The Jungle Book - whispers from the ashes

They say, in your final moments, your entire life flashes in front of your eyes, before they are sealed shut forever. I can safely say, that is partly true. For me,  I remembered my mother.

My most early memories of her are hazy recollections now. But what I am today, is all because of her. Not only did she nurture us, nourish us, but she taught us everything we needed to know to survive. She taught us to feed ourselves. The mantra was simple - Hunt or Starve. It wasn't easy and it took months of training to understand the one most important skill, the skill of being invisible. And it is not easy when the forest isn't your best friend, with keen eyes on treetops and loud hooves on the ground, the jungle had a voice that announced your every move. Imagine trying to deceive that. But that is how nature intended it to be, so we'll fight it out. To this day, there are a lot of times when the stomach goes without food and you drag your paws from one place to another, progressively weaker but with no choice, but to collect every ounce of energy to find the next meal.

It was one such time. Food was scarce. I can still recall the growls of the angry, empty stomach echoing in my head. Wandering about in the forest for food, I stumble upon an unfamiliar scent. My stomach lurches as I am slowly drawn towards the unfamiliar aroma. I find a strange being nestled in a cave. I hadn’t seen one like him before. He walked on two feet, and was much smaller than the regular animals I have hunted before.

Instinct is nature's voice in your head, and I could feel it lure me towards this creature. Stealthily, I make a run for the meat. But I wasn't prepared me for what happened next.

As I managed to hold him, he flung something yellow and gold, which later came to be known as the red flower, at me. At that moment, I felt an agony that I couldn’t imagine possible. Frightened and in excruciating pain, I fled. For days and weeks, I lay curled up in my den, struggling to deal with this pain that was so foreign yet coursed through my veins, igniting every cell in my body. I tried nursing the open wounds, spending nights on end in sleepless misery, hoping to get better. I had no food, no water and I pulled on for what seemed like an eternity. I couldn’t go out and find food, I started to feel weaker and more emaciated with every passing day. And then, slowly, the pain started to leave my body as the wounds closed into a horrid scar across my face. I slowly recovered and stepped out seeing the sun after days, shielding my face from it. 

Struggling, limping I reach the waterhole for a quick swig. I could see the penetrating stares of others as they watched and whispered. And then all of a sudden, I could feel my stomach drop.  I see the same creature in the heart of the jungle, but that wasn't it. I stood in disbelief watching him being protected and cared for, while I had become the outcast, the bad guy. Now what would someone in my position feel but for a sense of unfairness and blinding fury? 

The rest is a story known to all.

As I fall to my death, rejoiced by all, forever lost in time and immortalised as the antihero, the outcast,  I see my life flash in front of my eyes, but only that one fateful night. And I perish with just one thought - What did I do wrong, mother?

In my head, this I think would be SherKhan's elegy, a eulogy denied.

But thank god it is just a fable right? Unfortunately, what is a figment of my imagination is todays’ unfortunate reality. We are slowly walking into their lands. One step, one tree, one forest at a time.

Habitat loss is a cruel antithesis for animals. Be it birds, mammals or amphibians.

As we slowly encroach into their territories, closing in on their homes, we either drive them towards extinction or drive them towards madness. In both scenarios, we make them invisible or we make them the bad guys.

Imagine having an intruder come into your home, and not only throw you out but hurt you in the process of eviction. And during this ordeal, if you do happen to retaliate, you are deemed to be an aggressive anti-social element and are dealt with as a threat. That is exactly what habitat loss means to them.

Ignorance is bliss and probably a blessing for all mankind, and as we sit warm and content in the safety of our homes, a funny thought mushrooms in my mind. A different end to the tale of SherKhan. Where mowgli says – “ I am sorry for my father, he was at the wrong place at the wrong time and he hurt you to protect me. You only did what came naturally to you, but so did he. We shouldn’t have been there in the first place” And SherKhan having finally felt understood, walks away, leaving mowgli in harmony with his friends. 

Now wouldn’t that be a good world where mankind, nature and the wild coexist in harmony. What could be a fortunate reality is today only a figment of my imagination.

#junglebook #habitatloss #SherKhan #Elegy