How does one light a fire? Get fuel, strike match, light fuel. Simple, if say, the fuel is LPG. But what if the fuel is wood? Ah, so here’s a tale of February 1978, Missamari, Assam.
My friend Vishnu and I set out on a trek up to the Tenga Valley. We drove to the last camp at “Foothills”, and started out on foot at 6 a.m. The path was mostly not traceable, because the Army had ceased to use it after roads were constructed many years ago.
We planned to complete the trek in two days with one night out, though we had no idea where that would be. Besides sleeping bags, water bottles, canned food, and yes, rum, we carried dahs to cut our way through undergrowth on the route through the dense Sonai Rupai forest.
