The Honey Gatherer
Jeff Tikari
Published by Jeff Tikari
Copyright 2010 Jeff Tikari
A Smashwords Edition
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ISBN – 978-1-4357-2712-0
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Jeff Tikari, M-12/24, DLF City -2, Gurgaon 122002, India.
E-mail: jtikari@gmail.com. Web Page: http://www.jeffspage.com
The Honey Gatherer
Introduction
The story is set in a sparsely populated tract of the heavily forested foothills of the Himalayas: an area that lies roughly between India and Nepal and in places is virtually untouched. The ‘Forest People’ of this area have minimal contact with the outside world and dwell entirely in the forest living off its produce .These are the ‘Wild Honey Gatherers’ – a race almost extinct – they have strange ways and are rumored to possess the ability to communicate with birds and beasts. When encountered they fade into the forest shadows. Village people give them a wide berth fearing the strange occult or shaman powers they possess. ‘The forest Spirits protect them’ is a widely held belief.
This story is about one such family...its secrets, its mystical powers, and its accord with nature.
Sometimes, rather exceptionally – nature allows a forest meadow to exist amidst an otherwise thick, teeming, stand of tall trees and dense undergrowth. In just such a natural clearing lived a family of Wild Honey Gatherers.
A bamboo and grass hut stood next to a tall, white-barked Simul (Indian cotton) tree a tree that produces bright-red, large, attractive flowers which once set, give forth pods of cotton that burst in the baking sun releasing fine, wispy cotton that float far and wide. Wild honeybees inexplicably find the capacious leafless boughs of the simul tree an irresistible attraction to mould their large, pendulous hives fifty feet above the forest floor; safe from ground animals, but exposed to attacks from the air.
Hawks often attacked these hives that are bursting with sweet nectar; tearing chunks of honeycomb oozing with honey that they eat on the wing. The aggrieved bees angry and in retaliation, swarm and sweep through the forest buzzing with red hot wrath looking for the enemy that has raided their bastion and spilt their precious honey wastefully to the forest floor. Innocent rodents or small deer unable to out run the swarm die painfully; bloated with poison from myriad stings.
Experience and instinct taught the young honey gathering couple when to milk the hives: left too late, the bee larvae would consume the honey; too early, and the harvest would be poor.
Peri: petite, fine brown skin, bright eyes, observant, lively, agile, and strong (from all the tree climbing), went bare chested with a girdle of leaves around her waist. Ramu, her husband, muscled and strong, too went bare bodied.
They had two teenaged children: the elder a boy, Puran: skinny and tall with the same fine skin his mother has; and a girl, Kriti: pixie faced, a cute little nose, her fine figure rounding to young womanhood. The children slept behind a roughly woven grass partition in a cramped small room. The family stayed only the odd few days in the hut, bivouacking more often, on large tree platforms Ramu built throughout the vast forest.
~~~
Ramu lost his parents when a young lad. They did not return at the close of day. Ramu waited for them for three agonizing and lonely days, sitting under a Ficus peepul watching the sun traverse the sky until hunger drove him to forage for wild berries. He was reluctant to venture far in case he missed their return.
Seasons changed – the hot period blowing sultry winds rustling through the trees merged with moisture laden heavier winds bringing drenching rains and relief. Cold crisp winters laid mists carpeting the ground that only lifted with the burst of spring that ignited the forest with flowers and fat juicy berries – yet his parents did not return. He doggedly searched for them, now venturing afar… to distant unfamiliar regions.
Then one day he chanced upon Peri.
She hung perilously from a young immature offshoot that was bending under her weight – she had misjudged its strength and was now in danger of falling a long way to the ground. Ramu rescued her by climbing to a bough above and lowering his feet to within her grasp, allowing her to clamber up to safety over his suspended body.
A bond formed between the young people…he had shown bravery and saved her life. They now met often in the deep forest and bathed and splashed in clear springs; chasing and cavorting through the trees. A fondness grew between them and they decided to live together – they were grown-up by forest standards. But first they would have to seek permission from her parents.
