The Great Downpour

Chapter X

Chapter X

The buses reached the main tourist entrance of Pench National Park at around 10:35 a.m. They had covered a distance of over 100 kilometres in just over 2 ½ hours, a remarkable feat, the overcast sky, intermittent rain and somewhat poorly maintained roads with potholes notwithstanding.

From the main gate, the buses were guided under escort to the compound that housed the Forest Officer’s Bungalow, his offices and sundry other outhouses and buildings. The space for parking the buses was at the back of the compound, and after the students got down, the buses were driven into the parking lot. From the parking area to the assembly area was a walk of about a quarter of a kilometre and a crucial part of this was over a deep gorge that ran 50 feet below. The bridge that crossed this gorge was made from ropes and wooden slats, and it looked so insecure that the students took great care not to look down at the gushing water below as they held on to the side ropes and made the crossing.

Having crossed safely, the students, and later, the staff, loitered around the area till all of them had reached the courtyard. The Principal directed the students and his staff to stand loosely in a circle around the flagpole situated in the centre. The students stood, 15-20 rows deep, and awaited the call of the Principal for further action. There was much talking and noise as the organizing of nearly 600 students is a fairly time-consuming task. The other professors, teachers, assistants and peons all came up to help in the task, and within a half-hour, the students had all formed groups among themselves and were raring to go into the deep forest.

There were some who did not want to waste any more time. They were already aboard some of the jeeps marked “tourist” above the bonnets. There they stretched their legs and loafed around. While this was going on, the Principal began to address his students.

“I am not going to repeat whatever I have already reiterated yesterday in the college. Just remember to stay with the guides and not venture out where we cannot reach you. Some of you may have already tried to call someone or the other on your mobile phones and discovered the bitter fact that there is no mobile service in and around the precincts of the National Park. I think the only link with the outside world is within this compound and nowhere else within the surrounding 1000 square kilometres. Hence, I suggest that you switch off those pesky things and keep them deep inside your carry-bags. It is time to enjoy your communion with nature. The forest officer should be with us soon. He will guide us as to the further program of sight-seeing.”

The Principal stepped down from the make-shift platform of bricks that he had stood on while delivering the above “lecture”. As he did so, one of his teachers, Lalita Agrawal came forward with a dignified looking uniformed man. The officer shook his hand with the Principal and the two were introduced formally as,

“Our Principal, Fr. Anthony Mascarenhas, Sir,” and this, Father, is the Chief Forest Officer Inspector-in-charge Jankilal Shastri”, said Lalita.

“Pleased to meet you Father,” said the Officer.

“Likewise, Sir,” replied the Principal.

“How many students are there in all?” enquired the Officer.

This time, Philoo Braganza stepped forward with a clipboard on which there were many full scape sheets.

“There are 576 students, Sir, and 33 staff members, not counting Father,” she said.

The Principal was looking at the Officer against the glare of the rising sun, but just for a moment he thought that an unspoken message passed from Mrs. Braganza to the Officer Mr. Shastri. Must be a trick of light, he thought as he began to pay attention once more to the conversation.

“Okay, that means we will have to make three to four trips with each of my vehicles to give a chance to all the students and your staff to observe the wildlife in Pench. The first trips will start in half an hour. It will take approximately an hour. Thereafter, there will be two or three more rounds after a rest of about fifteen minutes in between. I think that should finish all the students by 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. Students who do not wish to go for whatever reasons are free to stay here or visit the small Museum that is located yonder,” he pointed to a small one-floor structure that was about 100 yards away. You should allow the students to have their breakfasts right away while I organize the first tour. Tell them to have lunch on their own at a place and time of their convenience, but without spoiling or littering the park. The Park closes at 6:00 p.m., so I expect everyone back by 5:30 p.m. I hope that is clear to you all …”

The Officer was using a hand-held megaphone, so everybody heard him all right. As he was winding up, a series of loud growling sounds could be heard. The Officer immediately took out his radio hand-set and summoned his deputy to him.

Inspector Dubey came out of the Office and approached his superior.

“Yes Sir?”

“Dubey, just go out into the Park with one of your hawaldars and check out the tigers. They sounded pretty close to me.”

“Sir.” The inspector was middle-aged and stood casually, as if deliberately insubordinate towards the C.F.O. He paused and asked, “Anything else?”

“No, that will be all, Dubey.”

The inspector turned on his heels and went back to the Office bungalow.

The C.F.O. picked up the megaphone and put it back to his lips.

“I think we should begin the Trip of Discovery, Round 1, at,” he paused and looked at his wrist-watch, “about 11:30 a.m. Fine?”

Father Mascarenhas nodded his head and offered his thanks and his hand to the C.F.O. The two parted company, with the Officer retreating to the Office bungalow. The Principal instructed his subordinate staff to set up a distribution table and begin doling out the breakfast packets to the students as fast as possible.

Soon, everyone was busy, and the students began to eat their dry breakfasts of chapatis/puris with stir-fried masala potatoes. In the meantime, the jeep and the minibus drivers began arriving, along with a pair of policemen to each vehicle. The compound began to fill up with uniforms. With about ten minutes to go before the departure of the first jeep, the shooting began.

***

What sounded at first like the sound of a car back-firing grew into a crescendo of gunfire that had almost everyone in the compound by surprise. Well, almost everyone.

The students dropped their packets and some of the weaker-hearted ones began to panic and started running here and there at the recognition of the first gun-shot. The surprising thing was that amidst the melee, no one knew where the gunshots had begun from; still less, no one knew who had fired the guns.

Sandesh was just outside bus No. 13 with his group when the sharp sounds of firing guns hit him.
“That isn’t any car, Sunny, those are the sounds of …” he began, but Sunny cut him short.

“I know. Those are the sounds guns make when their load is discharged … how many guns do you think, Sandy?”

“Seven, maybe eight … who knows? They are, in any case, too many for us to take any comfort …” replied Sandesh.

The girls, Rati, Bhairavi, Nazima and Seeta were already looking very scared. Among the boys, Sandesh was, as usual, assuming the role of the leader while Sundeep had just named himself deputy leader. While Yash looked composed, Chand, Muhammad and Farhad looked worried and were talking among themselves during the lull that followed the first burst of firing.

Just as it seemed that the firing had ended, there was a sound of galloping horses. A group of men, their faces covered with large scarves, suddenly arrived on horses through the inner gate that opened into the Park. The group was being led by a huge man on horseback. He had penetrating eyes and a searching look. He took in the entire college crowd in his glance. Looking at the white-robed man who stood in front of all the men and women, he correctly surmised that this was their Principal. He boomed: “Nobody moves. If anyone does, he is dead. Understand?”

The Picnic was over before it had begun.

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