I was just 16 years old when my dad was transferred from Balaghat to Chhindwara in the year 1990. He worked as a Government Servant in District Health Department. I had joined a Government school for higher secondary studies. One fine day, one of my friends told me about Patalkot. I thought to visit Patalkot with my parents but, due to some or other problems, we could not make it. Later, I made this trip possible with the same guy who told me about Patalkot. This was my first trip to Patalkot. A dense forest, scary wild sounds, chirping of birds, cool breeze and what not. I was simply mesmerized. After a walk of an hour, we arrived near a village “Rathed” that could be seen from the top of the valley. We reached nearby a hut where a tribal guy was standing. He gave us sincere salutation. This man then brought a glass full of water showing a great hospitality. I was fatigued due to the tiresome journey down to the hill. The tribal folk looked and passed his smile to me. He got up and went outside and brought a twig after 3 minutes. He handed over the twig to me and asked to chew it. Later, he gave me juice of some fruit. I felt so refreshed as if I have regained all the energy that I had lost during the tedious walk. I was highly impressed with this guy. Actually he was a Bhumka who is like a priest, a curator and God sent angel for the local tribals. During the first trip, I could avail chance to meet more Bhumkas and also I was lucky enough to enjoy tribal life style in a very short time trip.

My first visit to Patalkot made a deep impact inside me. That was the time when I realized to work on traditional knowledge of Bhumkas and medicinal plants of Patalkot valley. In other words, that visit laid foundation to my future research.

I do visit this place at least once in a couple of months now as I am in Ahmedabad (very far from Patalkot, almost 1000 kms). Tribals in Patalkot valley provide me their sincerest hospitality. I have been surveying and sampling medicinal plants of this valley for almost 10 years, but the situation that I saw in 1990 was quite different from now. This time, the valley is on real threat.

Major population of Bharia community resides in Patalkot valley where life supporting facilities are lacking. The people here depend on plant resources for their livelihood including the native therapy for health care. This treatment is based on plants. Tribals in Patalkot depend upon the plant resources for their livelihood because of the weak economy. Bhumkas (Local healers) and few older people know the system of healing. Such knowledge which is verbalized and is limited only to them may be erased in near future. Considering these facts, I aimed to document folklore medicine used for the treatment of various disorders.  When I visited the village Kareyam (deep in the valley) couple of years back, I was shocked to find loggers cutting down the trees in the surrounding forest.

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