Her name was Dusk. She was the oldest one, the matriarch.
She had the responsibility of taking care of the herd, of 12 elephants. And
these were tough times. Water was scarce. They had tried every known lake in
the vicinity, but nothing. It’s particularly hard for elephants to live more
than a day without water, that’s why they stay close to a water source always.
After counselling with the others, Dusk decided to take them to a lake to the
far south of the jungle.
After a whole night of odd journey towards the direction
they had never ventured, they were all tired.
“Are we there yet? I’m bored.” exclaimed Ebony, a young one,
jumping and trying to keep up with his mother.
“For the last time, Ebby!, we’ll reach there when we reach
there. Go play with Pepper” Said his mother, Brunet.
“I don’t wanna! She’s mean”
“What did she do to you?”
“It’s just... She’s always going off about how I have to
leave the heard when I’m grown, coz I’m a boy.” Ebby said with bulging eyes.
“Well that’s true honey. When you’re grown enough to take
care of yourself, you have to go join boys of your age”
“I don’t wanna!!” proclaimed Ebony.
“Now now Ebby, think of all the girls you can meet”
“WHY? I already have you, mom!”
“Aww sweety, but that’s the rule. Guess what, we can
communicate while being miles away. Through this special walkie-talkie we
have.” She touched on his forehead, a special membrane that emits infrasound.
“Cool” shouted Ebony.
“And you’ll be
free. Here you won’t have many girls of your age. Unless you like Pepper”,
mother said winking at Ebby.
“Ewww.. gross!! I don’t like her.” managed Ebby.
“Haha. That’s what they always say when they’re young”
laughed another elephant.
“Huh” declared Ebby, twisting his trunk upward and marching
forward, “I’m leaving the group”
In front pepper was strolling with her mother. Seeing Ebony
she called “Hey!! Ebbyyy!! Wanna play a game? It’s called ‘leave-the-herd’.
Haha”
Now Ebby got furious and chased Pepper, “If I’m leaving I’m
taking you away too”
“Hahaha. Gotta catch me first” ran Pepper.
They ran several meters ahead of the herd. All of a sudden,
the forest just quit continuing. Pepper realised and stopped on her tracks. In
front of them was an open valley of what seemed like big grass and after that
were peculiarly shaped box like structures they had never seen. Pepper
immediately ran back and hid behind Ebony. Ebby was himself shocked. Somehow it
didn’t strike as nature’s work.
“What is this?”
Dusk knew immediately what this was. In front of them was a
farm. In the end of it was a village, of humans. They had heard of the monsters
from the south, which occasionally enter jungle to kill time, kill one of
elephants instead, and take their tusks as a trophy.
The matriarch was confused. “This was the place where I
drank water with my mother’s herd when I was young”. An elephant’s memory
cannot be wrong.
“Can’t you see what happened? These vile creatures have cut
the forest and grown their nests.” One of the elders whispered angrily.
“So it seems”, murmured the eldest. “The nests must’ve been
built around that lake. If these humans are still living here, it means there
must be water still there.”
After thinking about it one offered “We didn’t come this far
to go back. I say we go forward, have water and leave as quickly as possible.”
“It’s still risky” objected another.
“What do you say sister” an elder one asked the matriarch.
“I agree it’s dangerous, but we need water” said Dusk
thinking carefully, “It’s still dawning. We can go in and leave before the lazy
creatures see us. Our soft padded foot will call no attention. Just keep out of
obvious paths and enter from the side. Don’t directly cut through their nests.”
The herd started moving towards the village from the side,
still covered by trees. When they had come closest, they entered the village
via the road joining the cottages.
“These humans are smart ones. Look how they’ve made their
own pathways”, marvelled one.
“Yes, they are smart indeed but they have no respect to
other living creatures or even their own kinds.” said another elder, “They wage
war against each other, destroying forests and other creatures, killing their
own kinds just so they can spread their generations there. It makes no sense.
Would you kill another herd and replace it with your children?”
“Yes, they are very powerful. With great power comes great
arrogance. They forgot that they are animals too” said the eldest.
Then they stopped. In front of them was the vast lake,
mightier than any of them had ever seen. Except Dusk who recognized it as soon
as she saw it. “Isn’t it beautiful. I remember playing on its shore.” said she
“Go douse in it”. She stood there as everyone ran into the water.
Just then she noticed something, through the corner of her
eye, on the left shore. A group of women were washing clothes. They froze in
terror as they saw the elephants. The matriarch noticed this but didn’t tell
her herd which was happily soaking itself in the elixir, spewing water at
themselves, eyes closed, enjoying every drop falling on them.
