Jungle Diaries Part Three.
Leaving both of us behind, our parents return back to their rooms. I decide to take a small walk along the fence and familiarize myself with the dangers that lie ahead.
“Hey Dip, want to see how the forest looks during night.”
“Man, I feel sleepy now. I’d rather go take a nap.”
“Seriously? All the while I was napping, you were talking with your girlfriend. Didn’t you feel sleepy then?”
“Isn’t that rather unsurprising, Anish.” He laughs at his own joke, but I am not letting him get away this time.
“You have to come with me.” I proceed to pull his arm.
After protesting mildly, he decides to not have a fuss and accompanies me to the edge of the fences. Staring at us was utter darkness — so dark that we cannot even make out the outlines of the forest. We begin to feel experience visceral fear, and Dip thankfully keeps his mouth shut.
We walk to the rear end of the hotel, only to see absolute darkness. However, I feel a sense of utter panic when I happen to be looking at two red eyes amidst the dark.
The eyes are blood red, and they are upon us.
Dip sees it too, and we become absolutely still. We are safe — the fence protects us, and nothing will dare to climb its barbed wires. The eyes linger on us for a while, and then disappear and we hurriedly scamper back to the front yard. We are obviously rattled and decide to have a cup of coffee from the coffee pot.
“I am sure it was our own hallucinations Dip. How can a leopard come up so close to our resort. I am sure we were seeing paranormal things due to our fear and anxiety in the dark.”
“I really feel scared now Anish. Maybe you were right. We shouldn’t have agreed to go out on the night safari. What if the red eyes we saw belonged to the same leopard that hunted the sambar in the morning?”
“Seriously? That’s impossible! How can the leopard come all the way from there?”
“Let’s go and inform our parents of this. We must do anything it takes for the night safari to get cancelled.”
“No leave. They will make fun of us and tell us to go and sleep. They were more concerned about the elephant anyway.”
I may seem to be rationalizing but the fear is real. Yet, I also knew the futility of expressing it. Hence, I try to calm Dip down.
“I am certain we hallucinated. Besides, from what I know, leopards’ eyes glow white in the dark, not red. Let’s return and rest, it’s 8:30 and we got to have dinner an hour later.”
We return back to our room and Dip falls asleep as soon after washing himself. I had slept in the afternoon and thus, decide to just lie awake beside him. I am tempted to surf internet on my phone, but I am simply tired and eventually, I manage to take a small nap again. However, I abruptly wake up, thinking we have slept through our dinner.
Indeed, the time was 9:45. I call up my parents, asking whether they are having dinner and their response both relieves and frustrates me.
“Ah. We are getting dressed. Just you wait another 15 minutes more. We will reach there by 10. You two can go and start having dinner.”
Dip and I begin dressing. I carefully select matte black shirt and trousers and my running shoes and socks were anyway black. Coupled with my long hair, beard and attire, I had never dressed in such black before in my life. Dip instead chose navy blue jeans and a black and white printed shirt. I guess I had overdone it.
We go to the front yard where tables had been laid already for dinner. The menu was actually too good and provided a much-needed respite before setting for the night safari. We are served a chickpea curry alongside a fish curry with curd. The cooking is spot-on, and I hope I don’t vomit it all out of fear for the night that lay ahead.
By the time our parents come, it’s 10:15 and we are done eating. My fears only heighten as I realize we will be leaving even later than 10:30, which also meant returning post-midnight. God, how much worse can things be?
However, to my surprise, they eat rather fast and by 10:30, they are done. I look at all of our grim attires: shades of black, navy blue, dark grey and the only thing shining was my father’s gold watch. I ask him to take it off as it still shines despite being twenty years old, but my father says there’s no phone and something will be required to check the time in case of emergencies. So much for precaution!
Dip’s father calls our guide and around 10:50, we see a jeep roaring to a halt outside our resort compound. I was shocked. Weren’t we supposed to go in our car?
“Why are we going in a jeep?” I ask my father.
“Because we have to go in the forest department’s car, personal cars are not allowed to be driven there at night.”
“But look at that jeep!” I exclaim. “It’s covered with a cloth hood! It’s meant to be used as an open-topped vehicle. Why are we going in a car whose hood can be ripped off by a leopard’s claws?”
“Why don’t you ask this to the guide Anish?” My father is tired of explaining the “obvious” to me. I approach the guide who was busy talking with Dip’s father.
