Life here is cheap and death comes easy...
on my trip to the jungles of Chhattisgarh along with a local police officer... (Pix by Ranjan Basu, photo editor, The Sunday Indian) “ Heaven is a forest of miles and miles of mohua trees, and hell is a forest of miles and miles of mohua trees …” The dry season made it impossible to tread silently in the jungle. As we walked around restively, we trampled upon dead leaves. They let off a wave of loud crunching noises. Surrounded by five armed policemen, including three special police officers (SPOs-former Maoists), we were made to wait in the bushes in the forest touching Barga village in north Bastar, a Maoist-infested belt in Chhattisgarh, a region where death is a silent, invisible stalker. “Awaz kyun kar rahan hain, (Why are you making that noise),” hissed the Dhanera police station havildar from a perch behind a huge rock, his AK-46 in an assault mode. The object of his indignation was a gun-totting SPO, who dared to walk away from his assigned position. The only sound pierci...