Conflict

Conflict

Whenever people drive on the highway on the fringe of the Kaziranga National Park, they always experience a different kind of ecstasy coursing through their veins. It is as if the dark green foliage of the forests would mysteriously seduce their senses, alluring the people to explore their deep- kept secrets.

Kaziranga National Park in the recent past has undergone an umpteen number of changes. It is as if the primordial forest too has changed itself to escape obscurity, reeling under the onslaught of the modern times. Numerous luxury holiday resorts have mushroomed up near the periphery of the Park where people from the city stay and hold gala affairs; the music and the din breaking through the tranquillity and the beatified silence of the forests.

Under the darkness of one moonless night, a van drove past the manicured lawns towards the reception area of one such luxury resort. “The Greenway Resort” it was called.

Two youths jumped out of the van; one of them barked at the security guard. “Oi! Park the car. Here, take the keys!” he said insolently.

The young guard looked at the uncouth visitor. He is drunk, thought the young guard. Without a word, the young guard took the keys from the burly young man. Sitting inside the car, the guard drove the huge sedan to the parking lot of the resort.

The two men ambled on and reached the reception area. On the cane settee of the tastefully decorated lounge, both of them lit cigarettes, the smoke escaping in wispy circles.

Seconds later, the manager rushed in. He softly inquired, “Sir, May I help you?”

“Where were you? Don’t you know who I am? One phone-call and you will lose your job, idiot” slurred one man, the foul odour of alcohol seeping from his breath.

“Sir, do you have a reservation? We do not entertain people at such a late hour” an angry retort escaped from the resort manager’s lips.

The other man, now hovered near the manager; eager to create ruckus.

Suddenly the leader apparent said appealingly, his decibel lowered a few notches, “Yes, we have booked two deluxe suites in the name of Mr. Kanak Bora last week. Give us our keys! We are tired!”

“Give me a minute, sir! Let me check the reservations register” said the manager stiffly .He was finding it increasingly difficult to remain polite with these two.

Glancing at the register, he called out to a bell-hop, “Take these gentlemen’s luggage to Suite Pelican and Suite Orchid.”

Forcing a smile, the manager said, “Sir! Your rooms are ready. Please order your dinner soon. We take orders only till 9 O’Clock.” “Have a nice stay!” he added with an afterthought.

“Is this a village? Have you heard of anybody eating dinner at 9’0 clock anywhere else?” chortled the man waspishly, looking at his comrade.

Tittering to themselves, the two men made their way up to their suites, led by the young bell- hop. Shaking his head in disapproval, the manger smiled sadly at a hotel-boy who was looking quite startled by the whole encounter.

Late that night, with alcohol mingled in their system, one of the man was speaking to someone on the phone, “ Kamal! Have you finalised someone to do the job?” Listening quietly to the speaker at the other end, he said forcefully, “Listen! The minister has asked me to recruit a good person…a discrete fellow. He has to be someone who knows the forest like the back of his hand… This time a Chinese party is involved; they are paying a huge amount of money”.

A metallic voice was heard squeaking at the other end. “O! Ok! Bring him here tomorrow…We are staying at the Greenway Resort near the Kohora range”, the man on the phone ended the brief dialogue. Looking at his mate, he exclaimed triumphantly, “It has been fixed!”

The next morning, the two men sat in the resort’s mammoth dining- hall, the ornamental wooden panels adorning numerous, artistic Xorai and Japi, typical Assamese artefacts. Bamboo lamps hung low from the wooden beams of the curved wooden ceiling.

The sky outside held a luminous azure glow and the two men tucked in from the breakfast- spread laid out by the resort chef; the rowdiness of the last night long forgotten.

The waiter pouring the tea said, “Sir, you should have come here when the Park is open for the visitors. You would have loved to see the herd of the rhinos and the elephants.”

“Yes, we should have!” replied one of them, shrugging his shoulders. A mobile phone rang somewhere, its shrill tone jarring belying the serenity of the quiet morning.

