" 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 assignment. I had a lot of thorn pricks 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 assignment was over that day and I received a small
stipend for my work from the Goa Foundation.
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