Early one morning he made his way to Peri’s parents. They sat on a log in the early misty morning, roasting meat pierced with long sticks over an open fire. They smiled and nodded through the smoke. He waited to be addressed and stood on one leg, the other leg bent at an angle resting on the knee of the standing leg; his hands lay crossed atop his head. He was abashed and awkward and waited patiently. After some eye encouragement from Peri, he cleared his throat to draw attention and when her father looked up he smiled shyly and nodded towards Peri. Her father understood and was expecting this. This was the customary way to ask permission to take a girl away to be ones life companion.
Peri stood shyly next to her parents – both hands covered her mouth…her toes scratched figures in the loose soil; large eyes swiveled with expectation between her parents and Ramu. Her father smiled and nodded, he offered Ramu a piece of roasted meat – a good sign that also indicated permission: she was grown now, the parents reasoned, and the boy was, obviously, capable; for had he not saved her life with peril to his own?
Peri approached Ramu, a fist still covered her mouth; both faced her parents and bent low in gratitude; Ramu bent and scooped up soil and rubbed it on his forehead indicating he would be true to her until death interred him unto the forest dust.
Peri’s father rose to his feet. A man heavily muscled, and of few words – tears of emotion lined his face. He would perform the ritual to give his daughter away. The time was right, for the sun had not cleared the tree fringe as yet. His wife, bare-chested and smiling, stood next to him. He raised his muscled arms to invoke the blessing of the Spirits and looked skywards. A deep, full breath expanded his massive chest and from its depth issued a blood-curdling howl, frightening and resounding, loud enough to put the forest birds to flight - a bellow that turned to an ululation of loss and sadness then gently smoothed to a cry of triumph, love, and blessing. He pointed with a stick to the forest and the children ran forth, for that was required of them. Peri, vision blurred with tears, clutched Ramu’s hand tightly as she ran with him. Very few could boast of such a grand wedding, for had her father’s roar not made the earth tremble?
~~~
A ground mist moved gently over the open meadow. The sweet aromas of the night forest flowers impinged and imparted a fragrant bouquet to the oxygen laden air that lifted with the rising dawn. Ramu set a crude plough made from a hooked branch, upon his shoulder and pulled it across the land breaking up the top soil. Peri walked behind spreading seed and the children followed using their feet to cover it with the rich loose soil of the meadow. Peri and the children whistled different bird songs as they worked behind the plough, creating a cacophony of diverse bird calls that gave the impression of the forest coming alive with bird song.
They harvested only what the family required. The rest was left for the forest birds and animals. The Spirits had not given the animals sense to cultivate, and so, Ramu maintained, it was his duty to cultivate for them. Why else would the Spirits give intelligence to man? Peri readily agreed with that.
When walking along the game tracks of the tall forest, Ramu interacted with animals and birds around him. He spoke in a sing-song voice (not unlike a bird-call) telling them all he knew and what experience had taught him. The animals too intimated to him valuable information: when peacocks and jungle fowl called at night, it alerted him to rain in the air - he should plough his fields now so the rain would penetrate deep into the soil. Their danger calls warned him of predators around. Short chirping birdcalls told him that a dry period was impending, and their flights with happy song guided him to where wild fruit was ripe. He studied animals closely to see what they ate. There were certain clays they licked regularly and Ramu did the same and found it beneficial to counter the bad effects of toxic berries.
Birds followed the family from tree to tree whilst quails, spur fowl, partridge, etc. scratched the forest floor unafraid of the humans. Animals approached, nuzzled, and nudged them. The family’s ethnic body odour was in harmony with the jungle smells; they lived in unison with life in the forest.
They had no education, as we know it. The knowledge they required, they picked up every day from the environment. Ramu’s instinct was sharp; his communication skills were improving by the day: he could receive a mental message from his wife quite effortlessly and he could share his experience with her whilst he was in the forest and she at the hut. When Ramu felt an apprehension, his wife felt it too; she would scream at him, telepathically, to get away from the danger.
They were simple and carefree with no special needs...nothing the forest did not provide. They took sustenance from the forest and gave back to the forest in equal measure – maintaining a balance and accord that enriched both.
~~~
Ramu never forgot the trauma he suffered when his wife stopped breathing in the throes of labour with his second child.
The birth was a breech presentation. Ramu was doing his best to deliver the child; “Oh, Spirits of my fore-father’s help me!” he cried.
