But I fervently wished to rid myself of these gla.s.ses ever since I heard that with eye exercises one can improve one's eyesight. In fact, I had begun doing eye exercises with Sister Gemma, a Medical Mission Sister who is a.s.sociated with my parents' work. I had continued these exercises when I was at the Croc Bank, where Farida seeing me at it, had told me about the Eye Clinic at Aurobindo Ashram where I could get proper training.

As I was also eager to return to my favourite Croc Bank and since Pondicherry is not very far from Mamallapuram I proposed to my parents that I be allowed to go to Pondicherry via Bangalore, complete the eye course there and then proceed to Croc Bank where I could spend a fortnight or so before returning to Goa. This would comfortably keep me away during the month of March when my brothers would be studying for their school finals and I would return in time to enjoy the April-May vacations when our cousins from Belgaum, Lucano and Ricardo, would join us for a whole summer season of mangoes, jackfruits and umpteen picnics on the beach.

My parents approved of my programme and on the 26th of February, I set out for Pondicherry. By now I was quite familiar with the routes and did not need anyone to pick me up from the bus stops on arrival.

However, I had phoned Bernard at Auroville earlier and made arrangements to stay with him at Auroville for the duration of the course.

I travelled by an overnight bus from Goa to Bangalore, rested briefly during the day at Hartman's place and caught the night bus again at Bangalore bus station arriving at Pondicherry at 4 a.m. There a cycle rickshaw fellow managed to cheat me of Rs.40 by promising to take me to Auroville but instead depositing me at Aurobindo Ashram which was more or less next door to the bus stop.

I had to get into another local bus to get to Auroville which was more than 10 kms away and after walking a short distance was greeted by Bernard, whom I knew, as I had met him some months earlier on my first visit to Auroville. I stayed free of cost at Auroville in a room in Bernard's quarters, sharing with him the meals he prepared.

I cycled twice a day from Bernard's house to the Ashram. At the Ashram, I used to do my eye exercises and then return home. I did a total of 45 kms of cycling per day i.e. 360 kms of cycling for the nine days that I was there.

The Ashram itself was an old building. Before you entered you had to leave your slippers outside and place a plastic tag, with a number, on them; another tag, with the same number, you carried in your pocket as you walked barefoot up the stairs of the ashram. The place reminded me of a retreat centre with people in meditative moods and soft Indian cla.s.sical music playing continuously.

The first exercise was the most terrible one. I would have just reached the Centre after cycling in the sun when honey drops would be put in my eyes. I then had to stand sweating in the sun with my eyes burning because of the honey. (Honey is sweet on the tongue but burns in the eyes.)

The next exercise would be struggling to read fine print in the dark with only a candle light burning. Next, one had to carry out the same exercise in normal sunlight, outside. There was an exercise involving eye movement through the use of a small rubber ball, then the reading of a chart with letters and words of diminishing size in varying degrees, bathing the eyes with steam, much in the same way as inhalation is done, and then cooling the eyes with cold cotton packs.

Finally, there was the colour treatment, where one stares at bright colours reflected over a lamp in a darkened room.

Each exercise had to be performed a specific number of times with small details like opening, shutting and blinking of the eyes controlled to the finest degree. After I finished I would return to rock music on a walkman, on my way to Auroville.

There was no charge for the 10 day course at the Ashram but at the end of it I paid Rs.77 for the material needed to enable me continue with the exercises-namely, 4 bottles of eyedrops, 2 small jars of honey, one rubber ball, two charts and two booklets with fine print.

I benefitted a lot from the course and within a month or so, after regularly doing the exercises, I was able to read without spectacles. I still do the exercises, though not so regularly, and the best part is that after having been a regular wearer of gla.s.ses I now have to use my gla.s.ses only occasionally, like when watching TV or movies-which I do very rarely anyway since we do not have a TV set at home.

After the course was over I was eager to get another look at the Croc Bank and as per the prior arrangements made on telephone I set out for Mamallapuram, once again, on the 7th of March.

A funny, but expensive incident happened to me on the way.

I got to the interstate bus station early that morning and waited till 8 or 9 a.m. for the bus going to Mamallapuram to arrive. I started asking around and eventually I was directed by a bus driver to the Mamallapuram bus.

Before I could reached the bus a man dressed in a conductors' uniform walked towards me. "Where are you going?" he asked. "To Mamallapuram", I replied. "Come, come with me", said the man. We both got into the bus, I took a seat and he put my luggage on the overhead rack.

