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 hell 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.
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