Appu looked up started. Who was that? Had Teju come back or
was it someone else? As Appu smelt the wind with his trunk, he saw Teju and sat
up. However, Teju was not alone. With him was a man. A huge man like the ones
who killed his herd. Why had Teju brought a man with him?
Appu got agitated and started trumpeting loudly. He swayed from side to side, flapping his ears and stomping his front leg.
“Hush, hush dear Appu”, said Teju. “Don’t worry, we are not here to harm you. This is my father and we want to help you.”
Appu could not understand and was angry, hurt and upset. He was angry at Teju for bringing a man to the hideout. He was hurt because he thought he could trust Teju and he was upset because he did not feel safe anymore.
Teju realized that Appu was confused, so he slowly went up to Appu and stroked his head like before. Teju kept talking in a soft voice, while his dad stood in the distance. Teju kept stroking Appu’s head and trunk and talking softly. After a few mins, his father too stepped forward and he started humming in a low voice. Appu listed intently. He liked the soothing humming and slowly he started swaying his head to the sound of Teju’s father’s song. Soon Teju and his father were both next to Appu with their arms around him.
Appu now felt at ease. He trusted Teju and so he trusted this man too. The man had a sack with him from which he pulled out a bunch of bananas. Appu was thrilled. The man plucked two and gave it to Appu who gobbled it down in a jiffy. Soon the entire bunch was in Appu’s tummy and he was no longer hungry. He started playing with the man and Teju. He nudged their feet and then would run away when they tried to catch him. He was enjoying himself.
In the meantime, Teju and his dad were discussing how to help Appu. They could not keep him alone in the jungle, they could not take him home; what could they do? Teju’s father was a havildar in the forest office and he knew Appu was not safe by himself. What could they do? As the two sat discussing, they heard a jeep. Appu too heard the jeep and he ran up to Teju and hid behind him.
The jeep rolled up to the trio and stopped. Out stepped a huge man with a kind face in a khaki uniform. “What’s happening here? Who is this?” asked the man. Teju’s father stood up straight and after saluting smartly said, ‘Sir this baby elephant was orphaned when the villagers shot the entire herd of elephants yesterday. My son found this little one all alone, frightened and hungry. He brought me here to show me the elephant. We have fed him bananas and are trying to figure out what do with him. I was going to call in the office and ask for your advice, Sir.”
The huge man was the Forest Officer and after hearing about the elephant shootings and had come to investigate. He had been told that all the elephants had been killed and he was pleasantly surprised to see little Appu. “Yes Dharmveer (that was Teju’s father’s name), we must save this little fellow”, said the Forest Officer.
He then stepped forward and stroked Appu’s head too. He seemed like a nice man and his touch was caring and warm. Appu like this man too. All humans were not bad after all.
The officer then pulled out a map and spread it on the bonnet of the jeep and started marking out areas in a red circle. Teju’s father took a walkie-talkie and started connecting with other Forest rangers in the area. After calling a number of people, Teju’s father seemed excited. “Sir, we have found another elephant herd on the far side of the forest,” said Teju’s father to the officer.
Teju and the two men seemed excited. Teju quickly came over and hugged Appu. Teju’s father too patted Appu’s head.
Then just as suddenly, the humans became serious.
“How will we get Appu to the far side of the forest?” asked Teju.
“Yes, that will be a challenge. But we must hurry because that elephant herd in on the move and we must reach them before they move from the current location. Also, we must introduce Appu to a new herd before he becomes too used to human presence,” said the Forest Officer.
The three then looked at him and then at the jeep and then looked at each other and smiled. They had an idea!!! Appu would have to get into the back of the jeep and they could then drive him to the other side of the forest. But how would they get him on?
Teju came up with an idea and quickly ran to get a broken piece of raft he had seen on his way to school. He brought that and inclined it onto the side on the jeep. Then he stood in front of Appu and showed him a banana. As expected Appu took it, then Teju climbed up the ramp and showed Appu another banana and Appu too climbed up the ramp and took it. Slowly and steadily Teju got Appu into the back of the jeep. Then Teju’s dad and the forest officer secured Appu to ensure that he did not bang himself when the jeep was on the road and with Teju sitting next to Appu in the back, all four set off towards the other side of the forest.