The hut was bare; she lay on the earthen floor, a gourd of water nearby. Her young bloated body was convulsed with spasms…she was losing consciousness and weakening rapidly. Ramu was trying his best to turn the baby, but was losing the battle. His wife let out a soft moan and stopped breathing; her muscles went slack. He screamed, “Noooo!” and felt the presence of the Spirits; he looked around desperately, but saw nothing. His tear filled vision made it difficult to see. He squeezed his eyes shut to expel the tears and when he opened his eyes he was amazed to see a baby girl smoothly taking birth and his wife calm with relief on her face. Ramu was incoherent with joy. He resolved never to put his wife through such pain again!
The Spirits withdrew. Ramu and his family were among the most deserving people. The Spirits could give Ramu special powers with the knowledge that he would use it wisely and properly - Ramu was that kind of a person.
~~~
Gopal Charan was an astute businessman from a small town that lay a few kilometres from the edge of the great forest. Short and rotund, he plastered his thinning hair to his skull with generous dollops of mustard oil. A gold chain hung around his neck and the fingers of his hand flashed rings with stones for good luck, good fortune, health, digestion, sexual strength, to ward off evil, and to keep him in good favor with Shiva.
He dealt with timber and so visited the forest often. He came across Ramu a few times and was curious to know more about the agile half naked jungle boy. One day he asked if he could follow him to his hut – and Ramu let him.
Gopal arrived, puffing and panting, his dhoti clad legs scratched and burning; nevertheless, he right away saw the beauty and value of the meadow: the unspoilt virgin forest; the teeming bird life; the sunlight streaming in golden shafts through the trees…and he coveted it. It was not a large area but its location was superbly suited to Tourism. It was within the forest on prime land that the Forest Department let Ramu retain. Gopal Charan envisaged building a guesthouse there. It was a stone’s-throw from the Jhari River and therefore, possessed a scenic aspect that added value to the property as a fishing camp.
Gopal tried to negotiate a deal with Ramu and made very generous offers to buy his land, but Ramu only looked puzzled. Why, thought Ramu, would he ever sell the land? It belonged to his father and his father’s father before that. How could he sell such land? It was not his to sell. What silliness to ask him to sell it. What would he do with money? He lived entirely off the forest. Without land, how would he grow crops to feed his family, the birds and the animals? Gopal suggested Ramu live in the local town and work as his gateman.
Ramu and Peri laughed over this. Ramu comically parodied a gateman, twirling an imaginary moustache and looking very severe. Peri was in fits of laughter and the children joined in. “No!” Ramu said his whole life was the forest and he could not live anywhere else.
Ramu recalled the day the forest Burra Sahib (Ranger) visited his small meadow farm whilst he and Peri were working on it; husband and wife stood, bare-chested, sweating, and nonplussed with what the sahib was saying. They understood some of what he said. The Sahib and the Rangers could not keep their eyes off Peri’s bare chest, but Ramu was tense with the bad aura that was emanating from them. The Sahib was talking in kind tones, but why was he receiving this evil exudation, was he doing something wrong?
Ramu was unaware that Peri’s young, firm, figure was causing a sexual stimulus to the visitors. He and Peri were puzzled and backed away until they reached the forest’s edge. They ignored the shouts of “come back!” from the visitors and ran deep into the forest, hand in hand, away from the foulness and into a world they loved and understood.
Ramu’s Land
Ramu, Peri and their two children hurriedly scrambled out of their hut one night; they heard the sound of cars. Two jeeps with blinding headlights had penetrated deep into the forest, driving over their young emerging crop and stopped close to the hut. It was a time of night when everything grows still and the night forest chill settles to the ground - dawn was yet a few hours away.
People poured out of the vehicles and strutted over the land by the illumination of the headlights. They were taken aback to see a naked man wearing only a girdle of leaf around his loins standing outside a crudely built hut with large eyes staring at them; a similarly clad naked woman cowered behind the man and behind them were what appeared to be their two teenaged children .
The men alighted hesitantly and with trepidation, not knowing what to make of the family. They kept glancing into the shadow where the family huddled. Would they put up a resistance, they wondered. Their vehicles had trampled their crop – would there be resentment? They had heard that these forest dwellers could throw a spell or hex them.
