Rajesh Thomas
It was a balmy December
evening. The golden orb of the setting sun on the distant hills was turning the
evening sky into different hues of orange and yellow. Up high in the east was the
revered figure of Carver Marsh, the pioneering Englishman who opened up the
Annamallai Valley from the then thick, steaming, tropical rain forests into
verdant tea plantations looked distantly on to the valley below. I stepped out
of my office and looked yonder, wondering what to do next. My wife had gone to
her parents’ home in Chennai as our first child was due any moment. I was home
alone and was generally footloose most evenings.
My reverie was broken by the
screech of a motor cycle. I looked up and saw my fellow Assistant Manger Aditya
Rana dismount. Rana was a cherubic faced, bespectacled, fair young man bubbling
with enthusiasm and was the junior assistant manager with me at Velonie Tea Estate
Valparai. Rana descended from semi-royalty and his linage could be traced back
in time to the present day royal family of Nepal. Rana and I got along well
and had many common interests especially the love of the wild.
I enquired, “How are things?”
Rana replied with a toothy grin, “Things can’t be better.”
Indeed things
couldn’t have been better. The estate had performed especially well on the
yield front and the factory had churned out some quality teas, keeping the head
honchos in the company happy; contented and off our backs for some time. Seeing
us both together Chandran our office peon stepped out into the verandah and
handed us each a steaming cup of tea. December was the start of the dry weather
in the hills and the start of the sporting season. Rana and I contemplated
attending the cricket nets at the nearby staff club as we sipped our teas.
Then
Hamza, our estate tractor driver, came with news that there was herd of elephants
at the entrance of the estate. Immediately both of us exchanged
uncomfortable glances. Elephants inside the estate during the winter months were
generally bad news as it is their calving season. Newborn calves find
travelling difficult and the herd tends to stay put for some more time,
disturbing the general routine of the estate.
Hastily we gulped our teas and
jumped on our motor cycles and scurried towards the elephants. On the western
end of the estate bordering the coffee estate, about a hundred yards away from
the main road stood a dozen elephants of myriad sizes and shapes. Elephant
herds have a matriarchal order and the older cow elephants take the decisions
and lead the herd. The elephants were very disturbed and milled around
uncomfortable in an agitated manner, throwing clumps of grass and kicking the
mud around. As we sensed the herd was not comfortable with our presence we beat
a hasty retreat. Plans to play cricket were shelved.
The next morning saw a
frantic Rana searching for me and when he saw me he told me excitedly that as
expected, one of the elephants had given birth to a calf in the night. For
some unknown reason, the herd had abandoned the calf and the forest guards were
already on the spot. It is very rare for elephants to abandon a calf, though it
has happened before. Naturalists have not been able to decipher the reasons for
this.
We rushed to the spot, and a sad
picture presented itself to us. The elephant calf was weak from lack of
nourishment and was struggling even to stand. Its sad and pitiful eyes were
painful to look at. It must have been around 12 hours since its birth and the
forest guards doubted whether it had even had its first
drink of milk. It was a wonder that it had even survived so far, considering
that the area had a plethora of carnivores. Meanwhile the watchers from the
coffee estate said that the elephant herd had moved several kilometers deep
into their estate. It became apparent that it was highly unlikely that the
herd would come back to claim the calf.
The government veterinary
doctor was on the way from Pollachi (nearest big town at the foot hills) and it
would take a couple of hours for him to reach - it would be midday before he
arrived. Rana and I had grave doubts whether the calf would last that long. The
lowly forest guards also had no inkling on how to handle the solution.
As we were wondering about the
predicament on our hands, Rana jumped on his motorcycle and said, “I will be
back in half an hour and keep praying that nothing happens in that half an
hour.”