Later in the afternoon, the two men sat inside one of the suite, the Suite Pelican. Two other men had joined the duo by then. One of the men looked at the two figures sitting quietly on the wooden floor, his lips curling in distaste. “Village yokels!” he thought to himself, glancing at the mud-clad rubber sandals and torn clothes.

“Sir, His name is Madhav… He stays near the Bagori range. He was born here…He is exactly the person you are looking for;”asserted the person named Kamal, pointing to his companion. “This job would be his first. I have explained to him and he says that he is ready to do it”.

The other man, Madhav joined his palms together in a customary sign of greeting and bowed his head. All of the men sized each other up….a hush filled up the air.

The leader now spoke to Madhav, “Listen carefully! I will give you an advance of ten thousand rupees now and fifty thousand after you finish the job. We need to have the rhino horn by end of this month. So you have to be quick.”

Madhav looked up. “Sir, I have grown up here. I know the animals’ habit with my eyes closed. You do not have to worry about anything!,” Madhav’s voice trailed off.

Nodding his head, the leader signalled to his partner and went outside the room. The other man opened a glistening leather brief-case and handed Madhav crisp ten thousand rupee notes.

Madhav’s eyes gleamed as they fell upon the bright new notes.

Bowing his head, he and his companion, Kamal walked out of the room. “Do not forget my share” hissed Kamal into Madhav’s ears as they walked out.

Later that very day, Madhav sat on a pira in his courtyard, his thin lips drooped dejectedly. A brood of hens clucked happily, feeding on the golden wheat grains scattered on the mud ground.

A few feet away, his daughter was playing the old traditional game of “five stones” with his brother’s son of the same age. The children’s eyebrows were joined together in concentration…..they were trying to hit a ‘target’ with a stone aiming with their little, stubby fingers. Madhav smiled looking at his daughter; her innocence and infectious laughter never failed to warm his heart.

“Habi Debota! Forest God! Please forgive me. I am doing this only to feed my family. I do not have anywhere else to go” prayed Madhav, tremors of shame and remorse running through his heart.

He was a child of the forest; his ancestors were born in the heart of the forest. They had passed on the secrets of the forest to their succeeding generations and now Madhav possessed the legacy of the enigmatical secrets in the deepest quarter of his heart. He could look at a fallen leaf and tell the innate qualities of the plant; he could identify an animal by cocking up his ears and listening to its cries.

Sometimes, by the moonlight he and some of the other village-men would venture out stealthily into the forests to catch a rabbit or a wild forest -cock; but they would never harm the big beasts. On some adventurous day, a big rhino bull or an elephant would cross their paths but these creatures would never hurt them; the Habi Debota would always keep a watchful eye on them.

Madhav remembered one such captivating encounter…..

One full moon night, Madhav had ventured out alone on a precarious path leading deep into the pitch-dark forest. He lay hidden near a rabbit trap across the water-hole…….

Suddenly he saw two glistening bits of light shining brilliantly across the pond. As he crouched low on his stomach, camouflaged behind the shrubs, he glimpsed a full grown tiger drinking water from the water hole, a favourite spot of all the animals of the forest. The majestic animal suddenly stiffened; the tip of his tail swishing in the air, as if he could sense Madhav’s presence. Madhav prayed fervently, fearing that the beast would now charge at him for being foolish enough to invade its space.

The tiger stared motionlessly in Madhav’s direction, time stood at a standstill. A few momentous seconds later, the great cat sauntered back stealthily into the forests. The tall wild grass swaying gently stood as a confirmation of the encounter really occurring…..the swish of the dry grass betraying the tiger’s movement.

That afternoon as Madhav sat under the bright blaze of the sun, he felt immensely sad. He was going to break a sacrosanct belief of the forest-folks…..a progeny of the forests going to commit an unspoken taboo. He was going to take the life of a forest beast, a harmless one….for his own selfish needs.

“Madhav, remember we are friends of the forest. We have to protect it….The forest is our home…..” would always say his grandfather when he was a mere child. Now Madhav was going to desecrate the forests and put an end to the life of one of the very beasts he was supposed to defend.

