As part of the initial drill of the Indian Forest Service, I was made officer in-charge of a forest range for three months and posted to the Wayanad Forest Division in Kerala. I had barely completed 15 days in my range when one day I was called by the Divisional Forest Officer to the headquarters 50 kilometres away. There was some information that ganja (Cannabis sativa) was being cultivated deep inside the forest in my range. After discussion, it was decided to organise a raid to locate and destroy the plants. A team of 30 forest staff including range officers from neighbouring ranges, foresters and forest guards was constituted for the job and a date was fixed for the operation. An officer one year senior to me was made the team in-charge.
On the appointed day, we all travelled in six jeeps starting from the headquarters at 4 a.m. After one hour of road travel, we got down at a spot near the forest fringe where six tribal people were waiting for us. These were the people who had seen the ganja cultivation spot earlier and tipped off the department. The raid party, along with the guides, started the trek on a path that was very strenuous as it was a steep climb through evergreen forests.
After nearly three hours of brisk climbing, we stopped for a breakfast of plantain and oranges that we carried in our bags. Fifteen minutes later, we were trekking again. On reaching a fork on the trek path around 11 a.m., the tribal people guiding us were not very sure of the way. By this time, we must have covered around 25 kilometres on foot, though there were no means to verify it. The team leader then decided to split the raid party so that two teams could proceed separately along both the paths to avoid leaving anything to chance. The forest was so dense that soon we lost the sight and sound of the team that went the other way.
