If Kotgarh was the place where I took my first steps towards practical forestry, Rajgarh was the place I really cut my teeth. As I said before, the Division already had two Assistant Conservators of Forests (ACFs) posted there, and I was the third. Mr. Karwasra, the senior ACF was in charge of all the plantation work in the Division, and Mr. Sharma, the other ACF, was in charge of Resin Tapping. Since I had been posted there for ‘training’, the DFO, Mr. Chauhan, decided to expose me to all activities in his Division, turn by turn. One work that was of the utmost importance, but least paid attention to, was demarcating the boundaries of the forests, and then fixing Boundary Pillars (BPs) along the perimeters to mark the same. These BPs were small cairns of lose stone, about 1m x1m at the base and 45cmx45cm at the top, about a meter in height. Since local land owners and/or miscreants were always trying to demolish or shift the pillars in order to extend the boundaries ...