The Superintendent shouted from the rear telling them to get on with the work. Don’t worry about these chaps. They are wild, like animals – they will soon run away…he hoped, inwardly that this was true.
Ramu and his family moved into deeper shadows .The men proceeded to erect tents and unload the vehicles, glancing over their shoulders apprehensively.
What were these men doing, Ramu wondered? He stepped forward and smiled at them in a friendly way; the men smiled back. Ramu stood there fascinated: he and his family had never seen cloth huts (Tents) before. Could he be of any help? The Super brushed him aside: “beat it!” he told him. Ramu did not understand him too well, but gathered they did not want him in the way. So the family receded further into the darkness and watched the hustle and bustle of setting up camp.
Soon some large tents and a few smaller ones were up and secured. Men with torches gathered firewood and lit a fire. They made tea over the smoky flame and stood around in work-soiled jeans making conversation whilst sipping from chipped enameled mugs. They kept glancing at the family and a few burst out laughing at some comment one of them made. Ramu could not make head or tail of what was going on. However, the men soon finished and turned in.
The loud laughter and banter was gone. Peace returned to the forest: crickets took up their loud chirping, the 'tonk, tonk!' of nightjars joined the night sounds, and the bullfrogs could be heard down by the pools at the riverside.
The family emerged from the shadows and sat around the dying fire for a long time. They conversed in whispers: what were these men doing, who were they. Ramu walked soundlessly around the tents feeling their texture and then around the vehicles, smelling the diesel and other smells that enveloped the cars. Their tracks had crushed some of the emerging crop. But, Ramu knew he would still have enough. Some years when the drought was long, the family subsisted entirely on wild fruits, berries, juicy roots and flowers. There was never a shortage of food. Even when there was a large crop, the family preferred fresh forest forage.
The men awoke after sunrise and emerged from their tents. They swung their arms vigorously doing basic calisthenics, strolled to the forest edge, peed into the undergrowth, stretched, scratched, yawned, and inhaled the fresh morning air. Bird song and forest sounds were everywhere. Last night they had heard the call of startled deer and assumed, with fear, that there were predators around.
When they checked Ramu’s hut, it was empty… and bare! There was nothing in the hut: no clothes, no utensils or any other objects. There was a crude plough made from the trunk of a tree lying outside but nothing else. Had the family abandoned the hut already as the Super had said, they wondered.
They went about the routine of lighting a fire to cook breakfast cum lunch. A man attached a bucket to a rope to pull water from Ramu’s shallow well. He threw away the vine rope attached to a scooped out gourd that Ramu had improvised. They had to search around to find dry wood. What had the resident family used for firewood, there was no stack of wood apparent anywhere.
~~~
Ramu and family had gone into the forest before dawn. They would spend the day in the forest foraging for wild berries and pass the day as they pleased, climbing trees, swimming in the creek, searching for honey, whistling birdcalls or interacting with wild animals. They enjoyed themselves as only those can that love and live in the forest and do not have a care in the world.
There was only immature crop in their field so they would eat their fill of berries and wild fruits. They very seldom collected firewood to cook. When a fresh kill was made by a tiger or leopard, they carried a chunk of meat home to eat. That was an occasion when a fire was lit. They never killed any bird or animal. How could they kill their friends?
~~~
The sudden roar of distant engines startled them. It had to be the people that came last night. The family started on their way back to see what those people were doing. They heard the crash of a falling tree, and then another and yet another, and stood transfixed. Would these people cut all the trees in their beloved forest? Panic rose in Ramu’s throat. They rushed towards the sound of crashing trees.
Trees had been felled in a large area and the under growth cleared. The sound of whirring machine saws was deafening; trees were falling at regular intervals. Ramu approached one of the men, hesitantly. The person appeared to be in charge for he barked out orders to the workers. Ramu crept up to his side and waited for a lull in the noise to ask him what was happening.
“Beat it! Get out of here! Why have you come back? I thought you had left. Take your wife and kids and beat it before you get hurt!”