After travelling over roads that were sometimes mucky, sometimes dry and most often bumpy the jeep hurtled within sight of the other herd of elephants. All four on the jeep looked at the herd anxiously. The herd too put out their trunks to figure out who the intruders were.
Slowly Teju got Appu to get off the jeep via the ramp. The two stood watching the elephants. Appu was excited seeing other elephants, but was scared of them too. He did not know any of them. Teju, his father and the Forest officer were anxious too; they worried if the herd would accept Appu or not.
After watching the elephants for some time, Teju slowly hugged Appu and then said, “Its time you went to the herd. I hope they accept you and love you like your own family did. I don’t want to let you go, but I know you will be safer with your kind than with me.” So, saying, Teju slowly pushed Appu towards the herd. The elephants, seeing a baby elephant came forward and trumpeted. Appu walked slowly towards them, and then picked up some speed and then when he was within a few feet he got scared. They looked so huge!!! A Mama elephant from the herd came forward and smelled Appu and then put her trunk around him and pulled him into the herd.
As Teju watched in wonder, he saw Appu being greeted by the other elephants and before long the entire herd started moving on. Teju stood watching in silence with tears running down his cheeks. He had gained a friend and lost him too within a day; but his friend had lost and found a family within a day. He was happy that Appu was finally safe. Teju hugged his father and silently waved good bye to Appu.
Appu walked a few meters and then turned around and trumpeted loudly, as if saying, “good by my human friend... good bye.”
This is the Story of a boy and an elephant.
Appu stood
watching and crying. What should he do? What could he do?
Should he
rush down and scare all the people away from his mom and his herd? Should he stay
right there or should he sneak into the forest unnoticed?
As Appu stood
watching the chaos far away, he suddenly heard a twig crack. He swiftly turned
around and put out his trunk to smell the wind, just like his mummy had taught
him. He smelt a human. He froze.
He trumpeted
loudly and stomped his front leg. He was scared, but he knew that if he did not
show that he was strong; then he too might be captured or worse killed like his
mother. He stomped, trumpeted and flapped his ears. He still could not see any
human, but he could smell the human.
Where was
the human? Why was he not showing himself?
Appu heard
another twig crackle on his right and he turned and he finally saw him. A Human!!!
But this human was not as big as the others! Why, this human was shorter than Appu
himself!!!
Appu was
looking at a little boy, no taller than him, dressed in shorts and a shirt,
looking intently at Appu. The boy put out his hand and spoke softly. Appu
cocked his ears. He had never heard a human talk so softly. Usually, humans screamed
or yelled and threw stones or crackers at the elephant heard. This human was
different. He was not as huge as the others, he was not screaming or yelling
and most importantly he was actually putting out a hand towards Appu.
Appu still
did not move. He watched the boy intently. The boy then put his hand into a bag
on his shoulder and took out a banana and held it out. Appu was surprised. Appu
was hungry because he had not eaten anything since last evening; but could he
trust this human?
The boy
slowly took a step forward, then two more and then a few more, till he was
standing right next to Appu. The boy still had the banana in his outstretched
hands and he kept softly calling out to Appu.
Appu
sniffed the air, then slowly put out his trunk to sniff the boy. The boy seemed
harmless. Slowly Appu put his trunk on the boy’s hand; the hand smelled of
bananas!!! Wow!!!
The boy
stood still while Appu smelled him and touched him. Then slowly he stroked Appu’s
trunk with the banana. Appu liked it. Appu felt ticklish too. Then Appu took
the banana from the little boy and gobbled it up hungrily. The banana went in
so fast that Appu could hardly taste it! He looked at the boy again and then
with his trunk nudged the boy.
The boy
smiled and put his hand back into his bag and brought out another banana. Appu
was thrilled. He quickly snatched the banana and gobbled that one down too and
once again nudged the boy. This time the boy started laughing and said, “you
like bananas don’t you. But that was all I had!”
Appu could
not understand what the boy was saying. So he gave the boy a slight push. This time
the boy fell down and instead of crying, he started laughing even more loudly. The
boy then put out his hand towards Appu and stroked it gently and said, “I don’t
have any more bananas, but I can get you some. Let me go to school now and on
my way back I shall get you some.” The boy then stood up and Appu nuzzled up to
him. The boy held Appu’s trunk and said, “we are friends now. My name is Teja
but everyone calls me Teju.. you can also call me Teju and I shall call you
Appu.”.
