Manjula goes blogging...

Aren’t ‘Rite in the Rain” notebooks just wonderful? Today, even in the heaviest downpour I can collect data calmly, safe in the knowledge that my sturdy, yellow book will not wimp out on me. But there was a time when I was ignorant of such sophistication and I doubt my shoe-string budget would have allowed such luxury….I was on my very first sea turtle project - I had been assigned to do sea turtle surveys in the remote Nicobar Islands. I had just finished surveying some of the smaller islands and was catching a boat back to my base in Great Nicobar. When we set out in our small, open, wooden boat, the ocean was calm and the rain came down like a curtain. Steadily, the gentle swells grew larger and very soon we were riding up the crest of big waves and cautiously surfing down the other side. The boatman and his crew were a very merry lot - chewing beetlenut and chatting amongst themselves, they were completely unalarmed by the ocean’s sinister behavior. Needless to say, I did not feel quite as jolly. It was a great relief when they decided to stop in a calm bay for lunch. With my spirits revived after a delicious chicken curry cooked by the Nicobarese, I set out to explore the beach. Although I had previously surveyed most of that island, this stretch had remained unsurveyed because of logistical difficulties. So, I was very excited when I found the beach pockmarked with leatherback nests. I reached into my bag for my low-budget, regular notebook and pen and found everything completely soaking in rainwater - the paper was too wet to write on and the pen was dysfunctional. As I despaired, the boatman started rounding us up to head back to the boat. How could I leave this beach without getting my data??? My panic button was switched on - I tore off some big Scaevola leaves from bushes nearby, broke off some thorns and sprinted up and down the beach scratching notes into the leaves with the thorns….few years later, I could still read my notes on those dried leaves…