“Uncle, why are we going in a jeep instead of our own car?” I ask the guide.
“Personal cars are not allowed on the highway after 9 pm Babu.” Babu is a common endearment which means “my boy”.
“But why are personal cars not allowed. Aren’t the jeeps with cloth hoods unsafe?”
“Babu, your car engines make a lot of noise while running. The noise can attract attention, especially hostile ones. We use jeeps because they are lightweight, fast, small and above all, silent.”
“What if the leopard or elephants notice our jeeps?”
“Haha. Don’t worry about leopards. We have been here for a long time. Just enjoy the night journey — the moonlight upon the highway looks beautiful.”
Given he is the authority on the subject, I get partly reassured. Maybe, I am worrying too much — worry that I will come to regret once this amazing trip is over. Then, I won’t have the chance to reverse this regret, so better enjoy this moment to the fullest.
My dad then asks everyone to board the jeep, albeit systematically. My dad sits at the front with the guide, Dip’s dad and our moms in the middle and me and Dip in the rear. The hinge door at the end had been locked from inside and there had been a sheet of transparent plastic installed as a barrier while also providing a rear view. As we board the rear, I realize with grim foreboding that the plastic sheet can be ripped in half in less than second and we two will be in serious danger. I look at Dip, and he too realizes my fears.
“There’s no other choice Dip. Both our dads see their place at front as necessary to communicate with the guide. Besides, we do have an excellent view at the rear, possibly even better than the front. If there are no dangers on the way, as is mostly likely, we can enjoy both the front and back views.”
Dip just nods and I remain silent too thereafter. Before our departure, my dad checks the time on his phone before switching it off.
11:00 pm.
The gates open and the jeep proceeds out into the road. Almost instantly, the sound of crickets hits my ears. God willing, this be the only sound we have to hear tonight.
Looking behind, I see no taillights and the road was pitch black. The forest beside the road couldn’t be discerned and the only source of light — the moon was nowhere to be seen.
The jeep begins to accelerate.
We reach the forest department checkpoint before the highway. I am afraid I have lost all sense of time already due to my overwhelming anxiety and the lack of a watch. I though can guess the time it took for us to reach the highway — roughly 15 minutes if I am good at guessing, which I sadly am not.
The forest department chief gives us the go-ahead after some “serious inspection” of our permit and we finally get up on the highway. I look out the plastic sheet and am rather unsurprised to see a road that’s pitch dark. I can’t even see the moon and I crane my head forwards only to see nothing in the front view. I look at Dip with worried eyes and I can barely make out his face anymore. Everything’s just so dark.
Our parents had been whispering in excitement since the time we left the resort, but I hadn’t paid any attention to them. However, I now overhear snippets of their conversation, just to keep my mind distracted from anxiety.
“What a great car!” My father says. “Such a silent engine. Our cars would have simply belched out a ton of smoke and then started.”
He seems to be completely unfazed by the fact that leopards are even stealthier than this jeep.
“I don’t even have a black kurta.” My mom tells Dip’s mom. “I only found a single navy blue.”
“Same for me. I don’t even have dark colours. Besides, who packs dull dresses for a vacation!”
They both chuckle and I curse myself for having such insensitive people with me in this car.
Suddenly, the guide slows the car down. I thought we had fallen in trouble already and I see our fathers’ eyes gleaming in excitement. I have gotten more accustomed to the dark and Dip looks like he is about to puke. I hope he doesn’t puke all over my shirt — these clothes are expensive.
“What is it?” I ask.
“Look to your right everyone.” The guide says quietly. We look and there we see it.
It is a thin road that is marred with fallen trees. I immediately understand that they must have been uprooted by force. Only one animal is capable of that.
“This is the elephant trail.” Our guide explains. “Elephant herds sometimes come to the edge of the highway to graze. But don’t worry, we keep track of their grazing time and even if they come unexpectedly, they won’t attack passing vehicles. Only berserk elephants do so.”
Did I just sense an undertone of fear in his voice?
Our jeep moves on and by now, I know we are surrounded by the deepest of jungles. I have no clue how long has elapsed since we left the checkpoint, and I frankly don’t care anymore. Even our parents have fallen silent now — they are busy observing the darkness around them. To my relief, the moon is finally visible, and I can see that the road has been slightly illuminated by the full moon.
It was then that we hear a roar.
A leopard’s roar.
