One of the last bearers of a hoary skill, that of tracking footprints, has died at the age of 112. Ranchhod Desai, an ex-Army man and one of the very few footprint trackers, or pagi as they are called, died recently. He served the nation during the 1965 and 1971 wars and the country honoured him suitably. But did it cull the skill out of this gifted pagi?
Most traditional skills from the old world are dying out, be it those of a pagi or of traditional farmers. It is increasingly difficult to come across a farmer who knows better than using fertilisers and pesticides. Traditional water-harvesting methods are a dying wisdom and the pigeon mail service is gone, except in one police zone in Orissa.
Ranchhod knew the Indo-Pak border in Gujarat through and through. Army intelligence depends not inconsiderably on a pagi’s services, which remain relevant despite the advances of technology. The gift or skill of a footprint tracker is something that came to our times from a dim past and stories of this canny expertise, bordering on the unbelievable, abound. An accomplished pagi can lift minute details from mere footprints — the number of infiltrators in a restricted zone, their weight, and even luggage. There are just about a dozen pagis left in India, all of them in Gujarat. We don’t know whether the superbly gifted sepoy taught the next generation to walk in the footprints he left behind.