It was a traumatic half an hour, watching the life ebb out of the
pathetic little creature. Rana came flying back with one of the estate staff
behind him on the motorcycle. The staff had a plastic bucket, two tins of Farex
baby food, six packets of Glucose and two feet of plastic garden hose. Half a
bucket of water was fetched from the nearby stream and Rana feverishly mixed
the baby food and the glucose in the water. We watched anxiously as Rana started forcing the liquid mess into the calf’s mouth through the garden
hose. The calf was too weak to resist. Slowly, in about twenty minutes, the
bucket was empty. We waited with bated breath to see the reaction and slowly a
little life came in the calf’s eyes. In about an hour the calf miraculously
started to show life and tried to stand on its wobbly legs. It stumbled and
fell a couple of times and finally managed to stand without falling. A
resounding cheer went up from all the bystanders as the surprised calf seemed
to wonder what all the fuss was.
As the
energy levels went up, the little calf became a bundle of fun and we the
surrogate mothers its playmates. It would sneak quietly up to one of us and would butt us in the seat of our pants. It
took fancy to one of the estate workers and teased him continuously. It would
affectionately come up and curl its trunk around our legs and look up at us
with its beady little eyes. Soon our Group Manager Vivek Aiyanna came looking
for us. The little fellow tried cautiously to feel Vivek’s legs, much to
everyone’s amusement. Soon one more batch of baby formula and glucose was sent
for, and this time it was guzzled greedily.
The forest ranger and the veterinarian arrived and they complimented us at the good job done. There
remained one last thing to be finished. The forest officials had decided to
take the calf to the elephant camp at Varagalayar, near Top Slip (a part of
Indira Gandhi Wild Life Sanctuary), where it would be under the care of
professionals. A mini truck was brought. A serious discussion was held to
decide on the easiest method to get the calf on the truck. Various ideas were
floated. Behind us the truck driver lowered the tailgate and straight away the
little fellow hopped on to the truck. Probably its instincts told him where its
future would be secure.
As we saw our new friend
disappear on the horizon to a safe life, a feeling of satisfaction swept over
us at what had been accomplished. Rana turned towards me and said, “Things
couldn’t have been better.” I tended to agree.
Well things got even better. In
a few days it was Christmas, and the next day my son was born.
|
Carver Marsh monument covered in mists: Image by TripAdvisor |
Delighted that everything worked out so well!
ReplyDeleteThanks to the presence of mind of the young lad Rana who brought Farex, Glucose and a pipe to feed. Many thanks to Rajesh Thomas also for beautifully narrating the episode highlighting the initiative of Aditya Rana, the real hero....
ReplyDeleteThanks Rajesh for bringing this long forgotten story to life
DeleteThanks a lot Dhiraj ...it was Rajesh the real hero who has bought this
Deleteepisode to life ...
Thats a problem with baby elephants,they fall into drains and get stuck.Last week at our Nonaipara T.E a JCB dredger was used to get one out of a drain!
ReplyDeleteI have read of so many stories of railways mowing down elephants in Dooars ..and man animal conflicts will continue..animals always loose out ..don't know how long we will be able to conserve and sustain our nature reserves and wild life..
DeleteWhat a delightful tale...hats off to all you surrogate mothers... James Herriot couldn't have done better!
ReplyDeleteCurious to know what you named your son. Was he named Ganesh after the calf?
Not really. Didn't name him Ganesh. At that moment it seemed like just another days work. Till a couple of years ago when I was talking about this incident to a group of my friends, they seemed very thrilled about the whole thing.It was actually Then Only I thought I will put it on paper.
DeleteWonderfully written, Rajesh! Where is Aditya now?! :-)
ReplyDeleteI m very much in Delhi ,left tea but tea has not left me ...Rajesh has a knack of writing a mundade day into a celebration...it in hind sight it definitely was ..like so many more such amazing days and(nights):-)....in a day in a life of a tea planter.
DeleteA big thank you to "indian chai stories"
ReplyDeleteGood to hear a word from Aditya also, the man behind the scene....
we non-planters had to make do with this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYu7c4Vkmp0
ReplyDeleteI have a pretty good idea who this non-planter is! Cheers!
Delete