The Supervisor had heard whispered stories of the strange powers the Honey Gatherers possessed. One look at the simple, naïve, and half-naked Ramu and his family, was enough to discard those absurd stories forthwith. He told his staff not to pay any attention to such village exaggerated yarns and superstitions. Ramu and his family were just brainless, uneducated, forest dwellers, almost ape like, he said.
He admitted they were an attractive family: they appeared to have almost flawless, smooth, brown skins… the woman was lissome, firm breasted, and agile, but still brainless and apish like her grinning husband.
The Supervisor would learn how wrong he was.
~~~
Ramu and Peri stood outside their hut and spoke with their eyes and minds. They did this often in the forest so no hand movement gave them away. They must be woodcutters they concluded – Ramu had heard of such men. The rate at which the trees were falling left them stunned. Tall, thick bowled trees that had seen more years than all the woodcutters put together lay slaughtered. Before nightfall they had cleared a large area. They re-pitched their tents on this cleared place and built a fire. Provisions and groceries were poured from sacks into large black bottomed pots suspended over the fire with stout poles. A fat bare bodied man started the procedure of cooking for all.
The family sat discreetly huddled behind a tangle of brush and watched the proceedings with wide-eyed fascination. They had never seen so much food being cooked. The cook kept pouring in ingredients and soon the aroma of roasting spices wafted through the forest, subduing and changing the natural forest smells. Ramu had smelt this aroma on the few occasions he had ventured to the small bustee (village), but his family turned their noses up at the smell. Yet, it was a strangely attractive smell.
The camp men sat around and drank a foul smelling liquid and smoked bidi’s. Laughter and loud guffaws soon filled the air. A man gestured to Ramu to come over to them, Ramu obeyed and the man offered Ramu a glass of the foul liquid. Ramu backed away shaking his head: the smell of the liquid was worse than a civet cat’s urine, he thought. Two other men, tall and well built joined in and grabbed Ramu by the arm and tried to force the liquid into his mouth. Ramu easily threw them off. He was wiry strong, muscular, and very quick. All the tree climbing and other activities in the forest had given him steely strong muscles. With seemingly a bound and a leap, Ramu could reach the top of a tall tree in a flash.
Ramu’s assailants picked themselves off the leaf strewn forest floor. They had surprised looks on their faces and a grudging respect for Ramu's strength. But in their hearts, the seed of black revenge was forming. Loud derisive laughter from their mates not only embarrassed the two, but fuelled their dark resolve to avenge this slur to their egos.
“Array yar, we are drunk and lost our balance!” they bragged. “You just see what we will do to the bastard! We can thrash him single handedly! We will kick the crap out of the asshole, rape his wife, and sodomise his kids! You just wait and see. The bastard thinks he is strong. We have more strength in one hand.”
Ramu herded his family into the little hut. He was receiving bad vibes. No one had ever laid hands on him or tried to force him. He had reacted out of an instinct of self-preservation. His reactions were lightening fast; it was a prerequisite for survival in the forest. Once when crouching on the forest floor, he was surprised by a large forest panther that mistook him for a baboon. When Ramu turned his head, the panther had launched into a leap and was hurtling towards him. His lightening reaction saved him, for he threw himself to his left and was up the nearest tree before the surprised panther could gather itself for another assault.
Ramu and his family could not sleep: the noise from the campfire revelers kept them awake. “Come on, Peri, Puran, Kriti (his wife and two children),” Ramu addressed his family. “Let’s get away from this noise and sleep on our tree platforms.”
The two men Ramu knocked to the floor rose unobtrusively from the circle of men drinking around the flickering fire and made their way to the edge of the clearing where they picked up stout green staves. They had planned this quietly between themselves and had avoided drinking to carry out their plan of revenge. Adrenaline was pumping through their veins and they breathed fast and shallow as they stealthily crept to the hut. They held their staves on the ready and kicked the flimsy hut door in; they flashed their torches and stood dumbfounded at the site of an empty hut. They had been outsmarted!
Loud hoots of belittling laughter greeted their return to the fireside.
