One fine evening

The day had been sultry as the sun shone brilliantly over the parched earth. I was hoping that at least the evening would be a little cooler. The whole morning we were busy at the construction site overseeing the operations of the communication and power cables being laid out for our new service building. The workers were sweating it out in the hot sun and they were really a source of inspiration for me to stand there.

As the work came to a close, I gave a sigh of relief. My boss had pressurized me the day before. The Engineering section head was to visit the site tomorrow so the work had to be completed today at any cost. It took not less than ten determined workers and eleven hours before the work seemed to be satisfactorily completed. ‘At last’, I thought, ‘I can breathe easy in the post visit meeting now’. I started planning for the night out with my wife Madhu and our little daughters Shruti and Akhya.

It was about seven when the sun seemed to give up. The sky was full of all kinds of birds flying in various formations and was turning funny shades of blue and orange. The evening seemed to be perfectly poised for a peaceful end. But, it was not to be. The first signs of trouble were beginning to show. The main communication cable, linking the database servers in the service building and those in the main process plant was giving trouble. When the control panel switches were operated the server was not responding. I thought, ‘My boss would be really pleased to pull us tight tonight. There goes my perfect evening’.

We took a second look at the control panel wiring. It took us slightly less than forty-five minutes to do that. Then we again tried to link the servers. They did not respond properly. I was now getting worried. I called my wife at home and explained the situation. Madhu was furious at first. But, finally she agreed to the fact that I was going to be late by a few hours, as often, spoiling our plans. We agreed upon that she would take kids to the shopping mall only if I would come back by eleven. I thanked her for being so generous. I had a tough job on hand. I dared not call my boss.

It was dark by now. Two workers were held back by our contractor to help find the fault. We had to work in the dark now. The area was notorious for snakes and bats. The other things that could bother us were the recent animal attacks in the area not very far from the project site. We were only seven people at the site now including the three security men. It was going to be a long night.

********

We started the work at about eight. The main communication trunk cable was to be inspected while the adjacent cables were not to be disturbed. The workers were digging and we were looking for any surface defects on our cable. Suddenly we heard some noise behind the bushes very near to our place. I directed the torch towards it and called out “Who is there?”

I waited for a moment and then the bushes moved again. Now, everybody on the site got tensed up. “Who is there?” I called again. “Get your arms ready,” I said to the security team and took a rod in my other hand. The workers were also ready with their tools. Everybody was facing the bushes now. Our project site was a bit away from the town. Except for the bright halogen lamps at our site, we could barely see the lights of a near by village. The area surrounding our site had dense foliage with grass and bushes that could cover anything from a snake to a human being. During the day, it did not seem so remote but due to the recent attacks, had put a question mark over the security of humans in the area.

I whispered to my colleague “Yadav, come here. We will see what is there.” The bushes moved again.  This time they moved as if something was trying to struggle out of them. The night was dark and the moonlight was weak. The few halogen lamp posts near the security gate were not of much help. Their dim halo added to the effect. We took a searchlight each and a rod ‘just in case’.

The wind seemed to be colder by the second. My hand was sweating but I was unusually calm. We tiptoed to that bush. It had now stopped shaking. Some funny noise came from behind the bush. It sounded like a snort and a growl. We had stopped at about four feet and searchlights flooded the place with bright light.

Suddenly I saw two gleaming eyes in the bush. I pointed the light towards them and they shone green. It was a wolf for certain. Or, were there more? The area was near to a dense forest, well, actually a sanctuary and so, the sightings of wolves were commonplace. We all stayed frozen. The wolf was also a determined animal. It stood its ground. It could have attacked, I thought, but it might have seen us outnumber it seven to one. We saw another bush had moved the same way now. We knew that it had company as wolves usually have. The moment was tense and only the stronger would survive, I thought. Amazingly, nobody was moving for about a couple of minutes. We kept the searchlights pointing towards those eyes. It was a stale mate. Nobody moved. We all knew that if we backed up now, they would pounce.

We saw another pair of eyes emerging from the other side of the bush. This could be really serious now. But then, how to call for help? The security men had guns. But I had never seen them in use. I thought the security men were also afraid of the same thing. How could they trust their guns if they had never used them? I could hear my heart thumping. The nerves were really tense. The blood was gushing fast. My mind showed me the worst it could, the gory images of attacked people the day before I had seen on the news. “I have to stay calm,” I said to myself. The others might be thinking the same.

Just then, a strange thing happened. One of the wolves started retracting. It went deep in to the bushes and disappeared. The other two looked towards each other and almost agreed to back off. One of my colleagues moved his feet. CRUNCH…the crunching noise of a twig. It seemed so loud at that moment. My heart gave a skip. The wolves had gone the next second.

We stayed where we were for another minute or so. We were not sure if they had gone. I think we had all gone deaf for those moments and had not heard a vehicle approaching. Then, we saw that the company vehicle was coming. I could call it as the happiest moment of that evening. But, how come it came early?

