Chapter 3

The night was unbearably sultry. Matongini tossed and turned in her mat as she found it impossible to sleep. After several attempts when she realised sleep would continue to evade her she came out of her room to sit on the balcony outside her house.

This was her sole possession in the world. Other than Shuddho, Amodini and this small two-storied enclosure, there was nothing else that she could call her own. The house comprised a slanting tin roof covering two small rooms that were encased within walls of thick corrugated tin sheets. Matongini and Amodini lived in one while Shuddho had ensured that the other would be exclusively his. Woven bamboo sheets that had turned black and grimy with age and neglect were used to form the doors and windows of the two rooms. Thick wooden stilts made from the trunk of the Sal trees, held up the whole structure. A flight of rickety wooden planks acted as stairs leading up to the two rooms on top. A rusted tin sheet was placed over the stairs to provide a cover from the rain and sun. The space between the stilts below the rooms were fenced off with the same bamboo sheets to form Matongini’s small kitchen. A narrow area in front of the rooms, lined with cane sticks forming a criss-cross pattern and were nailed together to act as a weak balustrade, formed the slight balcony.

It was here that Matongini now sat. She was finding the warm sultry air to be unusually disturbing. As she tilted her head backwards to drain the water down her parched throat, her eyes caught a glitter in the distance. It was just a blur and Matongini thought it was lightning that was heralding the onset of an untimely shower.

“God be praised!” she exclaimed. “He knows how much we need this blessing of rain to quench our parched souls and lands.”

As she waited to feel the moist touch of rain kissed winds, she was surprised as the winds grew drier and the glitter in the distance grew larger in size. Soon Matongini’s experience helped her fathom what her ageing eyes failed. She realised what was happening and shrivelled up in fear as she witnessed the fury of a forest fire devouring the forests and fast approaching their village.

Her fear turned to panic when she felt the first tremble beneath her feet. At first, Matongini thought it was an earthquake. The whole earth it seemed was trembling beneath the wrath of something more terrible than the impending fire. Other people had started coming out of their houses. Children were screaming and wailing in fear of an unknown danger. It was as if the pronounced angst on the face of their parents were enough to warn them that life would not remain the same again. Women had started collecting their essential belongings preparing for the worst nightmare of their life.

Matongini did not know what to do. She was about to wake up Amu, her only valuable she could think of carrying with her in emergency, when she saw the massive shape of an elephant’s head silhouetted against the flickering flames. As her eyes got used to the blinding light that was gradually gaining in speed and size, she could make out more heads and realised that the herd was on a rampage.

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Amu had woken up at the first tremor. Unlike Matongini, Amodini knew what it meant.

Mata!’

She sat bolt upright on her mattress as the realisation struck her.

She knew it was her. She could identify the intensity of the step anywhere. She came out to stand at the head of the stairs leading to their door. It was then that she saw the fire in the distance and her happy thoughts turned dark. She knew now why Mata was here and realised that the matriarch was not in one of her happy moods.

It was Owui who caught her hand in a steely grip as she stepped out of their room. The old woman’s hands were moist with tears and the sweat of fear. She gripped Amu’s hands not to console but rather to be consoled. Not to protect but to be protected. Her eyes riddled with fear pleading with her. It was as if she knew in some way that Amu alone could save them from this carnage.

As the elephants entered their village trampling one house after another like mere matchsticks, people scattered in all directions to save themselves from the wrath of the mammoths. The herd was in a total disarray chased by the leaping flames that drove them to a frenzy. Their calm riverside rendezvous could no longer be matched with this madness. Their fear draped in a shroud of fury created havoc. They thrashed, stamped and hollered proclaiming their dire need to survive.

Amu knew she had to stop this. She knew Mata did not want this. It was the fear of survival that was making her do this. Perhaps with a desperate need to stop Mata from creating more destruction Amu ran down the rickety stairs of her house.

To the shock and bewilderment of the whole village, and especially Matongini, Amu came to stand in front of the biggest elephant in the herd, who they assumed was their leader. The pachyderm was in a full gallop and Matongini screamed for Amu to get out of her way.

Amu stood her ground with her gaze fixed on Mata. As the matriarch approached, Matongini could not help but stare at her granddaughter. She stood straight with her hair flowing all around her in a huge halo of curly locks. Her eyes were shining brightly with tears but held a strange calmness in them. Her lips were moving in a strange pattern. Matongini, for one moment, thought, she heard Amu singing but dismissed it immediately, thinking that fear must be making her lose her sanity.

The villagers looked on in awe as the Matriarch slowly slackened her pace and came to stand in front of Amu breathing heavily. As the girl gently placed her trembling fingers on Mata’s trunk she could feel the elephant’s restless breathing throbbing through them. After what seemed a long time, the beast lowered its head and placed its trunk on the floor in front of Amu.

As the village looked on with awe, Amu stepped on the trunk and clung on to it. The elephant gradually lifted her trunk and Amu scrambled up her head easily as if she had been doing it every day. She sat astride her large neck gently stroking her head. The elephant got up as if on cue and started walking towards the jungle. The rest of the herd, having stopped their rampage, silently followed their leader.

The carnage was prevented.

The villagers stood rooted to their spot as they beheld the spectacle playing out in front of them forgetting their broken belongings for the moment.

Amu, however, was oblivious to her surroundings. She sat on Mata straddling the broad back of the elephant effortlessly as the matriarch ambled into the jungle. Matongini stood speechless as tears streamed down her cheeks. The rain started pouring down on them in brisk, uneven drops as the heavens celebrated Amu’s homecoming.

To be continued…

Chapter 2

Chapter 4 – Preview
Shrikant, an investigative journalist based out of Kolkata reaches Chilapata to investigate the forest fire. However, more than just getting a story for his Newspaper, Shrikant needs to find out the truth behind the whole episode. Will he be able to find the right answers?
Read in Next Week’s Post.

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