The Super jumped up and roared loudly telling his men to shut up and listen. “Stop this imbecility! What do you think you are trying to do? Eh? Are you trying to kill the lad? Have you both gone completely bonkers? Do you imagine we want a police case on our hands? That will be the end of our business! Anyone stepping out of line will be sacked immediately! Do you all hear me?” he looked around belligerently. “Let them be! We have nothing in common with them. Why are those two louts,” he pointed at the two who had just returned from searching the hut, “why are you two trying to compete with him …. You both started it by trying to force a drink down his throat, and now you are terribly offended… hanh? Why don’t you try to learn from him? He could teach you bunch a lot about the forest. The family lives in the forest. Could any of you survive even a night here alone? You would want your creature comforts. You would starve in the forest or worse be eaten by wild animals (lending gravity to his words, the distant call of a tiger in the hills was heard); the men turned their heads towards the sound, the Super stopped and listened. “So let them be! I don’t want to see any harm coming to them. Okay? I hope I’ve made myself amply clear!”
Later the men filed into their tents. Jagdish and Hiraram, the two who were thrown to the ground, were not going to let Ramu off so easily. They would just have to be very careful how they avenged themselves. But revenge they would have, however long it took.
~~~
Ramu’s family spent four days in the forest. There was no ready crop to harvest so there was no need for them to return to the hut. The contractor and his men would be making enough noise to keep the deers, pigs, etc. away from the crop. Ramu, under normal circumstances, would have to stay in the hut to look after the crop else the animals would eat it before it ripened. Of course, after it ripened, Ramu would take what he required and leave the rest to them. Ramu had tried to explain this simple logic to the deers and rooting pigs on many a night; some seemed to understand and went away leaving the crop to ripen, but some were just too stubborn and had to be pushed away.
Ramu was certain some animals understood his gentle voice, why else, he reasoned, would a deer just walk past him into the forest leaving a field full of tasty victuals. Peri could not argue with that, so she smiled accepting it. Her husband did some strange things, but he was a good man.
~~~
Ramu decided it was time to return to the hut to see what the contractor and his men were doing. He felt guilty of what he had done. The two men were probably trying to be friendly that night and had offered him a drink as a friendly gesture. He wished they had not tried to force it on him for then he had reacted without thinking. That was silly of him he mused. He would have to make amends, perhaps give them a present.
~~~
Ramu appeared at the clearing with a young sambar deer slung across his shoulder. A panther had stalked the deer and frightened it off a steep cliff. It had fallen a long way down and died of a broken neck. Ramu got there to retrieve it before the panther could make its way down and now he was at the clearing to offer it to the men as a gesture of friendship. He walked to the centre of the clearing and lowered the deer to the ground.
All eyes were staring agog. The power saws fell silent one –after-the-other. That he could kill a full-grown deer without any weapon was a feat of amazement; and to carry a hundred plus kilos of dead carcass through the forest was something else again!
The Supervisor was the first to react: he walked over to Ramu and put his arm across his shoulder. “What is this, Lad?”
“I bring gift for you,” said Ramu in his broken Hindi.
“But how the hell did you kill it?”
Ramu answered with gestures and in his broken language, “leopard frightened deer; throw him from high cliff. Ramu pick up and run.”
It was an impressive story: to take a kill away from a leopard was no mean feat; and that too unarmed! The Supervisor tucked this information away for future use. This lad obviously had a lot of talent and jungle lore and could be useful some day.
That night there was a big feast. The Supervisor persuaded Ramu to take as much meat as he liked. Ramu took a chunk and roasted it over the fire without any spices. He then took it into his hut to his family.
That night again Ramu and his family had to go into the forest to sleep as the men were making too much noise; and that night again Jagdish and Hiraram crept into Ramu’s hut late at night only to find it as empty as on the previous occasion. Neither of them had the acuteness of observation to realize that to surprise Ramu would require more stealth and jungle lore than would be required to surprise a wild deer.
~~~
The Supervisor realized that Hiraram and Jagdish were not going to give up on their plan to hurt Ramu. He decided he had better intervene and have a talk to the two men. He would have to allow them to have their revenge, but with it under his control, he would be able to restrain the men to just beating up the lad and not maiming him for life or accidentally killing him. He sent word calling the two men over to his tent. These were good workers who kept out of trouble and generally kept a low profile. He would have to be strong and force them to see that a token revenge would be all that should be required. After all, two grown men beating up a virtual boy would not be seen as a very heroic act, especially as Ramu had already made a conciliatory gesture by bringing a whole beast for them and of which the two men had also partaken.
