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AS we sailed across the river on a pretty little steamer in the Sundarbans in West Bengal, there is our first encounter with an aquatic animal. We spot a water monitor – a smaller form of the crocodile family – creep around one of the shores. There is also a huge crocodile slowly making its way through the slush near the banks. By evening, the motorboat anchors on the banks of Bali village. No one remains outside any village after sundown for fear of the prowling Royal Bengal tiger. Hence tourists set sail after breakfast and return home before sundown. For people who live in the cacophonous, media-flooded, poster-flushed ambience of the city, a visit to the Sundarbans is like visiting paradise on earth. Of the 102 islands that make up Sundarbans on the Indian side, since 60 per cent now lies in Bangladesh, only 54 are inhabited by some five million people of whom around two million live in the active delta. Bali village resort there is designed beautifully to match the village backdrop with mud-plastered walls and thatched roofs named after different trees that make up the mangroves. There is no radio or TV because the wild animals are scared of noises by the human community. You will not find a telephone booth or an ATM anywhere in the islands except in the nearest town of Gosaba or any shops. The tiger camps at Sudhanyakhali, Sajnekhali, Dobanki and so on are quite well kept, clean and free of pollution. No roadside food stalls are permitted here and plastic waste in the sea waters is completely banned The Sundarbans are famous for a huge variety of flora, fauna, animals and birds. But the most intriguing mystery of the islands is the ever-elusive Royal Bengal Tiger, the only one of its kind in the world. Interestingly, the tiger of the Sundarbans is an ace swimmer, having acclimatised itself to the watery environment everywhere and is equally comfortable on land. Tigers roam across the islands concentrating mainly in what are known as the ‘core areas’ where tourists and inhabitants are not permitted access. The Sundarbans are also famous for many amphibian animals, reptiles and mammals besides boasting a bird population spanning 180 bird species. The islands are located in the largest river delta in the world. Two major streams of South Asia — the Brahmaputra and the Ganga flow into the sea. "Our biggest fear is of the entire village getting sucked into the waters of the sea because the shores are breaking all the time. It is not the tiger that we fear but the tides that spell death every day," says Alipada who works at the Bali Village Resort. The southernmost inhabited islands that form the active delta change shape almost every day, no thanks to the most unpredictable changes in the river channels. Add to this the tidal waves that keep eroding the land from one side and build sandbanks everywhere. River belts swell because of heavy deposits of silt. Hindus and Muslims live and work in complete harmony, united in their effort by their constant striving to save their villages from being washed away, by their fear of being attacked by the wild animals wandering about and by the solidarity of their worship of the local deity Bonobibi. Bonobibi is a goddess who, astride a tiger, protects the island inhabitants from the dangers of wild life and rising tides. There is an interesting folk tale around her origins and at Bali Village, the villagers happily put up a folk jatra show on the legend of Bonobibi – the Goddess of the Forest. The stressed-out inhabitants are honest, simple and straightforward. They are fisher folk, farmers, honey collectors, boatmen and frail women who catch prawn seeds in waist-deep waters, ignoring the danger from crocodiles, sharks and the occasional tiger. The Aila super cyclone of 2009 heightened their stress levels so much that they need constant attention of doctors organised by NGOs and from the National Rural Health Mission, West Bengal, who are worried both about their physical as well as their mental health. As we bid goodbye to the uniformed kids readying to go to school before we jump onto our motorboat to sail off to Gosaba, we wonder, is this really paradise on earth? But Tagore’s lines come back to us – we saw the dewdrop on the blade of grass. But did this bring us joy?
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