Monsoon reminds me of an exciting night spent in Hasimara, a tiny Railway Station in North Bengal. It was late June, middle of monsoon in 1982. I was on way to Jaldapara National Park, waiting in the 1st class waiting room to catch a connecting train to New Alipurduar. The eccentric monsoon had caused unscheduled diversions and my train was delayed by five hours. My in laws were coming from Delhi by Tinsukhia Mail and we were to meet at New Alipurduar junction.
Hasimara station is surrounded by natural forests. The
heady smell of thousands different trees, enigmatic jungle sounds assault on
the senses. The jade green slopes of tea gardens and unending stretches of
virgin forest, criss-crossed by the meandering River Torsha and her innumerable
tributaries let out a sense of adventure. The forest is an extension of the
wet evergreen forest of the Dooars.
It was about seven in the evening;
thunder boomed. The deluge began….The rumbles of thunder were shaking and
rattling the windows, doors… the sky seemed to be falling on the rooftop. Raju,
my man Friday was sleeping outside the waiting room.
I got up and went to the window: a cool
wind with rainwater blew on my face… It was amusing to see the blinking fireflies
forming lovely patterns in the backdrop of darkness. Rain water was sloping
down the thin aluminum awnings on the empty platform. The flashes of lightening
were illuminating the platform once in a while.
Suddenly, a forceful wind
struck the electric poles and the station building plunged into darkness. With this, a creaking, yawning sound floated through the air. This filled me
with an eerie feeling. I called Raju inside. The Khansama was in the room settling down food-bills. Hearing the
scream, he leaned out of the window and spat a gob of betel outside. The rain
hissed and gushed inside with a buzzing, swarming noise. He closed the window sharply; he now looked worried.
He hurriedly cleared
the table, waving his salam, he said, ’ It’s a stormy night, Memsaheb, don’t go out of the room. During
monsoons, wild elephants come to the station building for shelter; and they
love to eat the salt from the discarded lead- batteries, which are dumped just outside the station
premises. They come in big herds, damage and rampage the station, and go back
into the forest after the rains stop. They are very much part of our
station-life.
Hearing this Raju’s body jerked, in a sharp, derisive movement, and he plunked on a bench nearby and quietly pulled his legs up and tucked his feet under him. The waiter gave a small, gurgling laugh, and reached the door. My belly churned with excitement.
“My word! Games at
station!” I murmered.
Smilingly, I took off my glasses and polished them on the hem of my dupatta and heard the station bell --- it offered a ‘souvenir’, gave an unique distinction to the place. There was another thunder, the walls shook...
And almost immediately, a great commotion
broke outside the waiting room. We could hear feet thudding on the platform. I
willingly rushed out... Raju didn’t move.
I observed some frantic movements in the Station Master’s room (which was just next to the
waiting room). The Station Master was impatiently answering the wireless, biting his lips in bewilderment, shaking his head again and again. A strange presence was palpable everywhere around me.
A Railway guard rushed
out of the RPF’s room and lit two blank fires in the air. With the explosion, a
flock of disturbed pigeons hurled upwards and, settled back. I thought we were
surrounded by dacoits or gangsters... and this made me a bit panicky. It was
about this time, when a railway point’s man bumped into me and tripped on the
platform. He rose and brayed something into my ear. I could hear nothing! He
screamed once again,' Go inside, they're almost here!'
The atmosphere turned
creepy now. Raindrops in the size of coins were still smacking down on earth.
Overhead lightening crackled, forked and ripped up the sky. The lightening illuminated
the station building; flickered weakly and erratically for several seconds. And
amid this mayhem ----I saw the most astonishing sight.
Terrified by men and
lightening, a baby elephant was running on the track. With its trunk stretched
up like a scimitar, he was sprinting across…. Railway guards with flash lights
and sticks were chasing him. Stray dogs were howling and running behind the
crowd. Suddenly, a security
guard struck his whip into the fold of the jumbo's knees and the poor calf
uttered a huge cry. My face lost its grin; a single lash was enough to silence
me.
The fellow was in
terrible distress... and out of fear, with a swish of its tail he defecated
over that guard’s body. I was elated!! A city upbringing and love for animals
hadn’t prepared me to adjust to such cruelty….
Instinctively, I wanted to rescue that little baby!
The elephant calf was
still screaming. His deafening squeals of distress not only drew his mother but, a big herd came to his protection. A huge call rumbled in the darkness … and soon the mother was rushing towards her baby.
Watching the spellbinding
drama of the re-union was a treat! As the mother drew closer to the calf, the
baby surged ahead like a human child. He went on screaming, panting, trumpeting
and peeing without fully stopping. He lurched ahead, tripped, joyously reared
up on his hind legs. Goodness, he created such a racket. He was pacified only
after the mother elephant wrapped him around her trunk and took her under her
pillar-like legs.. A few members joined them and with heads held high, the
reunited herd filled the area with symphonies of trumpets, rubbles, screams and
roars....
Another herd of elephants,
in the mean while had broken down the fences and other deterrents in the platform
building. The trumpets of the calf had made them aggressive. It was a
scary thing to watch these elephants ransacking the station building. The guards, and some travelers dementedly
started throwing stones at the raging pachyderms …there was pandemonium all
over. A section of red-brick wall, next to the station master’s room collapsed
in front of my eyes, a huge tusker came and kicked it hard…Their lives are
ordered, predictable; things are either done or not done, according to their
own rules and laws of jungle.
There was still something
intriguing about the darkness. I
stood nonplussed…The forest officials arrived in a short while and took charge
of them.
That was the first time, I saw these exuberant creatures from so close. I developed a special bond with
that calf because it was through him, that I was given a window into the
emotional lives of elephants.
Someone said--'Joy is
an emotion that elephants have no shame to display.' ---- I don't know who said
it...but it is so true!!