The men listened to the Supervisor’s harangue with apparent seriousness, nodding their heads every now and then. At the end of the talk, they were free to go back to work.
Jagdish and Hiraram lifted the flap and stepped out of the Supervisor’s tent to make their way to the workplace in single file, skirting large thorny bushes. The others stopped chopping logs to look at the two. No one said a word. Jagdish looked around and addressed his colleagues:
“The Supervisor Sahib has told us that we have his okay to thrash that barbarian half ape Ramu. What a laugh! As though we needed his approval for this, he does not understand that we have already forgiven the boy his impudence. He is ignorant and does not know the danger he exposed himself to by pushing us. Anyway, he has since apologized to the two of us (a lie) and that is why we accepted the gift he brought. He is a cleaver lad in some ways, I must admit. He must have realized that life would be hell if he wasn’t contrite and didn’t make amends.”
Jagdish’s chest pumped out more and more as he spoke. He really began to believe what he was saying. Hiraram looked at him in wonder at first, but soon caught on and straightened his back to stand tall as well.
Someone sniggered at the back, a muffled half snigger. Jagdish spun around, “If any of you are disillusioned enough to doubt my fighting prowess, come out now and be man enough to stand before me!”
“Shut up! You blithering idiot and beat it from here!” shouted the foreman standing up threateningly. “Whom are you trying to bloody impress? Cut out your posturing and get back to work before I kick your miserable asses out of here!”
And that ended the fun the men were looking forward to.
Puran
Puran, the elder of Ramu’s two children, was like all teenagers worldwide, very curious of all things around him. He was especially fascinated with the men now working in the forest. He would creep out of the hut some nights to just see and hear them talking. The men had noticed the lad sitting in the shadows, just sitting and staring at them. They motioned to him to come forward, but the lad would just sit there and then at some time during the night would slink away. Jagdish and Hiraram too noticed the lad. A plan slowly took form in their minds. They discussed it in hushed tones.
One-night, by the grey light of a half moon, young Puran ventured to Jagdish’s side. Jagdish had been waiting for this. He pulled out a sweet from his pocket and offered it to Puran who looked at it but could not make out what it was. Jagdish took the wrapper off and popped it into Puran’s mouth. Puran was staggered! He had never experienced such a taste! He tested and tasted it with his tongue. It was like honey but so much better. He kept taking it out of his mouth, looking at it and smelling it.
From then on he kept visiting Jagdish and a little bond grew between them. One night Jagdish introduced him to a bidi: “Just take a small puff.” he coaxed. Puran did and coughed persistently gasping for air. “You’ll get used to it, and then you will experience the pleasure of smoking!” Puran, in time, did get used to it. Puran never told his father about smoking; he just felt his father would disapprove. But it is not easy to keep a secret from someone who is a master of stealth and covert observation.
Ramu observed and saw his son smoking and wondered at it; weather it was good or bad Ramu had no idea. It was just something his son was doing. Ramu knew he himself could never smoke –the smell of the bidi nauseated him. He noticed that his son never mentioned it to him. He wondered at that. The lad was growing up and needed to keep his own council he concluded.
One late evening Jagdish and Puran layback against a fat log and stared up at the stars in the sky, passing a bidi between them. Jagdish reached over, picked up Puran’s hand and placed it over his own genitals. Puran was startled but kept his hand there thinking Jagdish was about to teach him something new again. Puran felt Jagdish’s manhood rising and his own libido started to react in a way he had never experienced before. Soon he was breathing heavily! Jagdish fondled the lad’s young hard penis, manipulating it expertly.
That night Jagdish taught Puran how to masturbate!
Ramu saw it all.
Peri was very uncomfortable that night. She tossed and turned until Ramu asked her what the matter was? “I don’t know I’m getting strange feelings about Puran. Go and see what is happening.”
When Ramu crept up to where Puran and Jagdish were lying against the log, Puran was in a heightened state of sexual excitement; Ramu did not know what to make of it. He saw no malevolence so withdrew stealthily.