“Oh my God. What was that!” Dip’s father yells. I can see that both our father’s faces have turned white. The roar was loud and long, almost like that of a werewolf and I shivered when I heard it. Pray that this was just a figment of my imagination, just like the two red eyes Dip and I saw.
Yet this wasn’t. I can see the guide in utter panic as he quickly brings the jeep to a halt. Then, he kills the engine, switches of the dimmed headlights and we are just one dead mass of metal sitting on the highway.
“Shouldn’t we turn back and return as fast as we can?” Dip opens his mouth for the first time, and I nod my head vigorously. Even our fathers seem to agree, and our mothers are just silent in utter horror. I guess the colour of their kurtas don’t matter much to them now.
However, the guide surprises us all by refusing to start the car.
“No. The leopard isn’t very far away. It would be madness to make our presence be known — it would simply catch up with us and then nasty things may happen. Best is if we play dead and allow the leopard to inspect and move on. Leopards typically aren’t scavengers, and they get plenty of prey in this forest anyway.”
Luckily the seats in the jeep were all foldable and after the guide helped us roll of them up, we were just lying with our face down and the seats folded over us. Honestly, we were concealed pretty well.
Yet, I was beyond panicked. No more thoughts ran through my mind and the only two things I heard were my breath and my heart pounding against my chest. Dip too was in a similar state, and I tried to comfort him a bit.
“Did you know, another phrase for playing dead is playing possum? Possums are known for playing dead to avoid predators.”
“How darn relatable.” When did Dip learn to become sarcastic?
Is that Dip’s heart that I hear pounding? God knows what I am hallucinating right now stuck in the middle of a desolate highway with a leopard lurking nearby. I am no believer in God, but I hummed a few prayers, though probably just to amuse myself. Seconds pass, and I await the impending snarl of a hungry carnivore.
Nothing comes.
We wait a little longer and still nothing. Our guide finally gets up and looks around and I watch him with bated breath. Finally, he looks at us and judging from his sigh, I guess its good news.
“We are safe. The leopard is nowhere to be seen, though I am afraid we cannot proceed any more under such circumstances. Leopard roars have been heard before too and it’s the policy of the forest department to immediately abort the trip. Don’t worry, you all will be compensated for this by a free trip tomorrow or refunded if you have other plans.”
“Brother. Please take the car out of here fast. We can talk about tomorrow’s plans at the resort instead of here.” Looks like fear has finally drilled some sense into my dad’s head.
“Of course. Just let me unfold the seats again.” He unfolds and soon we are ready to return. I couldn’t be happier.
It was at that moment that we hear a low snarl and at first, we all suspect it’s the starting of the jeep but the guide shrugs holding the ignition key in his hand.
Another low snarl and we all know what it is.
The leopard was waiting for us to reveal ourselves.
Fear engulfs me as the background din caused by the screams of our parents and Dip fades away in my ears. I can hear a siren playing in my ears and my heart beating — suddenly all I want is to get out of this godforsaken car and simply run for my life!
Instead, the leopard begins to approach us.
Perhaps this shall be the only time I will credit my father in this entire vacation, but my father sees the stunned face of the guide and decides to jolt him into action.
“Turn the car fast.” He says in admirable calm.
The guide now decides to turn the lights on bright to startle the leopard and also honk.
“Why are you honking? It will only agitate the leopard further.” Incredible how Dip has managed to retain his voice.
“No.” I correct him. “We kept the light low so as to not get caught but now that we already are, the light and loud noise will scare the animal. Leopards anyway tend to avoid humans and seeing such a bright and loud object, it will think twice before coming close.”
The guide, meanwhile, tries to pull of an incredible U turn which is partly due to the jeep being a 4x4. However, just as we all were about to turn, the leopard roars and this only meant one thing.
It wants us.
Panic descends across the car as everyone begins to scream. Our mothers are probably going to kill themselves by having a high blood pressure before the leopard hunts them down and I feel like crying. However, the old macho tendency of mine — the boldness that made me do the stunt while boarding the train before arriving here — remained, though this time, I managed to help matters.
“Please. Keep quiet!” I yelled hysterically. “Nothing good will come of us screaming. Worse, he won’t be able to drive, and we shall all be hunted down. We are safe as long as the leopard doesn’t reach our car and I am sure the jeep can outrun it.”
My dad also agreed and in his characteristic temper, began to rebuke my mom for creating such a ruckus.
“Be quiet!” He snapped. “Your high pitched shrill will surely make me go deaf before that leopard arrives!”
