It was 1995 March. I was a 10 year old boy and was already developing a taste for travelling, thanks to my father. This was the 4th year, since I remember, that we were getting ready for a 15 day road trip. We would be scouring the western ghats in a old rickety Hindustan Motors, Ambassador. My father had, a month in advance, drawn out a map of southern india and had carefully plotted his route for the trip because google girlfriend wasn’t born yet. If any clarifications were needed during the travel, local help was always at hand. An almost blind, hard of hearing old man by the side of the road, who hadn’t ventured to the next village would point out the exact directions to a waterfall 200 miles away. Two and a half a decade later, I’m still finding it.
Fast forward.
21 years later, I am a natural history cameraman. I travel to many remote locations in pursuit of animal behaviour and human cultures that are still undocumented.October 2017 in Nagaland, I am filming a great migration. Amur falcons are winter migratory raptors that travel from Amur in Siberia to South Africa. On the way, they halt in Nagaland for about a month and a half to build up their reserves for the onward journey. Having navigated through some treacherous roads in my 4 wheel SUV through the heart of Nagaland, I had just reached a small hamlet in, I DON’T KNOW WHERE. But I was sure I was heading the right way, thanks to google girlfriend.
Here comes the twist in the tale, unlike my dad’s map which had an old, blind, deaf gentleman, in case we got lost, I had the help of a local guide who had tagged a hillock just above the reserve I was heading to, to film the birds. Thanks to this unknown friend, I managed not to get lost but find my way to the reserve, film the migration and the other bits of the film. The film eventually travelled to 8 countries across the globe and even won a best documentary award.
You, I and every other local guide, no matter how insignificant our contribution may seem, is helping someone somewhere get out of trouble or get to a new place or eat a tasty snack from a shack that reminds him of his home far away or even route his way to an unknown destination based on an unknown persons review.