VENUSTUM
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P venustum in the wild
Should have started with venustum, it being the first slipper to be found and reported (1816?) - incidentally I too came across P venus first, in the wild, before insigne. Guess it must be the sub-conscious desire to keep things in an alphabetic order that made me start with insigne!

My encounter with venus reminds me of the controlled anger of both my sister and brother in law. It started like this: -
They were the ones that found it first at Jaintia Hills. They rang to tell me about the scoop! Skipped office and hurried to Jowai. As my brother in law,Bud, was busy at the office, my sister took me to the place that they found the only venustum plant - it's near the village Jakrem. When we reached the spot, venustum was not there! My sister told me that the place was frequented by the orchid collectors so they must have got hold of it. My warped mind, with a little help from the green devil, refused to except her explanation. I lucidly argued that most probably the piece they found must have fallen from the collectors' bag! I told my sister to look around - the place was bare with hardly any cover or shade - it not the kind of spot the great venustum would grace, I pronounced. That did it! She turned around and headed back! We hardly spoke on the way. I was least bothered because the more I thought about it the more convincing my profound logic sounded, besides how can they find venus before ME!
HOME
Back at the quarter, Bud was not his usual verbose self when he heard my explanation about the vanishing venus! We, however agreed that we will search the area again on the following day. The next morning we were off after breakfast. When we reached the site, my sister went upstream, towards the spot where she found venus earlier, and I went downstream. The villagers must have recently finished jhumming (slash and burn) the hill slopes - there were half burnt stumps, ashes, charcoal etc sprewn all over. The slim hope I had earlier - the by chance kind of thing - disappeared. Came across a blooming Cymbidium eburneum perched on a branch of a tree, near the rivulet, that was spared the slash and burn. The sight cheered me up. Spent some time admiring and taking shots of the plant. It was still early and I decided against quitting and went on downstream.

Found my criss-crossing the rivulet becoming uncomfortable - my shoes and socks were wet - and decided to stick to the left bank. The rivulet was speckled with clumps of bushes and stunted trees. As I was prying the bushes with my hand, to get on to a boulder, venustum sprang into sight! I yelled and shouted and had everyone rushing there. Now it was my sister's turn to taunt me, "must have fallen from the collector's bag" she said! I pretended not to hear her as the thrill and joy of locating P venustum overpowered everything else. We found some more plants downstream and ones that were blooming too. The words of my guru - Mr. G. Middlecote - echoed in my head " venustum will be the first slipper to be wiped out from these hills!" Jhumming must stop and awareness is a must. But how does one convince the villagers that it is more valuable to let P venustum grow and to stop jhumming and cultivation of crops for money? Any suggestions?
Bud with the flowering venustum
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