Kaas Pathar & Pawan Chakki A tale of two plateaus

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Sheryl Allison
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1 Kaas Pathar & Pawan Chakki A tale of two plateaus Sonal Alavares shows us two faces of humanity at Kaas Pathar one willing to destroy a virtually untouched piece of nature, and the other using eco-friendly power management. A day s trip from manic Mumbai will have you witness the phenomenon of Kaas Pathar and the marvel of Pawan Chakkis, leaving you with a tale of two plateaus in the heart of Maharashtra. Three years of planning finally gave way to an on the spur decision to visit Kaas Pathar in the middle of the week in Septmeber. The visit had to be this month for two very good reasons. One, the flowers were said to bloom only in the months of August and September and two, I didn t want to wait another year. Decision made, one evening after work, we hopped onto a Pune bound Shivneri, with a prior booking for a car and driver to meet us early the next morning (all thanks to a plan-obsessed friend, and I mean this in a good way). Tired, we slept the night out only to rise bright and early (packed sandwiches et al) ready for our drive down to Satara and from there, on to scenic Kaas. I couldn t wait. The drive down is lovely, weather and road wise. A shy dawn greeted us, gazing over a city sleeping in after the Ganesh festivities. We chomped down a few sandwiches along the way, which, not surprisingly, didn t stop us from the mandatory foodie halt at a roadside dhabha. A glass of chai followed a quick misal/bhajji pav as we watched a dreamy mist clinging to a sullen mountain in the distance. Back on the road, we passed through swaying sugarcane fields on either side with omnipresent mountains providing a perfect

2 backdrop to our quick shots through the car window. We swerved through the quaint lanes of a just rising Satara and were soon climbing up a meandering road or ghat, leaving behind a view of the town which, if painted blue, could match up to that other famous town in terms of photogeneity. The drive up to the plateau The three hour drive felt like a breeze when we finally arrived onto the plateau, guarded at the entrance by a few guards at a makeshift desk who wrote out receipts counting people and yes, cameras. Rs.10 per head and Rs.50 per camera with quick instructions to get down here and park down there. Ahead of us the road continued on, fenced on both sides disappearing into the horizon of the fairly flat plateau. A faint fuzzy sheet of colour on both sides stretching out as far as the eye could see. It didn t help that it was barely bright enough to see and what with a constant misty drizzle, it felt more like walking around in a cloud. And as I stepped beyond the fence onto the plateau, the mist cleared in bits, giving glimpses of what lay before me.

Kaas Pathar As if in a dream, I saw the shades of colour taking the shape of hundreds and thousands of beautiful little flowers standing proudly, vying for attention with hardly an inch to spare

3 Kaas Pathar As if in a dream, I saw the shades of colour taking the shape of hundreds and thousands of beautiful little flowers standing proudly, vying for attention with hardly an inch to spare between them. There was a slim trail that we were to walk on and it was understood that you didn t stray beyond and dare trample on any of the delicate beauties. We were one of the first few people there and the cars I counted then were about five or six, all parked down the never ending fenced road. We spent a couple of hours walking down that trail, trying all sorts of acrobatics to capture every moment of the stunning phenomenon that is the Kaas Plateau. I wondered if the next stop down the road was Heaven because it was amazing. I took a deep breath and gazed around to find a number of birds flying close to the tops of the flowers twittering away along with brightly coloured butterflies all just adding to sense and feel of that spectacular landscape. An hour and half later, I realised that we were joined by more people even as we walked on across the plateau, losing sight of where we entered from. For a large area spread over several acres, it did start to fill in really quickly and very soon

4 there were people all over the place with cars on the fenced road piling up end to end into eternity. It was then that I began to feel a bit uncomfortable, almost guilty, for having stepped into this piece of paradise with nothing to give and everything to take. Kaas Plateau has recently been declared a Biodiversity World Heritage Site by UNESCO. This is a good thing, but this could also mean bad news for the flowers. As is always the case with such globally recognised awards, this one too could quickly go from well intentioned attempt at protection to a real threat from unprecedented numbers of people descending upon the site. Such a large number of people visiting this sensitive site could only leave, as it often does in such cases, a trail of destruction in its wake. A bottle strewn among the flowers Halfway through, I was shocked to find an empty plastic soft drink bottle lying strewn among the flowers, desecrating the pristine beauty of the plateau. A grim reminder of what we, humans, are capable of doing to our natural environment, and in this case undoing, slowly dawned on me. I looked back towards the entrance and saw hoards of people crawling all

over the plateau. Every laugh carried across the field and brought home the realisation that however inadvertently, someone, was breaching the frail trail and trampling those precious flowers.

5 over the plateau. Every laugh carried across the field and brought home the realisation that however inadvertently, someone, was breaching the frail trail and trampling those precious flowers. My guilt rose. In addition to the flowers, there were birds, butterflies, insects, frogs, moss, plants and streams that all formed a fragile ecosystem. Wouldn t being nominated a heritage site mean protection? But from what, or should I say whom? Huge numbers of people on the plateau Heading back to the car, we found one of the guards with a few copies of a book on Kaas Plateau, walking around besieged by people wanting a copy. I thought this might be a good thing. I mean, educating people on the unique species in the place as well as sharing tips on how to treat it well would go some way in protecting it, wouldn t it? However, there has to be a better way of doing this. All it should take is better management of the visits to the site. Visitors need to be instructed on the dos and donts, maybe the entry fees should be raised, perhaps photographers (us included) should be more careful, access trails need to be closed down for a couple of seasons in order to let nature

6 reclaim them, and so on. The authorities in charge should not stand idly by while this sanctuary is turned into yet another leisure park for the throngs of city dwellers who value such a phenomenon for all the wrong reasons. Leaving Kaas Pathar we drove down to Satara in the hope of a seeing yet another marvel on another plateau; the wind mills or, as is correct terminology, wind turbines. Our driver got wind of our desire to see the Pawan Chakki, as he called it, and we were soon catching up with the faint outlines dotting the flat mountain tops, slowly growing in size and focus. On the way, we screeched to a halt in front of a house whose front yard was covered with six feet tall, proud and huge, yellow sunflowers. We were soon trigger happy, again and before long joined by the head of the house. He was growing these statuesque flowers not for aesthetics, but for the oil. In fact, he casually slipped in how they grew what they eat in their yard, leaving me thinking about my little balcony back home, wondering if even one sunflower would deign to grow there, leave alone a chilli. A sunflower in the front yard

We were soon back on trail towards Chalkewadi. A good distance away and not wishing to drive all the way down there, we wound our way up the nearest plateau studded with wind turbines.

7 We were soon back on trail towards Chalkewadi. A good distance away and not wishing to drive all the way down there, we wound our way up the nearest plateau studded with wind turbines. Suffice it to say, that the environmentalist in me leapt out and paid homage to, what I liked to call, the gentle giants. My friend, on the other hand, felt that they represented something spiritual, taking the conversation to another plane. I was equally quick to point out that we were indeed, on another plane. Could it get any higher or closer to God than this? Pawan Chakki up close On the one hand we were witness to a natural wonder with no ready explanation for its existence while on the other, there were these magnificent testaments to man s ingenuity. There was something to learn here perhaps one plateau could ultimately save the other? Or is that too much to hope for? Sonal Alvares, 24 September 2013

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