Place: 11th AP Bn, Dergaon. Time: 6.30am. Weather: Raining heavily. Yet, forgetting their daily emotional ups and downs, sometimes even their own beings, 30-odd women in khakis are furiously going through drills under the close supervision of trainers bent upon making it perfect. These are the fortunate few who will be part of the first-ever women Forester-1 contingent at the 77th I-Day Parade celebrations in Guwahati. This does not mean at all that those who are missing out on the Guwahati trip are not enjoying their regimented life in Dergaon.
Till the first week of June, these 79 Forester-1 (later trainees at 11th AP Bn) and 319 forest guards (Later trainees at the Police Training College), courtesy the Department of Environment and Forest, were representatives of feminine features that defined their personality. Today, they are battle hardened. The softness of their palms has given way to rough patches and abrasive skin, of which they are least bothered. From scaling the ropes to holding aloft rifles, and playing with mud, they are doing it all here.
Yes, they also have their won tale to tell.
Trainee forest guard Papori Saikia of Jorhat says that her mother was ostracised because they were from the marginalised community. “I was almost discarded as dead and thrown away when my twin sister died during premature birth. My life since then has been a challenge. I grew up wearing others’ clothes, spoilt and dirty. The smile I saw on my parents’ face when I got this job will continue to be the best moment of my life,” Papori tells Asom Barta during a brief respite from her training.
“I am here because my parents could not afford me a pair of sports shoes”. Karishma Gogoi (19) narrates that despite promising time and again, her daily wage-earning father and her mother, a cook in a school, could not save enough to buy her what she needed to have a shot at sports. “My father would promise me from time to time and unable to keep that. One day, I realised that he will not be able to do so because of what he earns. I decided to give up on my sporting ambition there and then.”
Malobika Das (19) of Sivasagar would assist her parents in selling vegetables after her college classes. “I was a sportsperson with a passing interest in photography, but I could not afford a mobile. This job is a gift for my family. I am now duty-bound to assist my family,” she says narrating her past to this reporter.
Deepsikha Das (24) is a graduate from Bahona College in Jorhat district. Married in the year 2019, while still in college, she cleared the examinations in her maiden attempt, but her husband failed to make it. “I am sure he will clear it in the next attempt,” she says.
Rishma is a district level-footballer from Karbi Anglong. A graduate in Education, she says she is up and ready by 3.30am for her daily routine at the PTC in Dergaon. “There are 319 of us here. All are part of one team, irrespective of the districts, and places.”
It is for the likes of Rishma and others that Purnima Namasudra, a 21-year-old graduate in Bengali from Karimganj in southern Assam, is adjusting with her new life without much difficulty. “I am learning Assamese from my new-found friends, and trust me, I am learning it fast,” she confides in this reporter. “Since childhood, my elder brother has been the provider of our family. I, too, had to join a private school as a teacher to continue my education. Now that I have this job, I am committed to assisting my brother all my life come what may.”
Monisha Das of Teok in Jorhat, like others, is also among the beneficiaries of a massive recruitment drive of the Government of Assam. She will be Forester-1 after her training. However, this Botany graduate from Kakojan College in Jorhat district, had made four unsuccessful attempts to join the Assam Police. “My height was an issue in Assam Police. But I did not give up. Today, I am happy that all my efforts have now paid off,” she tells this newsletter, while on a short break from her daily rigours.
Come August 15, when these brave hearts march past some among us, they will surely salute as trained. In turn,they will end up getting our standing ovation, for their dedication and determination.
