings than you asked for – you see herds of elephants, otters, sambar deer, wild buffaloes, wild boar and there is no end to bird sightings – cormorants, egrets, swans, duck, waterfowl, sandpipers seem perched on every dead branch jutting out of the water making it a surreal ride.

And when you return, you are rejuvenated and refreshed! Refreshed enough to risk a walk in the wild, not minding that your feet would get sore and swell with a lot of bloodsucking leeches that cling immediately – I somehow did not mind - nature the conceiver, nature feeding itself every ingenuous way, me included.

That walk was where I encountered these two lovely butterflies engaged in their mating dance. A cosmic ritual, nature’s best display of emotions, the most intimate visible way of the loving life force that flows even within you and me, the indescribable beauty of the moment when life is just love love love…

I should have realized this before, but the essence of you is everywhere, and that essence is love!

This rainforest is thus a moveable feast, a paradise that is contained in me forever now, for who can forget such an experience when one has lived through it once? Like Hemingway’s Paris, which he carried to his grave, this video tries to share with you what I might have felt at that moment, and why I seem to live in it forever.

Perhaps one of you, like me will carry it with you in your mind, and stay as fresh a ever.

Thank you God, for bringing me to Your Own Country.

Your own,

Ketan Tendulkar.