"Ticket", he demanded. "How much?" I asked. "25 rupees", he replied. I handed over the amount to him.

Shortly after the bus had started on its way, and to my astonishment, another conductor appeared and started issuing tickets to the pa.s.sengers. I explained that I had already paid Rs.25 to the other conductor only to find that there was no "other conductor", only a clever cheat who had taken me for a ride while the bus was still stationary. I had to sh.e.l.l out another 18 rupees for my journey to the Croc Bank! What I found hard to accept was that the man was able to cheat me in front of all those pa.s.sengers sitting in the bus. No one thought to tell me that he was not the real conductor.

This time I stayed at the Croc Bank only for a week as Rom, Harry and everyone else on the farm were leaving for Kerala to continue with the National Geographic film programme and there was little else I could do at the Croc Bank with everyone away.

Chapter 13: Surveying a Forest

The summer vacation that year was great fun. My cousins from Belgaum arrived on schedule and since no one had Board exams that year the holiday season began in the first week of April itself. We would enjoy two whole months of the sea, swimming as often as we could in the river that joins the sea at Baga.

One morning in May my dad asked me whether I'd like to partic.i.p.ate in a project that the Goa Foundation, an environment organisation of which my dad is Executive Secretary, was organising for college students. I agreed. The project turned out to be field visits to the forests in Betim in order to identify which areas were still forest, which areas had been cut down and by whom, which projects/constructions had come up, and so on. The two students who had opted for this project were Stephen and Jerry, both from St. Xavier's College, Mapusa doing their graduation degree. I joined the team as an extra.

On the morning of the 20th of May, Dad and I set out in the car for Betim. On the way we picked up Stephen and Jerry. Dad showed us the different spots in and around the area he wanted us to cover and then left.

Steven was the leader of the team. He had obviously been briefed by Dad on how we were to proceed for he soon took out a note book and started writing notes. I took my notebook and wrote down some names of birds.

Stephen said that just in case anybody questioned us, we were to say we were birdwatchers!

We found two illegal houses in the middle of the forest and a huge clearing made by cutting a lot of big trees. The trees appeared to be cut with the use of an electric saw and tar was smeared on top of them to prevent further growth. Many logs were thrown nearby. It was a tiring task and being the month of May, it was extremely hot and my shoes had begun cooking my poor feet. Even if we saw a small path, Steven would insist we go to the end. Jerry would sometimes complain, "Steven who the h.e.l.l do you think will go down there, in that inaccessible valley, to cut trees?" But Steven was stubborn and would retort, "Jerry if we don't go down there we will have it on our conscience that there was a path which we could have checked out but didn't." So we trudged down each and every pathway we saw, howsoever narrow and unused it appeared to be.

On the second day, I went on my bicycle to Betim. We continued and we found another two illegal houses and a big tree cut, on the hill. This tree was also smeared with tar. The exercise usually took the whole morning and we would call it a day by about 2 p.m. or so.

On the third day, my Dad and my cousin Luke joined us. We showed my father the different spots we had visited, the places where trees were cut and the illegal houses. Dad had brought along a camera which he gave to Stephen to take photographs of the different patches of forest, the felling and the constructions. In some areas we found that fire had been set to the area after the trees were cut and this had destroyed the scrub bushes as well.

I was glad that the fourth day would be the last, since by now I was quite tired of this a.s.signment. I had a lot of thorn p.r.i.c.ks all over my body and they had become little itchy swellings. My feet were also sore and the heat was killing. But I carried on, as the project was near completion. On the hill we found a lot of houses, several of them illegal, coming up in the forest. We also found clear-felled plots with barbed wire fences around.

My part of the a.s.signment was over that day and I received a small stipend for my work from the Goa Foundation. Steven and Jerry later prepared the project report with photographs and write-up. The report was submitted by the Foundation to the Forest Department. The department sent an officer to investigate the matter and also issued orders not to allow felling or constructions in the area.

Chapter 14: Chief Guest At Belgaum

A year had gone by since I had finished school and what an exciting year it had been. Having to go to college now seemed quite tame in comparison. But as I busied myself with filling up the admission forms and getting the ID card photographs ready another surprise awaited me, and it came from a totally unexpected place.

I was invited to be Chief Guest at an Environment Day function to be held in Belgaum on 5th June, World Environment Day, where I was to speak on my experiences during the past year. This was surely the crowning event of my one year sabbatical.