Appu was shocked,
how did this boy know my name!!!! But it did not matter, the boy looked kind
and had even fed Appu and not thrown sticks or stones at him. He liked Teju.
Teju then
started walking away and Appu got alarmed. Where was his friend going? Was he
leaving him too? Appu started whimpering and with his trunk held on to Teju.
Teju realized
what was happening. He stopped, hugged Appu and softly spoke to him again. “Appu
you are my friend. I shall never leave you. I will always take care of you, but
to do that I must go get you some food. Let me go now and I promise, I shall be
back before long with food for you.” Saying this Teju gave Appu a long hug and
slowly pushed him away.
Appu stood in tears as he watched his new friend walk away. Appu saw Teju turning time and again before he disappeared in the thick trees.
Appu was scared. Should he stay
here or follow Teju? Should he run into the forest and find shelter or should
he blend into the thick trees till Teju came back? Appu was confused, but then
decided to stay put. He hoped his friend would come back. He sat down and
tucked his trunk between his front legs. Before long, Appu fell asleep.
Suddenly he
heard a noise and he looked up. What did he see…….????
To be
continued……..
Appu opened his eyes and looked about. There was no one
around. Where had everyone gone? He sat up in fright, but his head hurt. He shook
his head and yelped in pain. What was that? Why was his head throbbing so much?
Where was mom? Where were his friends?
Suddenly he heard some voices, shouts, drums and the
thumping of footsteps. Suddenly it all came back to him. He was with his mom
and his herd, walking through the sugarcane fields. The sugarcanes tasted so
yumm and mom had said he could have one. He had loved chomping down on the cane
she gave him. They were all walking peacefully, when suddenly there was a loud
boom and aunty Hilda fell down. Everyone around him started screaming and
running. Mum pulled him closer and nudged him along. She wanted to get out of there
as fast as she could. She was scared. Seeing her scared, Appu was scared too.
Before he could take a few steps ahead, he heard another
boom and Mom collapsed behind him. What was happening? What was that boom? Mom
looked at him and pushed him ahead and said, ‘run Appu run.. save your life, go
as far away from this place as possible… just run”.
Appu did just that, he ran, ran as fast as his feet could
carry him, run as far away from the boom as possible, run like his life
depended on it, run because mom had said so. He ran and ran and ran and then
exhausted he fell down and before he knew it.. he fell asleep.
Now as he sat up, it all came back to him. The booms, the
screaming, the chaos, Aunt Hilda, his mom.. everything. He slowly stood up and
looked out of the clearing and that is when he saw. He saw crowds of people
surrounding his herd. He saw his mom on the ground, the mud soaking in her
blood. He saw Aunt Hilda lying motionless and then he saw his friends – some in
pain, some lying dead.
He was sad. He had lost everything. He was now an orphan.
He hated humans. He hated the people who lived in the
villages near his jungle. Those humans took away the jungle, the grass, set boundaries,
built walls; all in his jungle. Where would his kind go? Where could the
animals go?
He hated humans, he hated the villagers, he hated people.
He was all alone.. all alone in a jungle without his parents
or his family, being hunted by people….where could he go???
...to be continued.....
Grief at the loss of a loved one is unbearable, often
destructive, takes long to overcome and often leaves one feeling lonely. How we
overcome it, varies from person to person; but no matter how we overcome it, the
experience changes us, plays a huge part in our evolution process and are
testimonies to our individual personalities.
From personal experience I know overcoming grief and the
loss of a parent was not easy. It’s been 8 years since my mom passed and even
today, I am sometimes overcome with emotion and breakdown. Its not easy. For
the first couple of months post her demise, I remember walking kilometers by
myself and letting the tears run down my face, just to the rains wash them away. Mind you, I was 35 years old then!!
Which is why I was so touched by this story in the newspapers this week. This child, just 16 years old; faced her toughest challenge; held on to her self and focused her energies on something that would make her parents proud. Imagine, losing one parent is difficult, which is why losing both parents in a span of days and then channeling that grief into academics to score such brilliant grades is truly commendable. I’m talking about the girl from Bhopal, who lost both her parents to Covid in May 2020 and then went on to appear for her Class 10 CBSE exams and score a remarkable 99.8%.
