Exotic Wild Pets

by Kiran K Mehra 

Hello again, dear readers! Kiran K.Mehra is back with more stories for you, so sit back and enjoy your virtual trip to the Dooars.

Tea plantations in India were put out towards the last two decades of the 19th century; this activity continued well into the 20th century for close to three decades. A vast majority of plantations came up on land that had hitherto been dense tropical ‘jungle’. Human endeavour in these parts brought several species of wild creatures in direct contact with man. Having lived in the tea plantations of North Bengal for over 42 years one was fortunate to be witness to several incidents when colleagues took on unusual, exotic wild creatures as pets. 'Talking' mynahs, peacocks, colourful budgerigars, cockatoos, snakes, monkeys, and even a tortoise are some that I recall. I record some of these for the sheer love that is demonstrated and also for the companionship & pleasure that creatures in the wild are,in turn, capable of giving.

'Tourist' map of the Dooars from http://coochbehar.nic.in/htmfiles/Dooars_next.html
(Just for fun - Editor)

The Python

Sometime in the decade of the nineteen fifties a young man named Mani served as an Assistant at Dumchipara TE in the Dooars. Residents of the estate going about their routine lives were prone to encounters with wild creatures; Dumchipara was close to a thick forest reserve.

The estate in those days, had not as yet planted out its entire plantable area; a large part of the estate was under bamboo and thatch; there was also a big “Sal barrie”.

Walking along the road separating the thatch and Sal “Barries” at dusk one evening Mani came upon what looked like a 4’-5’ long piece of wood. Someone has been cutting the ‘sal’ he thought, from a distance, as he approached. And absent-mindedly nudged ‘ the piece of wood’ with his foot. He was surprised - the ‘wood’ was soft to touch and moved ever so slowly.

Realisation dawned !! this was no piece of wood. Shocked, was Mani, to realise, that he had ‘toed’ a live baby python. Lazy and sluggish, most of the time, this creature was found in the act of crossing over from the ‘Sal barrie’ to the thatch ‘barrie’.

A wild life enthusiast, Mani decided to drag the creature upto his car and then carry it back to the bungalow in the boot.  Once home the bungalow staff took over; the creature was fed a diet of chicken that it sucked in live, once a day. And for the remainder of the time it either remained lazily stuck close to a bedroom wall or curled around the bed post.  ( Note : A fully grown python grows to around 17-18 feet long & can be 6”-8” in diameter ; it feeds on creatures of the forest; bats, frogs, mice, goats, monkeys etc.are all prey that is sucked in & swallowed live.

To digest food the python wraps itself into a tight coil around  a convenient log/post or tree-trunk & breaks down the food. Fully grown pythons have been known to swallow live adult humans and deer).

Communication in a small community has a dynamism all its own; in next to no time the whole sub-district knew about Mani’s new exotic pet. Curiosity drove friends and acquaintances alike to arrive at Mani’s place to see his new pet.

And Mani in turn enjoyed the attention the python - and by default he - got. 

Image from Wikipedia

The snake would be brought out almost ceremoniously whenever there was a visitor ; displayed, touched, caressed, and admired, the creature became a celebrity. And Mani would bask in deflected glory.

A couple of months down the line, however, things quietened down. One evening two couples ( Mani’s friends ) from a neighbouring district visited. After tea the ladies expressed a desire to see the snake. Per routine the creature was brought out ; admired, petted etc. and forgotten. Conversation turned.

In the meantime, habituated, Mani carelessly slung the snake across his shoulders and continued entertaining his guests. Unnoticed, the snake coiled itself around the neck slowly began to squeeze tightening itself around. Mid-sentence,at first, Mani felt odd as if something was amiss, and was soon red in the face, arms flailing & gasping for breath.

Realising his predicament the guests yelled for help ; it was a struggle for two men at either end of the snake to uncoil it. Colour slowly came back to Mani’s face once regular breath was restored.

It had, indeed, been a narrow escape.

 On the day of occurrence the python had just been fed; and the staff forgot to warn Mani.

Tragedy averted!! The snake was released back in the wild .

A deer at Baintgoorie 

Pic sourced from internet

The Southern end of Baintgoorie estate merged into the Chel forest in the Mal sub-district of the Dooars.  During the late seventies/ early eighties Bipin Tandon was Manager of the estate . Bipin and Saneera had two young children Praneeta & Rohan ( aged 3 and 1 respectively ) in 1980 when I saw them . Our son Himanshu had yet to turn 2 when I was posted to the estate.

Being on the same estate, the three children were company to each other, and would spend play-time together regularly.  For the children’s amusement BIpin procured a fawn from the nearby forest ; it was kept in a large ( about 40’ x 40’ ) enclosure built behind the bungalow. The children had a great time playing inside the enclosure.

Two years later all three children had dispersed from Baintgoorie ; I wonder if they have memories of it. 

Baintgoorie was also prone to leopard trespass from the forest closeby. The restless-ness of the young fawn inside the enclosure , frantic running around and crashing into the wire-mesh was indicative of leopard presence near the bungalow every time . And a wily leopard aware of the fawn tried to enter the enclosure a few times but mercifully never succeeded.

The little fawn, I daresay, would’ve died a thousand times everytime it sensed the leopards presence. 

 “ MURGI CHOR” - the leopard at Lakhipara

Pix from https://scroll.in/article/965144/indias-leopard-population-declined-by-90-over-two-centuries-suggests-study

This incident occurred a a couple of years before I went to work in tea on an estate called Lakhipara.

The Manager there was John Grimmer, a much respected and loved Scotsman. John and his wife Sheila lived on the estate with their children Shona and Ian.

