As we drove down the forest road at dusk, my co-passengers in the jeep talked of animal sightings and the sundowners by bonfire that awaited us back home. It was a cool, damp-after-a-thunderstorm evening, with a freshly mixed misty mauve sky. The snow peaks around us were lit with an orange hue from the setting sun, flirting with massive, fluffy, white clouds.

A calm peace appeared to be settling in as the day wound down in this remote part of the Garhwal Himalayas. We were now driving back to our vacation home in a nearby village, after a walk in a Protected Forest Zone. It had been a walk, full of discoveries and learnings, and views to make you stop and stand and stare into eternity. I felt happy and thankful for my good fortune to be there living out my dreams.

 The word ‘Leopard’ uttered just then by my husband did not strike me as connoting anything besides another name on the laundry list of sighting possible…until l I heard specifics of color, size and shape – and looked up to see the front seat passengers excitedly pointing to the edge of the road! It seems they had seen the leopard! It was standing still and staring at the car as it slowly approached him, and then jauntily flicking its tail, had turned and disappeared down the wild rose laden slopes.

Now a leopard roaming the hillside, without harming the humans around, is good news, scary though it seems to some. It means he is able to hunt some wild game there. Which in turn means the wild game had enough greens to eat. Which further means the forest is doing well, despite being  literally cheek by jowl to a fair sized human settlement- a Tehsil town no less!

Reason enough to feel gratitude, respect and awe for the work being done by the simple, unsung staff of the forest Range office at Nagnath – Pokhri. Staff that include a young, 22 year old lone lady forest guard we had just met. Rekha Negi had taken us around on a guided walk through ‘her’ range, talking to us about how she joined the force four years ago, just after high school by clearing a competitive exam. About how she studied and worked hard to learn all the botany and zoology and firearms work and legal stuff that the job required her to know.

And how she now roamed the forest alone at times, on her rounds, armed with her government issued gun, fear and duty lodged firmly in her heart, spurring her on to make a mark and do her job well. And how she lived on the forest range office premise with the rest of the range staff, in the government quarters and cooked all her meals and ate them alone.

 About how she and her family were determined she stand on her own feet, earn an independent income and be someone in her own right. Even if doing so meant she was miles buying zithromax away from home, working on a high risk job, living on campus with men and women she had no previous connection with, and making a definite break with custom and forging a completely new path. Even if in doing so there were times of extreme sadness, longing and loneliness.

As Rekha spoke and walked us through her work area, I noticed the glow of pride on her face and the ring of accomplishment in her voice. How excited she was when she walked us through the new oak and deodar forest they have planted in a degraded and denuded patch of hillside near their office. How she took us to each young tree like a proud new mother, and described the sorry state of the slope before the new saplings were planted. Before the work they were doing started making a difference to the better health of the local ecology.

The image of Rekha was still playing in my mind when we reached home and walked onto our freshly lit bonfire. I caught a glimpse of our neighbor, getting out of her cowshed and walking into her kitchen to start the evening meal. A lady who was so shy to speak with me just 5 years ago, barely raising her eyes to meet mine, head demurely covered with the pallu of her sari and bowed down.

Today she is a changed woman. As the elected ‘Nagar Panchayat Adyakshaa’, the local councillor for a group of 6 villages! It is a reserved seat, so she is rubber stamp candidate of sorts, as her husband is the real power behind the throne. And yet, the changes in her are real, there for all to see. And most of all, I feel she is the one deeply conscious of them, as is her husband.

And it is almost magical, the transformation of their equation. Where earlier she would not even look at him directly, now she talks freely and loudly in front of him. He speaks to her far more respectfully, and considers her opinion in many matters unlike before. She is relishing the change, walking with her head held high, her clothes worn better, her hair always groomed, her skin and eyes glistening. She talks more confidently, even approaching my father on her own, in my absence and carrying on a full conversation with him. Being barely literate, her children, who are all school and college going help her write and rehearse her official notes and speeches, and she now chairs meetings where IAS officers and other govt. bureaucrats share space, ideas and time with her. She is suddenly more alive and powerful.

Two obscure women in the remote, unexplored parts of the country. Treading new paths, making a difference to all those whose lives they touch. Bringing about change. Inspiring others. Making me feel hopeful and excited about the future.