It was his long cherished dream to become a forest guard when he was in the heyday of his youth. He would be lost in a reverie where he would see himself as a gun-totting protagonist, a saviour of wild creatures. As ill-luck would have it, he could not pass the physical tests all the aspirants had to endure.

A few months later, Madhav again was dealt another crushing blow by his Fate when he lost his solitary plot of agricultural land near the highway to the Highway Authority. They took possession of it to broaden the highway further. Madhav now had nothing to do; no work in hand to feed his poverty stricken family.

Madhav bartered his soul to the Devil…the picture of his famished family smothered all the culpability his heart experienced. Nights together he would sojourn alone into the forest. Ears cocked and eyes wide in concentration, he would move at a wanton trying to sniff out the trail of a rhino with the priceless horn.

“Hera! Where do you keep on disappearing at night?” would ask his wife suspiciously, her eyes narrowed down to slits. “Very soon you will come to know about everything!” would reply back a non-committal Madhav.

In the heart of the woodland, Madhav would feel at peace as if he were at his own home. The very reason of undertaking such a task of peril would be long forgotten.

Like a lovelorn beau, an amused smile playing on his lips, he would sit near the water-hole, enraptured to core by the sightings of the barking deers, the herd of wild buffaloes and sometimes a wild boar or two. The whole forest would seem to become more animate at night, becoming more and more magical under the silvery moonbeams.

One night, a shadowy figure lurked near Madhav’s thatched hut; a man with his face veiled with a shawl waited outside patiently.

“Madhav! Madhav!” the figure called out furtively .The man seemed to be in a dread of his voice being heard by others.

Madhav was in a deep slumber.

“Hera! Someone is calling for you” his wife whispered fearfully, poking him on his shoulder with her bony finger. Madhav jerked his sleepy eyes open; he heard a quiet knock on the wooden door.

“Who is it?” he called out aloud.

“It is me, Kamal” whispered back a throaty voice .

Grunting painfully, Madhav got up from the cot and opened the door carefully. The wooden door creaked open, its un-oiled hinges crying out its tale of woe and neglect.

“So late at this hour!” exclaimed a bewildered Madhav. He ushered Kamal indoors, closing the door behind them. He quickly stole a glance at his neigbour’s hut, his eyes peeping into the darkness to see if anybody were awake at that unearthly hour.

“Bura Sahib has sent me. He is getting impatient. When will you do his job?” Kamal hissed.

“Ki hoise? What is going on?” his wife called out fearfully from the bed. “Eku nai! Nothing! Go back to sleep” ordered Madhav.

“I will need some more time. I haven’t seen a rhino with a horn yet….. Have some patience! I have promised to do Bura Sahib’s job…… I will do it!” whispered Madhav, conviction ringing in his voice.

“Okay! But you will have to do it as soon as possible. Bura Sahib is a big man… If you fail to do your job, he will make you pay for it. You have a daughter and a wife,” said Kamal, his voice suddenly menacing.

“Are you trying to threaten me? I said I will do it…. Now go!” barked Madhav angrily, opening his door. He stood silently by the door till Kamal’s shadowy figure disappeared into the darkness of the night.

One nocturnal jaunt into the forest, Madhav came across a pile of fresh rhino droppings on a tiny path leading to the water-hole.

His fingers touched the dropping tentatively. It was warm; Madhav thought … his body shivering in excitement.

Wiping his soiled hands on his loin-cloth, “I will come back tomorrow night,” he decided.

The following day, early in the morning, he wandered off to pay obeisance to the archaic temple on the Burapahar, the Old Hill.

“Please look after me. If anything happens to me tonight look after my family. They have not sinned…Forgive me, Lord. Forgive my sins…”  Madhav, kneeled down, a prayer on his cold lips.

Drops of tears glistened on his disillusioned face.

That evening…..

“Majoni! This Durga Puja I will buy you a new frock” promised Madhav to his daughter.

“Really?! Mother! Father is going to buy me a new dress this Puja,” screamed the little girl in delight.

Madhav’s wife was cooking by the mud-stove; a trace of sadness lingered in her smile. She too was promised a lot of things….she too had heard a lot of unkept promises in the past.

