The missed encounter

Now that your dinner is over, you can have your campfire. Be ready by seven tomorrow. You will enjoy your trek to chengaltheri, said the forest guard. The audience were a group of thirty student from Chennai escorted by the principal and three teachers. They had arrived at the guest house at thalaiyanai at the foot hills of western ghats near kalakkad in tirunelveli district, only an hour earlier.

    ‘how far is chengaltheri from here?’ asked one of the students.

    ‘it is a thirteen kilometre trek from here and we are climbing from the eastern side of the hills. You are likely to see deer and bison on the way. If you are lucky you may sight a leopard. Your principal will give you all instructions after the campfire.’ He then turned to the principal and said, ‘said, once the campfire is over, see that nobody comes out in the night. Wild animals may be on the prowl. Let us go round the guest house.’

 The principal and the teacher went with him. He took them around the guest house and showed them a stream. ‘this is the stream from pachaiyar. There is a pipe with the open end at a place higher than the guest house roof so that water is supplied to the guest house. As long as there is water in the stream you will get water in the guest house.’

  They then walked towards the backyard of the guest house. ‘there are two halls in the guest house and one of them has a bathroom attached. The other one has a bathroom outside which can be reached by a rear door. Unfortunately the halls do not have a common door. You have to come out and then enter in.’ suddenly the principal noticed that on the ground in the backyard there were depression in the shape of a dinner plate. The guard noticed it and said ‘they are the footprints of elephants. A horde of them were here the day before yesterday.’

  The group came to the front of the building. The students were ready for the campfire. The guard bade goodnight to all and left for the check post which was two kilometres away. The campfire was lit and there were games and songs after an hour or so the students put out the campfire and the principal started giving instruction for the next day.

  ‘all of you must be ready by six with your ruck sack. We will prepare tea. Packed breakfast will arrive with the guard. During the trek no Walkman or singing of songs will be allowed. You must keep your eyes and ears open and mouth shut. Move only in groups. If you happen to see anything, first raise your hand. Don’t shout. Often……..’

  It was then they heard the piercing shriek of an animal. It was blood-curdling and one could recognize that it was a mixture of agony and fear. Everyone stood still. Horror could be seen on faces. The principal cut short his speech and said, `all of you get back to your rooms. No one will come out till I give a call in the morning.` he then turned to the teacher in charge of the other hall and said, ‘Mr. vikram, see that everyone goes to sleep and do not allow them to come out.’ After ensuring that everyone had gone to his room he called the master and said, ‘if there is an emergency just check up through the window to see that no animal is on the prowl. Then comes out and knock my door three times thrice, which no animal can do. If need arises I will call you out, the same way, good night.’

  Both of them ensured that the latches were secure and the principal went into the room that had the rear door. Student occupied the two tier bunk bed. Soon most of the student went to sleep and a few were talking In whispered tones. In the silence the sound of insects and the flowing stream could be well heard. The principal was making a few entries in his diary. After about ten minutes a sound resembling the metal against wood was heard. Everyone thought that was the noise of the ramshackle bed shacking. After a few minutes the same sound was repeated.

  ‘narayan, don’t shake the bed. You are disturbing everyone.’

  ‘I did not do anything sir.’

  The same time the sound was heard once again. The principal got up and went towards the bed near the rear door. Undoubtedly the noise was from the other side of the door

  ‘who is there?’ ,the principal asked raising his voice.

  A few heads looked at him front the beds. In a swift move the principal went to a window near the rear door negotiating his way through the beds. Gently opened the window and peered into the darkness and he saw the silhouette of the rear portion of an animal. He switched on the flash light.

  Good  god!

  ‘what happened sir?’ curious voices of the few students were heard.

  ‘sh…….sh……’the principal asked them to be silent and whispered, ‘nothing to worry. It seems we have a visitor. It is a black bear’.

  The rattling continued. It was very clear to everyone that the visitor was a bear. It was just knocking at the door from outside. The students gathered near the window and peered out. They were able to see in the flashlight the rear portion of  a bear, towering to a height of a six feet standing close to the rear door. The knowledge that they were at an arms distance from the bear, just separated by the wall, gave the students an insecure feeling mixed with thrill.

  They turned towards the principal with horror written on their faces.

  ‘sir, is it…….’

  The principal signalled them to be silent and beckoned them to push a heavy table towards the rear door. They obeyed. There was an absolute silence and the rest of the group in the other room were sound asleep. It was for almost half an hour that the sleepless group watched the bear through the window and nothing dramatic happened. Around eleven o’clock the bear took a right turn and looked at the open window. If stared but there was no sign of recognition of its having noticed anybody. The bear almost went running round the building and very soon was at the front of the building. The 25 w filament lamp emitted very little light and it was not sufficient to have a clear view of the animal. The bear picked up a few pieces of charcoal from the put-out camp fire and ran into the darkness. All of a sudden everyone felt lonely.