Shobha the Bison

 by Norman Wood

It's always good to welcome a new writer at Indian Chai Stories and I have to thank Noreen Wood for sending me this lovely story by her brother Norman ( 'three generations of planters in the family', writes Noreen ) All pix courtesy Noreen.

Pic of Norman's children Carol and Andrew taken at their home on the tea estate some years ago

Kadamane Tea Estate is situated on the Western Ghats, about 30 Km from a small town named Sakleshpur, in Hassan District, Karnataka. The town and its surrounding areas are mainly plantation country. Saklespur is known for its lush vegetation, thick forests, flowing streams, waterfalls and beautiful meadows stretching for miles.

The name Kadamane (prounced Ka-da-man-aye) in the local language literally translates as Kaadu (Forest) and Mane (House). Kadamane was the only tea estate in the district and is known for its thick vegetation, picturesque landscapes and wildlife. Originally purchased to be the hunting grounds for the Earl of Warwick, it extends for 7600 acres and was a place of work and home to us for many years at the start of my career as a young tea planter in the 1970s. The property is surrounded by vast grasslands and it was customary in the months of February/March for the villagers who live along our border to set fire to these grasslands as precautionary measures adopted to prevent forest fires and to enable luxuriant re-growth of the grass for grazing their cattle.

In 1976, the estate workers noticed a raging forest fire, and saw that a bison and her calf were trapped in it. Great efforts went into saving the bison and her calf, but unfortunately, they were only able to carry the calf to safety.

My wife Lorraine and I decided to take care of the bison calf which was a herculean task at the onset. We named her Shobha.

We first tried to let our Jersey cows adopt her, but this did not work. We then decided to bottle feed her; she could drink anything from 3 to 6 bottles of milk a day. We gradually weaned her and started her on rice conjee water, ground nut cake, ground cotton seed and of course her favourite jaggery (molasses). 

A small pen was made for her in our cattle shed. Shobha became very tame and mixed with the other cattle to graze on the grasslands. In the evening she was fed her food supplements. She soon became a favourite with all the workers and if called by her name she would respond by coming down the hill to join them. She would eat jaggery, bananas and coconut from Lorraine’s hand.

Shobha came on heat and we tried to rehabilitate her with the bison herds on the grass hills, but she refused to join them and would return home with the cattle.

Lorraine, our two children Carol & Andrew and I used to go home for our Christmas vacation via Mysore to Coonoor, a hill station town in the Nilgiri Hills. The children enjoyed their trips to the Mysore Zoo where we usually stopped for a break in our journey. It was on one of these trips that we realized that the Mysore Zoo had no bison. I got in touch with the designated zoo authorities and asked them if we could donate a bison to the zoo. After the initial documentation and inspection, they happily agreed. 

The day arrived for Shobha to leave. It was with mixed feelings that we saw her being loaded into the zoo vehicle. We made a trip after a few months to see her at the zoo and we were happy to see that Shobha was well looked after and happier to note that she responded to her name and came towards us. She had not forgotten us. With the permission of the authorities, we were once again able to give her her favourite food, jaggery. The rest is history.

We have photos of Lorraine feeding Shobha jaggery, the letter from the Mysore Zoo acknowledging our gift of the Bison and the write up in the local newspaper of our star attraction, Shobha. 

Meet the writer: 

Norman with Lorraine

Norman's career in tea spanned 34 years with Chennai based Murugappa Group and he retired as General Manager after heading their South India plantation operations with Parry Agro Industries Ltd. His retirement is spent serving as Chairman of the Board, Managing Trustee and Member of the Board respectively, of three English speaking schools in the Nilgiri Hills. He and his wife Lorraine enjoy visiting their daughter Carol in the USA and their son Andrew in the UK whenever they can.   

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