Travel Account of An Educational Visit to Koyna

By Kunal Bhargava, a Student of FLAME University,

DAY 1:

A group of 7 students along with their course instructor, Prof. Abhineety Goel from FLAME University planned and arranged an educational trip to Koyna, which is a part of the Satara district, guided by the members of Wildlife Research and Conservation Society (WRCS). Our journey started off from the university campus early morning and was an amazing 3-and-a-half-hour drive from Pune to Satara. An amazing sight on the road trip was the gradual change in scenery as we moved from the mainstream Pune City before finally reaching Satara, where the surroundings turned greener and greener as we neared our place of residence for the next 30 hours.

After a round of refreshments and rest, all of the students were introduced to Mr. Sunil Kale, who was our main point of contact as well as guide throughout the visit. Along with him, Mr. Vinod, and Mr. Balkrushna Bhonkar, who is also lovingly called ‘Bunty,’ were the ones who showed us more of the local practices and explained us the involvement of WRCS. After the brief introductions, we set off to the villages to observe the area which was under conservation by WRCS as well as the plantations that had been set up for commercial crops. After a quick trail ride uphill to one of the higher-ups, we had a very clear view of the mountains and thee we were told about how community conservation took place during the years of lockdown as well as how locals found an incentive to come back to their villages to work. This was followed by a question-and-answer session, and then all of us walked down the pathway.

While walking down, we came across a few species of fruits that grew in that area locally. We were encouraged by Mr. Kale to try the berries, and it was an amazing experience to see what nature provides to us free of cost. He also described the tree as ‘Kalpavriksha,’ as it provides the residents of its branches and tree cover with food throughout the season.

While walking down the path, we stopped at a plantation where there were mango plantations and a few more plants. Bunty and Mr. Kale explained us how they maintain the optimum moisture of the soil in these plantations as well as prevent the plants from burning in the blistering hot sun. We also came across a few locals who were working on the plantations. We had a wonderful conversation on various plants and the social life of the villagers. It was a humbling experience to see how hard the villagers worked in the plantations to make sure the end product is really good. With the interaction completed, we went to visit the next location in our planned itinerary, which was the primary school of the village.

The primary school, though small was very well-maintained and the children there were very welcoming, although they were slightly shy at first. We had an interaction and discussion with the teachers of the school and it was a heart-warming experience to see the amount of effort and care the teachers put in to make sure their students get the best education possible in the village. One of the teachers showed us special learning aids he had developed to teach students who had dyslexia and/or dyscalculia. They also showed us various folders of students and their works such as drawings, crafts, and other creative things. This further solidified the fact how sharp the students were and how enthusiastic they were to learn new things. They very excitedly showed us a small backyard garden that the children in the school maintained, which was full of vegetables and fruits that they would grow on their own like tomatoes, chillies etc.

While at the school, the sarpanch and his colleagues of the village were also present. They were very welcoming and were extremely pleased to see youngsters like us getting involved in social as well as environmental activities. With a lot of interest, they explained us the various goals they have set for the future of the school, and also certain policies that they would try and implement for the said development. This, on the other hand was also an issue that they were facing. There are so many policies to be followed and implemented, that it is difficult to keep track of all the policies and also get funds for implementing them. But we were told that the committee is working on implementing these policies as efficiently as possible.

After a fruitful day of field visits and interaction, we all returned to our place of rest and discussed the plan for the next day. We also had an amazing night full of music and excited discussions for the following day.

 DAY 2:

Our second day of visit started early in the morning. The previous day we had planned to go to the Sacred Grove that was in Mr. Bunty’s village. We all were very enthusiastic to be able to finally see a Sacred Grove in reality after reading and learning about them. With breakfast done and everything set, we followed Bunty, who led us to the start of the path to the Sacred Grove. This is where we had to stop and change vehicles again as the road was pretty rough and an off-road vehicle was required.

Sitting in the trailer of the off-road vehicle, we all enjoyed the cool morning breeze and basked in the beautifully warm sun. Nobody missed the opportunity to capture amazing photographs of the scenery.

The Devrai was much more awe-inducing than we imagined. It was a beautiful temple which was surrounded by a thick forest cover with 12 acres worth of forest area just near the temple. Bunty headed the group on a trail which took us into the forest. There we were introduced to an amazing variety of plants and trees. There were also plants that had thorns sharp as nails and could very easily rip flesh. Before leaving the Devrai we also got a chance to look in the temple and offer our prayers to the goddess. Bunty also showed us a few Jamun trees and allowed us to pluck a bunch of these fruits. The fruits tasted extremely sweet and this was one of the highlights of our day.

We ended our journey by 2 more visits. One visit was to a few more plantations that had been made, mainly including Acacia as well as mango plants. Mr. Kale explained to us that Acacia is a plant species that is very resource intensive and can for a while stunt the growth of other plants around its area. We also had a mini trek up the plantation, and we also witnessed the prints of a wild boar. We were also given a short tutorial on how to tell how old or fresh the tracks of animal footprints are. The second visit was to the Koyna Dam, and it was amazing to see such a huge structure to control a resource.

Unfortunately, there had been a landslide nearby so we were not able to go further. This was the last stop we had for the day and then we had to return back to our place of stay.

After another successful day of visits, we had a feedback session with Mr. Kale and his team and we also thanked him for giving us his time to arrange such a wonderful visit.

While returning back to our university, I could not help but think how fortunate I am to have joined FLAME. This is what I liked best about this visit. Liberal education is not just about learning, it is learning with a broader mindset, being open to exploration and also learning with experience. There are so many instances in our lives where we learn only the theories of how things are and we have to accept most of them with questions unanswered. But here at FLAME University, we get answers to questions not only through theoretical knowledge, but also by experiencing what we learn through real-world application.