Nallamala forest
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Komera Anka Rao/ Jaji, in 2024
Samdani MN, Nov 17, 2024: The Times of India
The story of Manjhi, the ‘Mountain Man’ of Bihar, who single-handedly cut through a hill to carve out a path through it for his village is well documented — a 2015 Bollywood film on his life, starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the title role, made Dashrath Manjhi a household name. But few outside the village of Karempudi in Andhra Pradesh’s Palnadu district, adjoining the Nallamala forest, would have heard of Komera Anka Rao, or Jaji, as he is fondly known among family and friends.
For 30 of the 42 years since he was born, Jaji has been working tirelessly, and voluntarily, to protect the Nallamala forest, of which the Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve is a part. With no formal education in environmental conservation, the illiterate Jaji spends six to eight hours daily in his beloved forests, keeping up his relentless efforts to make it greener and denser. This includes tending to the plants in the forest and meticulously picking up plastic and other waste left behind by visitors. As part of his efforts to add to the forest cover, Jaji has been for years planting saplings and seed balls of trees native to the Nallamala, such as neem, black apricot, peepul, tamarind and banyan.
He has also been growing pearl millet, jowar and sorghum on his one-acre farm to feed birds that are native to the area and attract them back to the forest. The little farm is daily alive with the call of parrots, baya weavers and pigeons.
Without a regular source of income — he works as a daily wage labourer for some days every month and earns a little by advising locals on the use of leaves and roots of plants available in Nallamala forest for treating ailments — Jaji is hard-pressed to make ends meet and to provide for his wife and two children. His parents contribute what they can,
working as daily wagers themselves. For years now, he has stopped attending village events and family functions as he does not own even two sets of presentable clothes. But not a single day goes by without him visiting his forests. “There is no life without nature. I am the happiest, if not the richest, man on Earth,” insists Jaji.
Finding Health And Happiness
Local forest department officials are appreciative, if a little amused, at Jaji’s dedication to the Nallamala forest.
“We find Jaji to be a big source of motivation for our staffers, inspiring them to visit the forest regularly as part of their duties. Jaji is selflessly serving society,” said divisional forest officer (DFO) N Ramachandra Rao. Rao praised Jaji as a sincere environmentalist whose contribution to protecting the forest has been enormous. “He is doing a lot of good work without expecting any financial support from anyone,” Rao said. District magistrate and collector, Lotheti Sivasankar, too, has visited the forest with Jaji after learning about his work and asked officials to make use of his services in conserving the forest.
According to sources in the forest department, though the Nallamala forest is one of the thickest jungles in Andhra and Telangana, parts of it bordering Karempudi village and neighbouring areas had dried up owing to increased habitation and tree felling, among other reasons. However, Jaji’s efforts at replanting and tending to the woods have seen a growth in the green cover, they added.
It all started when Jaji was born as a weak and ailing baby. The exact nature of his illness was never diagnosed since his parents could not afford treatment with the little they earned as agricultural labourers. But Jaji remembers his parents telling him that at the time of his birth doctors had thought it unlikely that he would survive and lead a normal life. In fact, he was named Jaji (jasmine in the local language) thanks to his thin and delicate frame as a child.
In a desperate attempt to give his ailing son whatever moments of joy he could, Jaji’s father started telling him stories about the forest, unknowingly creating a treasured and enduring bond between the two. Jaji himself credits the forest for giving him life, firmly believing that it was the rigorous exercise of walking around in it that made him stronger. “I am just repaying mother nature for giving me this life,” he says.
Grooming Next Gen Green Brigade
To some around him, Jaji is their beloved “forest man”; others view his passion as “insane”. But Jaji is moved by neither praise nor censure. All he cares about is for his beloved forest to maintain its green cover. He’s also possessed of an all-consuming urgency to pass on his passion to the next generation so that the forest may never be without defenders. While his own children are still too young to be a part of this mission, Jaji has been visiting schools and educational institutions to groom a new batch of green champions. Interestingly, despite Jaji’s lack of formal education, he says school principals and teachers have shown no hesitation in inviting him to share his practical knowledge of the forest and conservation methods with the students.
Jaji visits schools and colleges at least once every week and says he has managed to draw several thousand students into his green brigade. Armed with the seed balls prepared by Jaji, these stu- dents foray into the forest, eager to add to its green cover.
His one dream is to see the Nallamala forest expand in his lifetime. “I love every minute I spend in the forest. I firmly believe that nature will take care of us only when we take care of her,” Jaji told TOI.
Daily Date With Nature
Every day, exactly at 5 am, Jaji kickstarts his small non-geared two-wheeler to set off for the forest. Few salaried professionals would have the punctuality and dedication Jaji displays every day for a job which brings him no reward except joy and satisfaction.
As he enters the deep woods, Jaji starts his hunt — for plastic waste, liquor bottles and unused food left behind by revellers and tourists. After collecting all that he can find, he leaves the forest to dispose of the waste outside.
“In one of my trips into the forest, I was shaken to find a dead sparrow. It hadn’t been shot. Close by, I found broken liquor bottles and leftover food that looked contaminated. It is my belief that the bird died after eating the food. Although I have seen birds feeding on waste before, I was shocked to find that it could kill,” he recalled.
His own forays into the forest have not been without risk. Though the tiger habitat is some distance away from the area frequented by Jaji, the forest man escaped near death when a cobra almost bit him on one of his trips into the woods. It was the frantic noise made by the birds nearby that had alerted him to the lurking danger, he says.
Another time, Jaji says he was overtaken by sudden exhaustion while working in the forest, something which usually never happens to him. He returned home and, within minutes, there was a massive cloudburst. He says “it’s the power of nature” and his beloved greens and birds that found a way to protect him.
