Memories of a good man: MA Iqbal (1945-2012)
There was a time, not so long ago, before the hardnosed journalists in search of a story, before the smug security experts and the victim focused human rights activists, when the only visitors to Bastar were anthropologists and environmentalists. And for them, the first stop was always Asna village, on the northern bank of the Indrawati just across from Jagdalpur. If you got off the bus and asked for the house of the Patrakar, you were directed to a low lying compound, off the highway, in the midst of which was an old fashioned white two-storeyed building. On the second floor of this lived Iqbal and Kala, with their three small children, Puniwati, Shabnam and Birsa, a small fawn called Jhumki, a dove and a dog called Bhalu Rani (and later, a friendly cat, some chickens and a whole variety of unusual plants, which Iqbal identified and tended with care).