Our mothers are crying, and Dip is anxiously looking at the plastic sheet. I too look towards the rear and there I see it.
Those red eyes.
I don’t stop to think about the implications of this. Probably I was hallucinating again. Or maybe we indeed had seen a leopard at the resort fence. Maybe this very leopard. Though I think I am hallucinating right now. Maybe that’s what I want to think.
Our guide steps on the gas and soon we lurch forwards. For a moment, I think the leopard will just watch us and leave, but no! The leopard lets out a growl and begins to pursue as in full speed. I feel like throwing up as the leopard increasingly closes in on our lumbering jeep.
The plastic sheet! The entire idea of implementing the plastic sheet had been based on the assumption that no leopard will ever touch the car. However, today it just got proven wrong.
And Dip and I are the first victims.
For a moment, I think this is it. The leopard shall pounce upon the plastic sheet, tear it to shreds and slaughter me and Dip first. Then, it shall devour our moms and finally our dads and the guide at the front. The next morning, the forest department patrol shall see their bloodied jeep with six half-eaten carcasses. I honestly am going to puke my dinner out, its halfway out stuck in my throat. I push it back down to my stomach.
Dip has been sitting transfixed at the edge of our sheet and I realize he has lost his mind out of fear. I shout “Dip!” and pull him towards me at the other end of the seat when a loud thud comes from outside. Was that the leopard? I dare not find out.
At this direst moment, the jeep finally begins to gain pace and after a while, I gather sufficient courage to look out the plastic sheet. The leopard is still behind us, though it is roughly twenty feet away. All we can hope for is for the leopard to exhaust itself and if our jeep slows down even once in the meantime, we are dead meat.
At that moment, lightning strikes twice. Upon us.
As we near the elephant trail, I see something gigantic step out. Jesus, it’s a berserk elephant! Already with a leopard at our tail, now we’ve got an elephant at our head! I just give up all hope and I honestly can empathize with all the screaming of my parents. Yeah. Let them scream one last time.
However, our guide isn’t ready to give up yet. We were going reasonably fast and he manages to just make it through before the elephant steps onto the road. I get a close-up view of it. The elephant was waving its trunk madly and if we had been in the way of it, we would have been flattened before being ripped to shreds by the leopard for sure.
However, we are lucky, and we manage to successfully cross the berserk elephant. In fact, the elephant saves us! Fully stepping onto the road, it lets out a trumpet and how loud it is! I had thought the leopard’s roar to be the loudest, but this trumpet can be probably heard from ten miles away. No wonder that our parents heard it from the resort at evening.
The chasing leopard stops in its tracks. It’s no match for a five-ton colossus, for even lions think twice before hunting these beasts. It ducks its head and when the berserk elephant begins to chase it, the leopard flees like a housecat. We are safe!
All of us sigh at once and I slump down on my seat. Dip has turned to mush, and I hug him to calm ourselves down. Yet, our parents — they immediately begin talking in frenzied excitement.
“What a close call! We would have been killed if not for that elephant!” My dad yells. Dip’s dad smiles and replies.
“Isn’t it ironic that we feared the elephant more and it was the elephant that saved us.”
“Lord Ganesh will always protect us.” My mom is a devout Hindu, and she pays obeisance to the elephant god.
“Haha. Would Lord Ganesh have protected us if His berserk form had flattened us under our own roof?” I truly like this guide. He seems to have his way with words.
“You know what’s the greatest irony?” Dip’s mom asks everyone.
“What?”
“The fact that it was Anish who was most scared about this trip, but eventually only he managed to keep himself from screaming. We all were screaming but only he remained silent.”
I smile to myself. I wasn’t exactly brave, but if bravery means being frightened to the point of detachment, I will gladly take it as a compliment.
“Ah. My brave son! Braver than that leopard for sure. Look how it fled with its tail between its legs!” My dad laughed and everyone laughed too.
I always knew my dad was witty, but I hate it when he is downright insulting. If anything, he should have been the one running for his life on the highway with the leopard behind him!
“Anish. Given that you were silent, you must have surely seen all the happenings tonight. Why don’t you write a journal about this when we return back home. It will improve your writing skills and help you in the English Language Exam, right?”
My dad is also good in another regard: inter-disciplinary criticism. I got to admire his ability to connect different ideas, just that I despise it when he uses it to pass jibes at me.
“Yes dad.” I moan. “I will write a journal about our experiences in the jungle when we return back home.”