The fateful night rolled in….

Madhav prepared himself to venture into the jungle; he had armed himself with a handful of indigenous poisoned darts.

Kneeling before the altar in the courtyard he prayed again; his heart heavy with sorrow and trepidation.

Madhav walked down slowly to the highway. That ominous night the walk seemed to have become strangely tedious & long. He stood for a few minutes looking around for the forests guards. Sensing no peril he slipped stealthily into the Park, the darkness of the pitch-black night providing him a cloak of invisibility.

Treading softly on the dusty trail, Madhav, guided by his instincts, made his way to the precise spot where he had seen the droppings the night before. He knew, from his long experience, that the rhino would, without a doubt, come back again to the same spot.

Madhav lay still, his bony body half-veiled by the wild bushes. His senses sharp, he crouched low in anticipation of the rhino’s arrival. Bony fingers were curled tightly on a poisoned dart; the poison he was using was very potent….a slight scratch from the tip would mean a violent and an excruciatingly painful end to life.

Madhav bade his time…… a human predator lying low to hunt one of the gentlest animals walking on the face of the Earth. He knew that a slight movement and the gigantic, feral rhino would come, charging at him. Like a dry twig, he would be trampled and crushed to the ground; such morbid thoughts promptly sobered his spirits.

The night aged & became somnolent…. the mad chatter of the monkeys echoed somewhere deep in the forest.

Suddenly, an owl hooted nearby making Madhav’s hair stand on one end. Terrified, he dragged his eyes up towards a tree-top. To his utter relief, a big barn owl sat wisely on the branches of a Kamini-Kanchan tree. Madhav felt that the accusing eyes of the owl throbbed with an unknown anguish. Madhav hastily averted his eyes….that night he was no longer enchanted by the forest creatures.

Time ticked away…..

All of a sudden the tall forest- reeds rustled nearby…

Madhav took his vigilant position once again. The rustling sound grew nearer and louder….

Madhav’ eyes suddenly glimpsed the wondrous sight of a gigantic Rhinoceros emerging clumsily from the tall wild grasses.

Peering into the darkness he saw the distinct shape of a horn perched on the rhino’s nose. His excitement now knew no bounds…..

Madhav willed his eccentrically beating heart to stop pounding. Breathing heavily, he waited…

Beads of sweat trickled down his chin.

Seizing the right moment he raised his arm to throw the dart. His eyes narrowed down on the rhino’s most vulnerable part ….the underbelly.

Suddenly he stiffened….

A smaller figure emerged noisily from the bushes…..It was a little rhino calf.

“It is a suckling calf!” thought Madhav, his heart in rapture. It was a rare sighting; a hallowed spectacle only a few fortunate ones had the good fortune to chance upon.

From his vantage point, he could see the calf walking unsteadily but following its mother’s steps with a determination. Madhav hesitated…a deep abhorrence assailed his senses.

Seconds ticked away.

All of a sudden, a few meters away, the calf ran to his mother, as if it could sense the imminent peril, little grunts escaping its mouth. The mother stiffened; a still watchful figure in the night.

Two still figures lay waiting….their fate unknown.

All of a sudden the rhino charged blindly. It came charging towards the very bush where Madhav lay hidden.

Fearing for his life, Madhav, with all of his might, threw his dart towards the charging rhino…. praying fervently for the poisoned dart to hit its target.

In a slow motion, he saw the dart fly and pierce the rhino’s right eye.

The enraged rhino ran a few meters aimlessly. It collapsed on the ground, crying out a terrible cry of pain. The terrified calf ran to his mother’s now inert body in confusion; his little cries failing to awaken his lifeless mother.

Madhav stood rooted at his spot; his whole body was shaking in fear and disbelief. Shaken to the core by such a harrowing encounter, he walked in a trance-like state towards the dead carcass of the rhino.

The calf lay beside its inert mother, crying little squeals of distress.  Madhav shook his head in pity… he could not bear the sight of the mourning calf wailing its heart out. Making a decision, he took another poisoned dart in his hand. “Wild beasts will not let it live…it will not survive without its mother” he told himself.