My heart goes out to the little girl - Vanisha. Yes, she should be congratulated, encouraged and even called an inspiration; but she is a child who has been forced to grow up and become mature in a matter of days. When she says, “when I looked at my younger brother, I suddenly realized I was all he had. At this age, I had become his mother and father. I couldn’t let myself fall apart….”, I broke down.
Her parents, God Bless their departed Souls, must be proud of her. But her achievement, has put the spotlight on that little girl. From here on the climb is going to steep, her actions are going to be judged, her credentials going to be revisited time and again and her focus going to be shifted because people are going to use her as an inspiration. She will be called for talks, for speeches and for probably ribbon cutting too; without an iota of thought for what she went through and will go through for the rest of her life.
I beseech every one following her story to let her be, let her
grow at her own pace, let her live and most importantly to let her mourn in peace.
What we can do is support her (financially with grants, scholarships
and such), encourage her (by talking to her), applaud her and let her know that
her parents have sent guardian angles to watch over her when she needs it.
Little girl, stay little, enjoy your teen, your youth, laugh
out loud, go out with your friends, be your brother’s sister and friend because
that is what you are, don’t take the burden of being a parent – let the elders
in the family take on that responsibility.
Hugs and love to you; because little girl, you truly deserve
it.
I've read books that have made me cry. I've even read books that have shocked me and I’ve wondered about the protagonist. But this book takes the cake for the cruelty, the psychotic mind of the mother, the book’s raw honesty and description of the protagonist’s angst.
The book is ‘The Child called IT’ by ‘Dave Pelzer’. Id
recently borrowed the book from Bookelphia (the crowdfunding book library run
by a friend Reethu Bhagat). This is a true story of the author Dave Pelzer and
takes us through his childhood. One among five brothers, he was at the
receiving end of all punishments in a home governed by his alcoholic and
abusive mother and almost invisible and non-existential father.
To read what a boy as young as 5 went through is gut wrenching.
Each chapter is filled with the boys angst, his desperation to get out, his
undying love for his mother despite her crazy behavior, his hunger for food, love
and acceptance, his feeling of homelessness and his sunken eyes devoid of any
life.
All through the book I wondered how a mother could do this
to her own child!!! I even wondered if she was mentally instable? Was that why
she did what she did? But then she was good to the other boys!!! Then what
transpired for her to single Dave out and treat him so???
When the book ended and Dave was finally able to get out, I signed a sigh of relief; but was curious and so hunted for the next two books of the trilogy.
While I could not get those, I did find and order the book ‘A Brother's Journey: Surviving A Childhood of Abuse’ by ‘Richard B. Pelzer’. Richard is Dave’s brother and he was one of the closest support to their mother when she meted out punishment to Dave.
Richard would snitch on his brother, make up stories and
basically complain about his brother Dave to his mother only to watch in glee
as older brother Dave got beaten black and blue. While reading ‘The Child
called IT’, I hated Richard’s guts and was repulsed by his ruthlessness.
However, when I picked up ‘A Brother's Journey’, I realized that
Richard was not completely at fault here. He too was a young child (barely 4-5
years old), fighting for survival. His actions although abhorrent, should be
taken as the only means for him to stay afloat in a household ruled by a manic
mother.
Once Dave leaves, Richard is the target of all the inhumane punishment.
He too goes through what his brother went through and that is when you realize that the mother truly was a mental case.
The people you want to question are the authorities who
having saved Dave, should have done something to save the other children in the
house. You want to question the teachers and school authorities who despite
seeing all the signs of abuse did nothing to save the young kids. You want to
question the neighbors who despite knowing the abusive and atrocities being
done, did nothing to intervein and save the children. You want to question the grandmother
who knew how her grandchildren were suffering.
Both the books left me in tears and left me wondering how
someone could be so devilish that she put the devil to shame.
These books are not for the faint hearted; but if you must; then do read Dave Pelzer’s trilogy - A Child Called 'It', The Lost Boy and A Man Named Dave; and Richard B. Pelzer’s two books ‘A Brother's Journey’ and ‘A teenagers Journey’.
 |
| Dave Pelzer |
 |
| Richard B Pelzer |
