Is it a hawk? Is it an eagle? No, it's an airplane.
If and when the new airport at Navi Mumbai is constructed, this unfortunately will be the scene above the scenic Karnala Bird Sanctuary.
The beautiful bird songs will be drowned by the drone of the airplanes. And the flight paths of the birds migrating from the Himalayas will cross the flight paths of planes descending into the bustling city.
Amidst this bleak ecological scenario, there's something to cheer about.
I had last visited Karnala about six years ago, and I had sworn never to return. Though I had come across a lone monitor lizard as soon as I stepped into the sanctuary at that time, I had also encountered scores of mindless picnickers soon after. They were partying there in groups as if there was no tomorrow. And by littering the place with bottles and piles of plastic, they were making sure there would be no tomorrow.
But on my way to Dajipur Bison Sanctuary a few days ago, for some unknown reason, I decided to stop by and stare at the woods of Karnala.
I almost missed the forest gate as the illegal structures that existed there for years were unceremoniously removed by the Forest Department. At the gate, though I had my heavy-duty camera hanging from my shoulders thereby identifying myself as a serious wildlife photographer, my haversack was thoroughly searched by the Forest Guard Shivaji Chavan. When he found a plastic water-bottle, he
said firmly but with a smile: 'Saab, you will have to keep a security deposit of 200 rupees. When you bring the bottle back, we'll return it to you.'
Thrilled that this forest is now in good hands, I entered the forest. And I was spoilt for choices in terms of the trails that beckoned me with open arms: The Boremal trail. The Mortaka trail. The Fort trail. And the Hariyal trail. I chose the last one, maybe because it had a nice ring to it.
Once on the well-laid out forest path, I knew that I was on a dream walk. The 6-year-old memories appeared to be just a bad dream. There were beautiful bridges built across the rivulets of Patalganga; there were aesthetically built watch-towers; and there were even benches for you to sit and ponder, and these periodically mushroomed along the trail.
There are over 150 species of birds that are resident here, and over 40 that are winter visitors. But the one that caught my attention was the call of a beautiful bird called shama. I could hear it, but for the life of me I couldn't spot it. It pulled me into the forest, through the thorny bushes of a plant called 'maanstodi,' which literally meant 'flesh tearer'. It is called so because it has a reverse thorn. So if you get entangled in it, you shouldn't go forward, just walk in reverse to extricate yourself without getting your flesh torn. Despite this thorny attempt, I couldn't spot the bird that must have been a master ventriloquist in its spare time! But I did spot the scarlet minivet, spotted dove, yellow bulbul, iora and blackwinged kite.
At one point, I even saw a crimson-headed barbet making a nest. She was pecking into the dried branch of a dead tree to make a nest to give birth to her next generation. And a barbet only chooses dead branches; thereby proving that in Nature nothing goes waste.
After the trek, I proudly showed the bottle that I had carried back and reclaimed my deposit from Shivaji.
On enquiring about the transformation of Karnala, he told me about Arvind Kamble, the Chief Conservator of Forests in charge of Karnala. While speaking with Arvind, he said that his dedicated team is keen on keeping Karnala in the green of health. He told me how they have already engaged a nearby village called Kelhe in an eco-tourism project, where the villagers offer home-made food to tourists, thereby earning their livelihood. He also said that plans are afoot to invite all the villages around Karnala to participate in this mutually beneficial relationship.
Back at the foothills, I looked back at the sanctuary, and there loomed in the distance the pinnacle of Karnala called Thumbs Up, at a majestic height of 1500 feet. It was almost as if Nature was giving its thumbs up to the laudable efforts of Arvind Kamble and his team.
As I drove back to Chembur, I remembered the reports in the newspapers that I had read recently. The Mumbai-Goa road that slices Karnala into two is likely to be widened into a 4-lane highway, thereby further reducing the size of this teeny-weeny sanctuary of just 12 sq kms.
There's another controversy that's raging on about this second green lung of Mumbai. According to the Environment Impact Assessment Report, Karnala Bird Sanctuary is 12.5 kms away from the new, proposed airport. But according to the GPS imagery taken by the Forest Department, it's less than 10 kms, which means it is very much in the eco-sensitive zone of the sanctuary, thereby requiring clearance from the National Board for Wildlife.
This controversy is needless. Just ask any bird, and it'll tell you the distance from Karnala to the proposed airport as the jungle crow flies.
