This is Major Tom to Ground ControlI'm stepping through the doorAnd I'm floating in a most the peculiar wayAnd the stars look very different today
Me and S went out on a nightly ghoom. Since being floored running into the Hystrix Indica (or Indian Crested Porcupine), I have revisited the place in anticipation of catching another glimpse of the wonderful pair that I came across on my last visit ~20th.
We ambled up till Ak. S was busy with his camerawork. Having OTL in crazy mode has pushed her into weaning me away from the (only?) two things I've loved in the two years - her and the cameras; ah, damn the life I live. Night in the Indian forests, however, is engaging, so I didn't mind not having a camera. Beyond Aluk, we merged into the forests downhill.
We had radios (MR350s) on us, and split as we went down. I took a trail higher up, and S about 40m lower. Being split meant we can do a sweep more effectively. Good decision to get the radios, but a bad one forgetting a pair of torches (only got one). The radio helped cover some embarrassment, its built-in lamp coming to the rescue to whoever didn't carry the torch.
10 minutes in, and S spots a pair of eyes. There's a small ravine connecting him to me, so I had to skirt around it as S asked me to wind my way back. There, about 40m down yet another sharp ravine, were a pair of yellow-orange eyes, looking back, as if trying to figure out these intruders. It seemed a civet to me, by the range of its head motions, its size, and its tapetum lucidum - that layer which reflects a distinct hue for each animal. S and I decided to split again, me coming at the creature from South and S from West. We got close, but the creature ultimately got alarmed and bounded away.
We went down deeper, but got nothing else, though we did hear a coupla things breaking, to perplex us, as much as it did to the origin of those sounds. After having done enough for the evening, we took a short break. Then back up, onto the road, then home. Once out on the road, I didn't stop my elevation gain, and climbed all the way to the ridge crest. The night sky was a complete picture today, thanks to no clouds.
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