Flame of the Hills

Ayodhya Hills

It was a Friday. I was returning home from office and wondering what to do on the weekend. Suddenly few planted Palash (Butea monosperma/Butea frondosa) trees alongside the road caught my attention. It was springtime, and the trees where in full bloom. But somehow the beautiful flowers were not looking pretty enough in the urban settings. So all of a sudden an idea came to my mind. What about enjoying these beautiful flowers in their original habitat? I immediately called up a friend and planned the tour in a jiffy. We would be going to Ayodhya hills, in Purulia. So later that night we boarded the 315 up Chakradharpur passenger and set out to enjoy the beautiful flowers in their native land.
Till Purulia the Palash trees where sporadic, but as soon as we crossed the Purulia town, quite magically the countryside changed. The undulating rocky terrain spread itself on both side of the track, and the Palash trees grew in population. All of them were in full bloom and the combination of red soil and vermilion flowers looked like a perfect monochrome picture.
We reached Barabhum station, reserved an ambassador for the whole day and set out towards Ayodhya hills.
As we moved ahead the forest got deeper, and with that increased the number of blooming Palashes. We climbed up to Mathaburu, to get a bird’s eye view of the plains below, and what we saw was absolutely breathtaking. It seemed before the upcoming summer could set this rocky terrain into fire, it’s those pretty flowers that were setting the forest ablaze with their bright vermilion color. Somebody has aptly named it as the ‘flame of the forest’.
Soon we reached Ayodhya hilltop. There were very few staying options in the hilltop, but somehow we managed to find a shabby looking lodge with basic facilities and unpacked ourselves.
We waited till afternoon and as soon as the sun became a bit milder, we hit the trails. The hilltop is basically a vast plateau at an elevation of 2000ft above sea level with thick tangled forest surrounding it from all sides. We rambled aimlessly through the groves of Sal, Kushum and Palash and realized we were certainly in the lap of Mother Nature. With the onset of spring the forest was just coming into leaves, and the tender leaves with their luminous green shade were a treat to the eyes. The blooming Palashes were ubiquitous though, tying the entire forest with its red ribbon.
There were sleepy hamlets hidden in the wooden slopes and finding one or two such villages out was a real fun. The villagers were affable and mingled freely with us. My digicam proved quite useful in making friends. The kids got really amazed to see their own snaps in the LCD screen. They jumped in joy, and their sweet smiles and gleaming faces said it all.
Just when we were returning towards Purulia, a thunderstorm started. Probably it was the season’s first ‘Kalbaishakhi’. After the whole days activity the chilly stormy wind instilled the much-needed freshness on us. But had we stayed in the hilltop till the next morning we could have seen something spectacular. In that storm hundreds and thousands of Palashes would fall from the trees, and those would certainly roll out a red carpet in the bridle paths of Ayodhya. Perhaps we missed that sight!