Realizing the harmlessness owing to their meagre number,
matriarch entered water. She wasn’t of age to play. She drank, gave herself a
quick shower and got out to resume guarding. Getting out, she gave a quick shot
of glance towards the other side. It came as a shock when she couldn’t find the
humans there.
“Alright everyone, play
time’s over. It’s time to leave before humans see us”
All of them got out respectfully. They saw worry in the
matriarch’s eyes.
“You worry too much
sister. Give yourself a break now and then. You are always on duty.” said an
elder.
The matriarch faked a smile while walking, “I don’t see it
as a duty sister. It’s my privilege.”
While going through the village they noticed that people
have started coming out of their nests. A human shrieked. They were only
accustomed to seeing elephants in what they called temples, bounded to chains, their
masterful trunks reduced to picking up coins.
“Just act calm.” said the matriarch, “Don’t walk too fast.
Better yet, don’t even look at them. Any sudden movement and they’ll attack.
They have magic wands that can spell death.”
Little did the herd know that the humans were in terror.
They saw these elephants, bigger than they had seen or heard of, and started
running amuck. They started running away from where elephants were coming.
Unfortunately that direction was where the elephants intended to go.
“Stop.” cried one elephant, “These monsters are trying to
block our way into the forest. Look how they’re running towards the forest. I
bet they’re setting traps.”
They stopped and observed around. More people were coming
from all sides. The humans had a strange behaviour. Their fear made them run
but their curiosity made them stay at a safe distance from where they could
look at all these fancy animals.
“What do we do?” asked a worried elephant, “They got us
surrounded.”
One of them gave a cry of shock. It was Brunet.
“Ebby!! Where’s Ebby?”
----------------------------------------------
Ebby had wandered away unaware of his mother’s absence. He
turned around a house, saw a naked kid playing, and hid himself behind a banyan
tree.
Ebby laughed “Hehe, look mom. That human has his trunk at
wrong place.”
Hearing no response, Ebby turned around to check on her. She
wasn’t there.
“Mom? MOOOooommmyyyyy...”
Hearing him the little kid ran away crying. The little
human’s cry scared Ebby and he ran too.
There he saw a big box. A big box full of fruits. The box
was on an elevated platform. It had one
side open which fell to the ground hinged, at a slanting angle making it
feasible to climb.
“Banana!”
Ebby flicked his lips, walked up the board
into the box. As soon as he reached the fruits, he jumped on them. “Wow, So
many fruits. I’ll take some for mom… and Pepper.” just then realization dawned
on him, that they weren’t here.
“Oh my god!! Mom?” He turned to find his mom again, but saw
nothing, nothing but a wall on his face.
The box had been closed on the side where it was open
earlier, just a moment ago.
“Hey!! Let me out. I’m stuck here” shouted Ebby, then
realised whose place this was, “Oh no, Humans. They trapped me. MOM!!”
The box started moving slowly making grunting sound as it
went.
“No no no. They’re
dragging me somewhere. They’re gonna eat me” Ebby started crying. The box started moving
faster making Ebby wobble and finally fall on his side. “How many humans are pulling me?”
-----------------------------------------------------
Not so far away Ebby’s mother Brunet was screaming for her
baby. The villagers started moving farther thinking the elephant has lost its
sanity.
“Where have you taken my baby, you filthy little maggots!
Give him to me back” roared she. What the humans saw was a mad elephant
trumpeting loudly.
Just then she heard a faint call of help. It was Ebby’s
voice. She could identify it from anywhere. Turning immediately towards the
sound she saw him. Just his head though.
Ebby was being carried away on a jeep.
“There he is!” screamed his mother to her companions. They
lost control by the sight of one of their young ones being taken away. They all
broke into a chase.
The matriarch, though being old, ran fast. She was also the
smartest one. She signalled others using infrasound “Their manoeuvring objects
are fast. We need to get them where they won’t expect us.”
---------------------------------------------------------------
The jeep drove really fast now having come to open lakeshore.
It went right along the shoreline, turning with it. The driver turned back and
saw about a dozen elephants still on hot pursuit.
The jeep had done turning around the lake and was now
running on the shore opposite from the village. Just then two elephants emerged
from the lake, right in front of the vehicle. Being great swimmers, Dusk and
Brunet had swum across the lake while the jeep was running long way around the
lake.
The jeep screeched to a halt as the driver stomped on the
brake.
“Let me deal with him” hissed the mother and stepped in
front of the vehicle. She twirled her trunk and threw dust in the air to warn
the human.
“What is he is
sitting in? It’s roaring at us” asked Brunet still facing the vehicle.
“I don’t know. It’s not certainly alive. Its eyes though
glowing, are dead cold and not meeting our gaze. Humans are dark magicians
remember? It’s probably stronger than us.” suggested matriarch.
The vehicle roared again acknowledging the gear shift and it
came straight towards them.