He related to Peri what he had seen and the reason for Peri’s telepathic anxiety. Peri sat wide-eyed and puzzled. She looked at Ramu for guidance but Ramu could offer no explanation. Ramu saw a vague unhealthy aura around Jagdish, but nothing strong or definable. Husband and wife both puzzled over this.
Puran met his parents and sister as they were making their way to the forest in the grey before daybreak. Puran knew instinctively that his parents knew about last night. He reasoned, therefore, he would have to make no explanations. Moreover, what explanation could he give? It would be impossible to describe the experience. It was just as well that they could communicate their feelings without words: just feelings that they floated to each other.
The family spent the next three days in the forest: it was very comfortable sleeping in their vine and stick entwined hammocks. The family was also trying to adjust to Puran who was withdrawing into quietness. Mentally he was blocking all messages and just not communicating. At the end of the third day, Ramu told Puran to go back and they would soon be following. Puran obeyed with alacrity and was soon gone. The family decided they would follow a little later.
~~~
Puran sought out Jagdish. Together they walked to the Jhari River that was almost dry at this time of year. They walked across the dry sand to some large rocks under which some pools of tadpole-infested water lay. They sat on the rocks that retained heat from the setting sun. There was a nip in the air now; winter was not far. They lay back on the rock absorbing its warmth.
Jagdish fetched a bidi from his pocket and lit it. Puran, being forest alert, saw from the corner of his eye, a very young black bear cub come around the corner of the rock. Puran’s senses were immediately at full alert. He leapt up and crouched in readiness! He looked around carefully for he knew the mother would be close by to watch over such a small cub. Jagdish saw Puran’s stance and panic flooded his mind. He floundered on the rock looking left and right frantically trying to rise, he knew something was wrong, but what could it be? His adrenaline was pumping hard freezing him to the spot.
The mother bear came up behind Jagdish’s head. She grunted once, grabbed Jagdish by the head, and threw him off the rock. She then jumped down on to his chest, grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him towards the forest - grunting and howling in a high-pitched roar!
Puran was stunned for a moment with what was happening. He then let out a blood curdling half man half-animal scream and charged! The bear surprised and non-plusssed fell back on her haunches. She recognized the tone and pitch of the scream. It only meant one thing: the adversary would attack and fight unto death! The bear was not prepared to fight to death especially now that it saw its cub dart into the forest with perhaps, the biggest fright it had ever had. If the cub was safe, the bear saw no reason to stay and fight, she would rather be tending and checking out the cub.
It backed off – more so when she saw Puran crouching over Jagdish with fury in his eyes and foam on his mouth. There was no fear in the man-child’s face. The bear knew this type of adversary: even if small, it would fight very fiercely and certainly unto death! The bear turned around and headed into the forest.
Ramu and Peri were racing through the forest towards Puran. They had received his scream of fury. They were rushing through the forest at the speed of a strong forest tempest. Both parents knew exactly where they would find Puran and so there was no hesitation in their progress. They broke through to the river’s edge minutes after the bear had backed away. Their joy was great on seeing Puran alive and uninjured. They, however, did not understand the boy’s look of agitated anguish until they saw the seemingly lifeless body of Jagdish. Ramu saw the heavily bleeding injured man and swiftly picked him up in a fire-fighters’ haul and ran towards the forest camp.
The team Supervisor put Jagdish in a jeep to rush him to the nearest hospital. Jagdish was bleeding extensively and his skull looked partly crushed: one eye was gouged out and his shoulder was very badly mauled and mangled. They thanked Ramu perfunctorily for his help whilst the jeep roared off leaving him standing in the dust.
Ramu sat down to take stock. ‘What happened?’ he asked Puran. The boy gave a lengthy and detailed report that Ramu mulled over for a while.
“You’ve been a fool and you know it, right?” The boy had no words and hung his head in shame.
“You jolly well know you should never loiter around a water hole especially in the late afternoon and doubly so when the weather is so dry! Animals will naturally want to come to the waterhole for a drink after the long day. How could you make such a blunder? And I thought you were now fit to look after yourself in the forest. Even had the bear and cub not come to the water, your friend’s presence would keep the animals away from the water and you have no right to do that.”
Living in Town
Puran moved in with Jagdish to a small, bare, whitewashed, two-roomed apartment at the edge of a small rural town not far from the forest.