Reading
a recent incident
about a herd of wild elephants, visiting author and legendary conservationist
Lawrence Anthony ( popularly known as “Elephant Whisperer” ) on his death
reminded of my own experiences with the wild.
Growing
up in the lap of the wild teaches you more about human behavior than that of an
animal & the contrast is very plain to see and invariably it also teaches
you the necessity of going back to the wild, adapting their ways of adjusting
with each other and living in tandem with other creatures. The North East of
India is home to plenty of jungles and many areas declared as Natural wild life
reserves.
The
Britishers were meticulous about planting a lot of fruit trees, throughout
Assam, in fact they planted many even among st the wild forests. As a result,
plenty of birds, squirrels and other such small animals were regular visitors
in homes there in and around the forest. Growing up in the lap of nature, the
first principle that we were taught was, the animals always have the first
right, since it is their territory. This includes the right to the land, and
food too. We learnt soon enough that animals leave you to yourself if you can
respect their territory too!
It
was 1.30 at night (And that is very late in small towns) when the phone
suddenly rang in our house. The small oil town of Digboi sleeps pretty early.
Each house rests on a small hillock and is thus separated by a valley of bushes
and trees, which is usually the grazing ground of many animals. Our neighbor
from the next hill warned us that an elephant herd was marching its way up our
house, having trampled much fauna on their way.
In
the dead of the night, we sat trembling inside the huge Bungalow, watching as
nearly 20 adult and few baby elephants ravaged our backyard, which comprised
the vegetable patch. The surrounding Banana plans were uprooted and devoured.
But all this in so much silence that had we not been warned of their coming
none of us would have ever known that there was a herd of 20 elephants making
merry in the backyard! Their eating and fun over, they left in an hour’s time,
having devoured most fruits and vegetables and leafy plants, but without the
slightest destruction to anything else man made.
Had
they wanted they could have played football with the car or tossed around the
hen coop. But they left as silently, as if nothing had happened. I remember
sitting in awe all night, looking at those huge creatures in the dark, silently
ravaging what they thought was part of the wild. Anger was not a natural
outcome, in such a scene because we were guests in what was their area. The
minute each animal understands the respect of another’s territory, everything
is somehow quite easy.
I
remembered the case of a farmhouse( Acres Wild) built on a mountain in Coonoor by ace film
maker Mansoor Khan. There are no fences in the farm that is situated
practically in the middle of two mountains. The man lives with his man Friday
and his wife and had told me that when he first built home on the mountain to
start with the farm, the wild elephants had ravaged it. His friend in the next
mountain, a planter had told him that he must have an electric fence and a gun
if he were to live in the territory. The erstwhile film maker refused, saying,
“ It is their territory, I leave it to them to decide whether we are welcome or
not” It has been almost years since
then, the elephants still come and yet they have learnt that this man is part
of the locale and means no harm. They leave him to himself too. The farm still
does not have any fences and there have been no incidents that strike fear in
the hearts of those who stay there.
Such
incidents confirm my belief every time, that it has been the animal who teaches
man that with power comes grace too. Nomads with whom I made friends during many
of my jaunts in the coming years in the forest taught me one lesson I never
forget- 'It is their space, respect it, let them decide whether they want you
to be there or not. They understand peace more than us, and if you can convey
that to them, you never need to fear an animal.'