******
The driver Nathu shouted “Saab, what are you looking at in the bushes there?” We all came to normalcy.

“Nathu! Would you believe it? We were facing three ferocious beasts for more than a few minutes,” I said.

“Sahib! That is why Boss sent the vehicle early. The forest authorities had told that there are a few man-eaters roaming loose. You might have seen news last night,” Nathu said. “You were lucky that those beasts did not do anything. How many were they in all?”

“Three I suppose,” said Kirti, who was our company guard, “and I think they were the same man eaters.”

We went silent for a few minutes. The phone rang. It sounded the loudest ring I might have ever heard. It was my boss Mr.Rajaram.
“Hello! I am Rajaram here. Who is there?” he called.
“Good evening sir! I am Tyagi sir.” I stood up hearing him speak.

“Hey man! Are you mad! Don’t you hear the news daily! There are man-eaters on the loose. Let the forest department take care of them and then you dare to work in the night. What are you doing there?”

“Sir! Actually the communications trunk cable had a fault. The control panel is showing discontinuity in the Ethernet link. We were just checking it,” I spoke, thinking of what had come over him.

“Oh! My mistake! My mistake! You are gearing up for tomorrow’s inspection isn’t it? Well let me tell you that it is still scheduled for tomorrow but it was not this urgent! I do not want any accidents. Come to my office now.” He hung up murmuring something like ‘Dare devil Fools’.

“Yes sir,” I said as I hung up.

“The boss was talking coolly! I could barely hear his voice from the speakers,” said Kishore, my fellow engineer at our site.

“Well! Let us wrap up then, the problem can be solved tomorrow” I said and as quickly as we could, we tidied up our site office. I wished the security men a safe night again and again as we boarded the bus. The ride back to our office was an hour’s journey but it passed in complete silence. Nobody spoke a word. Everybody might be thinking of the great escape we had tonight. Those green gleaming eyes, I could see them clearly in my mind. But, as soon as we entered the town borders, the horizon was a bit comforting: the people, the streetlights and the society as a whole. For a second, I forgot what had happened an hour ago. Slowly I came back to my senses. I was normal again. “Funny, isn’t it?” I thought. Man feels safe only in the vicinity of other people. We are essentially social animals.

We reached the office and our boss and others were waiting for us. They were looking a bit worried.
“What happened to you guys? Be careful next time. The man-eaters were spotted not very far from our site this evening. Mr. Kale from our forest department called a few times and I got worried,” Mr. Rajaram was speaking in a sensitive tone.

“Well sir! If I tell you we confronted three of them for more than a few minutes, what would you say?” I heard Kishore saying with that mischievous look on his face.
“Serious Kishore! You are over-adventurous, I know,” said Mr. Rajaram. He was of course taken aback.
“No sir. We did face three wolves at our site. We still cannot believe that we are all unhurt,” I said.
“Hmm. So, you people might be the first ones to escape those. Lucky guys. I hate you when you get lucky but not this time. I thank god that you all are safe.” He said.

Mr. Rajaram’s voice was a bit shaky. He got over it very quickly and said, “So, after the jungle safari, now who would volunteer to work on it tomorrow night?” He was pulling our legs. There was uproar of some sort as so many of us suddenly started talking. He raised his hands “Just joking. I am not that mad. OK! I am a bit mad, of course, but not that much. I do like to pull your legs though. Otherwise you won’t work,” we shared the laugh. It dispersed the tension and spread a jolly mood in the office.

“Please do not tell this to my wife, sir. She will really get worried. I think I will tell her after a few years, let us say when I would turn forty or so. What do you say?” I said to Mr. Rajaram as I took his leave.

“OK! I won’t. But you know, she is a tough girl and smart also. And cooks fantastically too,” He said almost smacking his lips. He had become a fan of her cooking ever since last year’s Diwali dinner.

********
I was not thinking of the wolves while traveling back home. I was just thoughtless. I thought of Shruti and Akhya though, my two little daughters, after some time. They might be asleep by now. The clock showed ten-thirty. Madhu might have fallen asleep on the sofa. I reached home at about ten-forty five. I found the house and everybody nearly as I had thought. Madhu was asleep, but on the dining table instead.

“Hi dear,” I whispered in her ears.
“Oh! You have come,” she yawned as she woke up. “Well as always, the dinner is ready. I bet you have not eaten anything since, let me guess, five right!” she said triumphantly, “my dear baby, why do you do like this?” I couldn’t help as I shrugged and she was right. We had the food as I told her the story. I couldn’t wait till I would turn forty. She listened with a look of incredibility mixed with fear, I might add. But, she took it nicely.

“So, my boy has grown up to face a wolf. Hmm, that is interesting. But, please don’t go hunting them tomorrow OK!” she said and I knew she was relieved. I went to see our two little angels. They were fast asleep, moving a little on their beds. I relieved that I was back at home and could see those two. I took Madhu in my arms, pecked her on the cheeks, “let us go to sleep dear. I have an important day tomorrow,” she smiled and for a moment I forgot all my worries.

THE END