The Great Downpour

Chapter XX

Chapter XX

It took all of Sandesh’s ingenuity to get the fire started. Although he had been a President’s scout in school and was well aware of how to survive in the forest, he was totally at sea here on account of the rains and the fact that he was ipso facto in charge of his other friends as well.

Once the rain stopped, he set off to get the materials to start a fire. He got hold of two rather good pieces of flint-stones, but it was near impossible to get a dry stick of wood. Finally, after a half-hour search, he saw a horizontal log of wood that was rotten at the centre; inside it, he saw a rather battered wooden keg that must have been left behind by some party – perhaps of dacoits – in the past. He covered the keg with his own jacket and carried it back to where his three friends waited for him. Sandesh used the pieces of flint to set a spark to the bits and pieces of wood that he had arranged in a rough circle of primary and secondary splinters. The wood caught fire after about seven to eight tries. The foursome sat around the flames and absorbed the much needed heat that they had been deprived of since early morning that day.

“Do you think we’ll find the others?” asked Yash.

“I am sure they will be with us before the morning,” said Sandesh hopefully. I sure wish I am right about this, he thought to himself.

His false confidence was correctly read by Bhairavi who smiled at him meaningfully and said, “It is not a given, Sandy. In fact, I am worried about whether they are …”

”Of course, they are alive …” said Muhammad, who remembered Nazima’s beautiful face at that very instant. A lump came in his throat as he prayed to Allah to spare her.

Sandesh saw Muhammad swallowing the “lump” and went and put his hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“I know how you are feeling. I too am worried about Rati,” he said. Muhammad was grateful to Sandesh for understanding him. He hugged his friend as tears of concern rolled down his by now dirty cheeks.

Next, Sandesh sat down next to Yash. His shin was still paining, but the pain had reduced from acute throbbing to a dull, persistent ache that prevented him from moving his leg or his torso at all.

“It will be our first priority to get you to a hospital, my friend,” said Sandesh.

“You are a true leader, Sandy, and I am privileged to have you as a friend.” Yash patted Sandesh’s back and added, “The only thing I am worried about is if it won’t be too late by the time help arrives.”

“Let’s hope for the best,” said Bhairavi whose respect for Sandesh had grown by leaps and bounds in the last few hours. For years, she had gone out with many boys and even older men, but no one measured up to the youthfulness combined with maturity that Sandesh was. She wondered if she was falling for Sandesh. I would love to date him, if only to see and know him from close. The only thing is, he loves Rats. She shrugged away the disturbing thought and sat down to take more heat from the fire.

***

Towards nightfall, Rising Water and his mate began moving downstream from their hiding and mating place. The carcass of the man had been reduced to just a few hanging strips of flesh and bones. The female had sniffed at the unusual prey and taken a few tentative bites initially; she had liked the flesh of a human and the two had finished off the meal over the next eight hours. Their stomachs full, they made love again, after which they decided to move on. Surprisingly, the face of the carcass was almost intact, a fact that would allow for identification of the hawaldar by the search party that the local forest department in charge Inspector Dubey was to send the next day.

Rising Water and his mate growled intermittently as they moved slowly, deeper and deeper into the deciduous forest. En route, the alpha male stopped at a few places to rub his itchy back against the trunks of some rough-barked trees. Sensing the movement of tigers, langur monkeys began sending warnings throughout the forest. Hearing them, the Chittals started barking their warnings for all to hear; the twittering of birds also went up; little by little, the night jungle came alive as smaller animals started moving away form the track of the tigers. The tigers emerged from the canopy of trees into the open scrubland. There was a gentle fall in the landscape in this area where elephant grass and bamboo grew all around, interspersed with a few Khair and fig trees. Growling a bit more sedately, the tigers kept moving forwards, startling a few Sambar deer from their grazing. The deer jumped up in fright and began galloping away from the carnivores. A fox that had ventured close to the tracks received such an urgent threatening growl from Rising Water that he practically raced away into his hole.

By the time the moon had come up at its azimuth, Rising Water and his mate had travelled nearly six kilometres from their starting point. They came to a rest under a banyan tree where they sat down to pass the night away. The tigress curled up next to her mate and closed her eyes blissfully. The male licked her nose gently before sitting down next to her. He too closed his eyes to catch some sleep.

***

It was a full moon night, and Farhad and Nazima were able to navigate towards the flicker of the fire rather easily. In about 35-40 minutes, they had approached it sufficiently to discern that it was a small man-made fire and some human figures were sleeping around it.

“They must be our friends,” said Nazima. Farhad nodded. However, he wanted to make sure that these were not hostile parties. He picked up a fallen tree branch and asking Nazima to stand behind a tree, he proceeded cautiously towards the fire. He never got to use the branch. Just as he reached within 20 metres of the sleeping people, he recognized Bhairavi and Sandesh, who were sleeping with their heads raised and resting on their palms, with the weight of the upper torsos supported on their elbows. The duo was talking in a soft whisper.

“Sandy! Bhairu!” Farhad could not contain his excitement further. He called Nazima and asked her to show herself and come in front and next to him. Yash and Muhammad too got up to greet the two new arrivals. The six of them hugged each other in welcome. It was great to find each other.

They exchanged stories of the day till late night. They did not remember when the stories ended and their sleep began.