Lakhipara, located at a fair distance from most forests in the vicinity, is not an estate that sees much animal trespass on a regular basis ; the odd stray incursion does however take place.

The chowkidars in the Lakhipara manager’s bungalow had long complained of noises that emanate from the “Goali” ( cow-shed ) on some nights indicative of the cows getting restless. Fearing a leopard incursion they would ensure that the place was secured properly .

On the night that I am referring to there was noise from the cow shed ; and then quiet as usual . A few minutes later a huge cackling from the “ murgi khana “ ( hen pen-house).

( These were the days when estates were dependant on their own gen-sets for power; to save on oil engines were turned off after 11 at night .)

In the darkness Tul Bahadur, the chowkidar, fearfully crept out of the safety of the verandah where he was ensconced , torch in hand , to investigate . No sooner had he flashed the light he noticed the bright gold and black spots of a leopard ; the hens were all over the place; the leopard had killed a few .

Tul Bahadur darted back into the house to inform the master ; who in turn, marched out in his pyjamas, shot gun in hand. Alerted by the commotion the leopard tried to get out, only to realise that it couldn’t find the opening,in the wire-mesh, that it had come in through .

Aiming carefully, John shot at the leopards head and felled it in two shots. Tragic end to this fully grown handsome creature which had landed up in the murgi-khana driven by hunger & lack of prey in the forest.

The leopard skin & head, fully intact formed a beautiful trophy, that adorned the living room in the Grimmer household when I saw it.

The Grimmers left it to their successor on the estate, when they returned home to Aberdeen in 1975.

( Mrs Sheila Grimmer commented as under upon reading the story : > “ I loved all the stories ; and needless to say , the one about the leopard at Lakhipara brought back many fond memories . > I remember the night that it happened; we had a director from London visiting us and he heard the commotion and thought it was a soda bottle popping it’s cork and went back to sleep again. He got quite a surprise when he saw the leopard stretched out at the side of the bungalow , and so did the servants when they came through the garage to get back to the veranda. > I can’t remember how John managed to get the skin cured etc but I do know that Shona and Ian had great fun when their Dad went down on his haunches , donned the leopard skin and chased them round the dining table . So many thanks for that lovely story . )

The Tortoises

Image sourced from the internet by the author

The manager's bungalow at Dumchipara estate has a wonderfully lit, large verandah with the three open sides covered by wire-mesh. An endless variety of potted plants, beautifully tended, make the place cool and welcoming as one enters the house. My good friend the late Vijay Rawal ( may he rest in peace ) & his wife Suneeta had tastefully done the place up . Apart from the usual wall-hangings and greens, an aviary full of budgerigars, and two large dogs and a huge tortoise all co-existing, without fuss, on the verandah made for an interesting entry to the house every time I visited ( once a month during the course of visits to the estate as part of my job. )

The dogs would welcome the oncoming vehicle with a bark at the gate; then circle around it twice before it stopped at the porch ; & then be ready to escort you in, their excitement demonstrated by sniffing, licking a hand raised to pet and a desperate wagging of tails.

No sooner had one entered the verandah, the far corner would erupt into a crescendo of chirping birds compelling you to walk up to the aviary to admire its occupants. The riot of colour that one saw inside was amazing - bright yellow, sky blue, parrot green, and scarlet coloured birds flitting incessantly around mesmerised the visitor.

While still at it, attention would be drawn to the two large aquariums with shiny lights and several multi-coloured fish in various shapes and sizes that beckoned you . A minute or two spent admiring these loveliest of God’s creatures was mandatory . The black & orange big one with a pout, and White plumage like gills was my favourite ; I imagine that one would be able to spend hours, idly watching the goings-on,in the aquarium and the aviary without knowing how time went by. What a delight !!!  And as one settled down to a glass of nimbu/paani the big tortoise would emerge ever so shyly from its hiding place among the potted plants and waddle slowly across only to tell the master of the house “ I am there “.

It was a big fellow, this tortoise; the half-moon shaped shell on its back was about 12 inches across ; and underneath one saw a tiny black head with small bead-like eyes and four tiny feet . It would crawl right up to where one sat and look up almost as if to greet you .

 Tortoises - II

A couple of years later, after a change of management at Dumchipara when Mr. Vikram Malik was the Manager of the estate, I was once again priveleged to see a tortoise in the same bungalow. Only this creature was a much smaller species; barely 4- 5 inches across and a lot more nimble this creature behaved in much the same way as the earlier one. Only its size never failed to amaze the onlooker .

Image from https://www.flickr.com/photos/37373154@N08/4744258472

The Maliks also had a lovely aviary adorning the far corner of their Verandah; and likewise the cackle from the blue and yellow budgerigars reached a crescendo of excitement every time anyone entered the house .

On one of my visits I found a pair of lemon yellow & green colored parrots 🦜 coyly peeking out from behind the flower pots in the verandah - not yet capable of taking flight.

Curious about the new additions when I asked my host I was informed that the pair had been poached off a nest, high in the hollow, of a ‘sal’ tree in the estates Salbari .

Meet the writer: 

Retired planter living in Delhi ; interested in nature, travelling , gardening & golf . Dabble in poetry ; also write occasionally, narrating long forgotten incidents picked up/ experienced over a life-time in the plantations of North Bengal. 

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My name is Gowri Mohanakrishnan and I'm a tea planter's wife. I started this blog because one of the things that I wouldn't want us to lose in a fast changing world is the tea story - a story always told with great seriousness, no matter how funny - always true (always), maybe a tall tale, long, short, impossible, scary, funny or exciting but never dull. You will find yourself transported to another world! 
 
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