The invitation came from Dileep Kamat who was one of the organisers of an environment awareness programme, which he and others in Belgaum had organised for school children during the previous month. The programme included painting and essay compet.i.tions. The concluding part of the programme was to be held on 5th June where the finalists would give their speeches and the winners of all the compet.i.tions would be given their prizes.

Dileep, his wife Nilima and their son Partha are family friends of long standing and whenever Uncle Dileep comes to Goa he stays with us. As he explained, the purpose of the environment programme was to inculcate the idea that one can do things on one's own and one has to think out ways and means for this. And so, he said, he had considered the idea of inviting a young person, whom the students could identify with, to speak on the occasion. The Committee had wholeheartedly approved when he suggested my name as I had done something quite unique during the past year; and the fact that my preference was in the field of ecology made me an ideal choice, according to Uncle Dileep.

Of course I was delighted and accepted the offer. Who wouldn't be?

Uncle Dileep said that all my expenses would be taken care of. I had an uncle (my father's youngest brother, Benjamin) at Belgaum, at whose house I could stay. There was only my bus ticket which the organisers had to pay for.

I started preparing my speech straightway as there was only a week left to go and I knew that I had do a good job as this was a big occasion for me. As usual I turned to my mum for help. She helped me choose the points I would speak on, then I wrote out my entire speech which she corrected and I set about memorising it.

Public speaking was not a major problem for me nor did I suffer from stage-fright as I had partic.i.p.ated in several school compet.i.tions and also represented my school in inter-school debates. In fact, I had been awarded the Best Speaker prize in my final year at school. Still, speaking at a compet.i.tion was one thing and being the main speaker for the day was quite another.

My mum gave me several tips on how to address the gathering, what I should do if I felt I could not remember the next line and so on. I rehea.r.s.ed the speech several times at home and when I left on 3rd June for Belgaum I felt quite confident and well-prepared.

Along with essentials like clothes to wear, etc. I carried with me in my haversack my red-eared turtle, and another small turtle found locally in Goa, the croc teeth and photos of myself at the Snake Park, the Croc Bank, etc.

I arrived in Belgaum on 4th June and was met at the bus stand by my cousin Lucano who took me straight to his home. That evening Uncle Dileep came to our house, briefed me about the next day's programme and when he left he took with him the photos which he said he would put up on exhibition at the hall.

The next day Lucano took me to the venue at 3 p.m. The function was held in the school hall. There were children from several schools already there along with their parents. I noticed my photos put up on a cardboard on one side of the hall. My uncle Benjamin and aunt Grace and my other cousins also came for the function which began at 4 p.m. The hall was quite full when I entered. I was seated in front with my cousin Lucano next to me.

The programme was compered by one of the students. It began with the prize winners of the elocution compet.i.tion delivering their speeches-one in English and the others in Marathi and Kannada. Then one of the students introduced me to the audience and I was called up to the stage to deliver my speech. I spoke in English and initially had to halt every little while for Uncle Dileep to translate what I had said into Kannada. Fortunately, however, after a few rounds of this English-Kannada speech it became obvious that the audience did not need the Kannada translation since they all understood English quite well.

Then it became easier for me to continue and I finished with great confidence and was roundly applauded.

As I had done in the workshops I had conducted in the Bangalore schools earlier, I then took out the red eared turtle which I carried around for the audience to see at close quarters while my cousin took around a local turtle which those who wanted could handle. There were many students and parents who wanted to be photographed holding the turtles.

I also showed the croc teeth to those who were interested.

The compere then announced that they would like to get on with the rest of the programme, but in view of the fact that several students wanted to ask questions, a question-answer session would be held, after the programme of skits was over. I returned to my seat and watched the skits which were on the theme of ecology.

After that was the prize distribution ceremony and I was called up to the stage to hand out prizes to the winners of the various compet.i.tions (elocution, as well as dramatics and drawing which were held earlier).

After this, the organisers allowed questions from the audience which I answered on the spot. I was quite happy to find that the audience had heard me attentively for there were many questions both from students and adults. Most of these concerned information about snakes. From this I gathered that snakes not only frighten people but fascinate them as well. The function ended at around 6.30 p.m. Before departing, the organizers gave me an envelope containing Rs.300 which more than amply covered my expenses for the trip.

Uncle Dileep invited Lucano and myself for dinner that night. On seeing that he had an interest in keeping the small turtle, I happily left it behind for him. Next morning I was pleasantly surprised to find that one of the local Kannada papers had reported the previous day's function and there was a photograph of me at the function and a report on it as well. I was thrilled beyond words.