“Move Brunet!”
But a mother distressed is a mother not to be messed. She
was already on a head-on collision course with the jeep, running as fast as she
could. Just a second before they could hit, the driver perhaps realised the
slim chance of survival and turned the steering wheel towards the right with
all the quickest human agility. Brunet hadn’t expected this. She had lowered
her head, brandishing her tusks in front to meet the jeep as it collided. Her
head wobbled awkwardly as nothing hit her. The jeep passed her merely
scratching her skin. Just an instant before the jeep had fully passed she
turned her head to hit the jeep. Her head didn’t touch anything, but her tusk
went through the rear wheel, blowing it.
The jeep drove on a rock and almost flipped over. The human
tried to compensate by turning quickly to left but, with the blown wheel, that
only shifted the centre of gravity. Capturing this opportunity, matriarch moved
quick and hit the jeep from its side.
That was all the jeep could take. It went somersaulting and
flipping into the bush. It then hit a tree and stopped.
“Oh my god, Ebby!” screamed Brunet now on her feet and
catching up with them. She broke the hind of the jeep open and took Ebby out.
“I’m okay mom” said a scared Ebby, “The fruits are ruined
though. I fell on them”
The human was still in the vehicle thanks to the seat belt. Brunet
pulled out and threw the driver to the ground. Her blood was boiling. She
lifted her foot at the human.
“Stop it sister! What are you doing?” asked Dusk calmly.
“Making an example of him”, said Brunet.
“Really? But the humans are not here to see you do this”
“What do you mean?”
“What you are doing… is setting an example for your son.”
“Huh?”
“Yes sister. Think of what you are making him go through.
He’ll grow up believing that killing people is fine. This isn’t us. To be more
accurate, you are acting like a human.”
The last words stung her. She moved away and looked at Ebony
who was visibly scared. She felt bad about her actions. Moving further away
from the human she said “Let’s go. We have nothing to do here”
The matriarch gave an old wrinkled smile “I’m proud of you
my child” as they went back. The others were waiting for them. They had found
that there was a closer entry to the forest from the corner of the lake.
Pepper came running “Ebby! Are you alright? Where did you go?”
“I’m fine” said Ebby acting angry “you wanted me to go, so I
left.”
“Sorry! I won’t tell you to go again” said pepper sadly.
“But… I’ll chase YOU away, hah, you silly little peppy!”
shouted Ebony and started chasing Pepper.
As the herd vanished into the forest, the human got up
slowly clutching the tree, made sure the elephants weren’t looking back, dusted
the dirty clothes and limped towards the other direction.
-------------------------------------
Flash News:
“Hi, this is Monica standing on the outskirts of the little
village, Ambipur, where the elephant herd wreaked havoc.
‘Early morning today the huge squad of about 10 wild elephants
just came barging in like they own the place.
‘There was terror among the villagers when the elephants
started running around. Thankfully no life was lost. It’s a miracle that these
elephants left without much loss. The only substantial loss would be a jeep
that was smashed brutally by only a couple of them. Imagine how much damage
they could’ve done had not the jeep drawn them out of the village.
‘Yes, the jeep drew the elephants out. Thanks to the local
forest officer.”
(Scene cuts and reopens near the jeep, battered and
tattered)
“This morning the officer got reports of elephants from
villagers, who had come to wash their clothes here. When the officer reached,
the elephants were inside the village already. The only possible way for them
to go without accidently inflicting harm was from this side of the lake from
where forest entry is easy. But the elephants didn’t know that, they wanted to go
back the way they came from. So, one of their little ones was lured into this
jeep using fruits and was trapped. They saw the jeep and chased it to this
side.”
(The camera zooms out to show a woman in khaki standing
beside the reporter)
“We have with us the fearless Jamunadevi, the forest officer
of this area. Pleasure to meet you ma’am”
“The pleasure is mine”
“So tell me, why did you choose such a method?”
“Well, gun shots could’ve been used to scare them into
running to the forest but then our ‘smart’ people had run to that side were the
elephants intended to. So I did what you accused me for”, Said Jamunadevi laughing.
“I’m sure that’s not all that happened. This jeep looks like
a wreck. Did the animals attack you?”
“Well, won’t you if someone took your kid away?”
“Uh…”
“Exactly, they are peaceful and just like us love their
family but are feared because of their size. We are more danger to them than
they are to us. I’m sure TV channels that don’t know the full story would use
some amateur video and report animal menace. We call ourselves social animals
but forget that we are not the only ones.”
“Very inspiring ma’am. You sure saved the day for the
villagers and the herd. I’m sure they
are thankful to you.”
“Who? the elephants? Haha. I better not come across that
herd again. With the kind of memory they have, they would hate me forever.”