Next moment later, the mourning calf lay motionless near its dead mother. He stood for a long time gazing at the two dead animals, alive and kicking only a few moments before.

Gathering his wits, sawing off the rhino horn from the carcass, Madhav walked the long trek back home.

He stashed the ill-gotten horn in the chicken-coop in his courtyard.

His tired body protested painfully as he lay on his uncomfortable cot besides his sleeping wife. In one night he had grown decades older…..

Madhav got his remuneration as he had been promised. It seemed that his days of trouble were now over.

Madhav was shrewd….He knew that he had to be discreet. He did not want to invite any unwanted attention of the fellow villagers upon his ill-gotten wealth.

The rhino and the calf’s merciless killing went around the village gossip-circles for days. “It cannot be the work of our own,” they would exclaim, shaking their head desolately. “It must be the work of some outsider…..We, the forest dwellers, will never dream of harming the big beasts….that too a mother and its suckling calf. Habi Debota will punish the evil –doer! He will not let the murderer escape!”

Madhav would fall silent….

The guilt would torment his soul; he wanted to divulge his sinful deed in front of the village council. The rosy picture of his happy family would stop him in his tracks…

One night, Madhav was getting ready to nightly sleep. He blew off the flame of the kerosene lamp submerging the tiny hut into darkness.

Suddenly …

“Hati! Elephant! Elephant!” wild screams rented the air.

Madhav rushed outside, people……men, women and children …were rushing wildly by his hut.

“What happened?” screamed Madhav, cold sweat breaking across his forehead.

“A pack of pachyderms have entered our village. They have crushed down several huts and are now coming here…. Run Madhav!,”  screamed a running villager.

Madhav stood transfixed, unable to move…..his body felt heavy…… his energy all of a sudden was sapped into nothingness.

To his disbelief, he could see a herd of feral elephants trumpeting wildly and walking slowly towards his ramshackle hut…..It was now a matter of life or fatal death.

Madhav rushed inside his hut to rouse his sleeping wife and daughter…..

CRASH!!!

Suddenly with a loud noise Madhav saw his roof being pulled apart by the wild elephants. His wife, now hugging their daughter, screamed in wild terror…..

Madhav felt as if he was going to lose his mind.

Without losing another moment, Madhav grabbed a brass-plate. He took a wooden ladle and started to bang the plate with all of his might. He rushed outside….

The elephants stooped their rampage for a moment.

Slowly but sure in their intent, they started to move towards the strange, banging din.

Madhav kept on banging the brass-plate wildly, as if his life depended on it. Tears now rolled freely on his hollow cheeks.

He suddenly stumbled and fell flat on the mud- caked courtyard. The brass- plate and the ladle lay forsaken by his side….noiseless and inert.

He raised his bony hands to protect himself…..

Madhav, through his blurred vision, saw a giant elephant raising its foot. He knew that his end was near….his worst nightmare of being crushed and trampled to death was now a horrifying reality. The elephant’s cheeks were wet as if the giant beast was crying in deep anguish…he could see his own death reflected in the elephant’s crazed eyes.

Madhav took a deep breath….Embracing his moment of atonement, as the gigantic foot fell on his body; he screamed his last cry begging the Forest God to exonerate him…..to absolve him of his heinous crime.

His bony body was crushed and trampled like a wooden puppet…..

Inside the roofless hut, Madhav’s wife collapsed limply on the ground; the gory death of her husband had driven her out of her senses…..

Suddenly the gigantic, feral elephant raised its trunk and trumpeted in fury. The rest of the herd trumpeted together, lashing out their rage at the village-folks. The forest creatures screamed, declaring to the world that the day of reckoning had come.

The next morning when the police officials and the forest guards arrived, the whole village was crumbled to dust….. all the dwellings had been crushed and flattened to the ground.

The herd of elephants were nowhere to be seen; they had walked back into the forest silently, unseen as they had come.

“It was one of us!” cried an old man, crouched on the ground with his eyes closed, “it was one of us!”