Vinayak Sir: 1.2 An Encounter of a Special Kind. (Explanation) Std 10th Year 2018-19

1.2 An Encounter of Special Kind

My father was a medical professional working for a private company in Raniganj in West Bengal. The officers of the company were housed in individual bungalows inside a large campus. Our house was in a corner of the campus. The officer's club was adjacent to the boundary wall of our garden. the compound was luxurious with green grass, colourful flowers, and o host of tall and majestic trees. The seasonal vegetables in the kitchen gardens of the households and the magnificent trees constantly attracted squirrels and many species of birds; a group of langurs had even made their den in an aswatha tree nearby. They had all become a part and parcel of our existence and daily life.

A small incident on a Saturday afternoon left a profound effect on me and unfolded before my eyes as a whole new dimension to the wonders of God's creation. It was a few days into the Puja vacation. Just like for any other child, the holidays provided an opportunity for me to become engrossed in various magazines and storybooks published specially for children in the festive season.

After a hearty lunch, my parents and my younger sisters lay down for an afternoon nap and I settled down with a storybook. The quiet afternoon presented the perfect backdrop for reading an adventure story. The silence was occasionally broken by the sound of my family snoring, the intermittent chirping of house sparrows, the harsh cawing of a crow the shrill call of a kite flying high above the ground. Minutes ticked by. I became deeply absorbed in the book.

Understanding the text :

The story takes us in the flashback, around sixty-five years ago. The narrator recalls an incident from his childhood/teenage days.

He tells about his family and the area where they lived years ago where the green grass and tall trees and bushes of colourful flowers were around the house. All these things attracted the birds and squirrels, and even some groups of langurs (monkeys). They made their habitat around the narrator’s house. Moving of these animals around the house became part of their daily life.

In this text, we come across the incident which took place in the life of the narrator giving him a new life experience about the wonders of God and Nature.

Suddenly, I heard a group of street dogs barking furiously in the distance. I chose to ignore the commotion thinking that the pack of dog,. might have cornered a hapless pig. But soon, the barking became louder and more aggressive and the alarmed cowing of a flock of crows added to the cacophony. I also heard the disturbance approaching closer.

Curiosity got the better of me. Leaving the book aside, I rushed to the veranda to see what was going on.

I glanced towards the roof of the clubhouse and saw something horrible. A big male langur. apparently, the leader of its group was holding a baby langur in his hands and mercilessly biting it all over with a definite intent to kill. The helpless mother of the baby and other lesser members of the langur group were scattered on the roofs of the buildings nearby watching the baby being killed. I recalled the terrible custom in the animal clan according to which a dominant male usually does not allow another male baby or adult to survive within its group.

Understanding the text :

When the narrator was so young and so busy reading books in vacations. He suddenly heard the noise of barking of the stray dogs he thought that it was just a common everyday thing but that commotion went on increasing with the cawing of the crows, that noise was approaching closer and closer.

The eagerness of the narrator took him to the veranda to have a horrible sight. A big langur, the leader of the langur group, was biting a small baby langur injuring him with intent to kill him. Others, including baby langur's mother, we're just watching it helplessly. The narrator recalled the custom in the animal’s clan, where the dominant male doesn't allow any male to survive, even a baby male member....... And the big langur was eliminating his small, innocent, frail competitor.

Without losing any time. I gathered a stout stick in one hand and hurled a piece of stone at the marauding langur. The langur was so infuriated that it hardly took any notice of my assault. But then I started throwing more stones. The dogs on their part raised their pitch of cry.

The changed circumstances and the sudden unexpected attack from unknown quarters forced the langur to drop the baby from the sloping roof over the veranda. The baby was listless and appeared to be dead. As its body started to slide down, the excitement of the pack of dogs grew manifold at the prospect of the good kill and meal. Keeping dogs at bay with the stick, I managed to catch hold of the baby langur's tail just as it tipped over the edge of the tiled roof. The baby appeared inert and lifeless. It was indeed a male baby.

Understanding the text :

The big langur left the half-dead baby langur when the narrator attacked him by throwing stones at him. The baby langur was rolling down the roof. The dogs were barking and waiting for their meal below the roof. Somehow the narrator managed to get hold of the baby langur. But the male baby was motionless.

By this time, my parents and sisters had come out on to the veranda and were witnessing my rescue operation. Some of our neighbours had also gathered in the distance.

I took the baby langur to our backyard and gently laid him on the floor inside the poultry coop. His body was full of deep bite marks and scratched. Blood was oozing from some of the wounds. The baby remained motionless. My father provided first aid to clean the wounds and stop the bleeding. I was relieved to find out that the baby was breathing, even though his breaths were shallow.

Splashes of cold water made the baby stir and after a few shaky attempts, he sat up. He was in a state of shock and started trembling like a leaf in the wind. His two little twinkling eyes welled up with tears and he started to sob with a muffled cry - just like a human child would after experiencing trauma. I offered him a peeled banana which he accepted with his unsteady hand and began taking hesitant bites.

All people gathered.the baby was still lifeless bites all over the body and it was bleeding from everywhere.the narrator and his father tried to stop the bleeding. the baby was alive, splashes of water made him conscious. it was frightened and shivering with fear. the baby didn't understand what had happened, it was welling up like a human baby. It ate the banana offered by the narrator.

Understanding the text :

By then the narrator's family members and neighbours came around. The baby was still bleeding. The narrator with his father and applied medicines on the wounds of the baby langur. The baby was alive, though it was breathing shallow. Finally, when the baby langur awoke he was shocked and sobbing with tears in his eyes, just like a human baby. After some time he was eating a banana hesitantly, offered by the narrator.

My attention was fixed on the revival of the baby langur. Suddenly, I had an uncanny feeling of being watched. I turned away from the coop and looked up. There sat the mother langur on our kitchen roof, watching every move I made. She simply sat there quietly, as if convinced that no harm was being done to her child.

Meanwhile, the baby sensed the presence of his mother and started to sob and cry a little louder. I retreated from the door of the coop to allow the mother access to her baby.

Understanding the text :

When the narrator was observing the baby langur he sensed that someone was watching him. It was no one else but the baby langur's mother watching from the kitchen roof and she was looking at the narrator and was convinced that he was not going to harm her baby. The baby also sensed the presence of his mother and his sobs increased. The narrator made way to allow the mother to approach the baby.

Immediately, the mother descended on the floor of the coop and picked up the baby in her arms. She gave the baby a thorough body inspection to check his injuries and then cuddled him tightly in her bosom. The baby found great solace in her caring arms. The mother sat still with the baby in her lap for a few minutes. It was almost as if she was pondering over her options and trying to figure out how she could keep the baby safe from further assault.

For a few seconds, the mother langur looked straight into my eyes. Even today, I cannot forget that look in her eyes, showering silent gratitude on me for saving her child. I was overwhelmed by the emotion, the sentiment, and the way she said thanks to me. There sat a universal mother holding a stricken child in her lap.

Then, in a flash, she jumped with her baby clinging to her belly and reached our kitchen roof. She surveyed the area for the vicious male langur and then leapt away in the direction opposite to the place of the violent encounter.

Understanding the text :

The mother langur came quickly on the floor and took the baby in her arms. She inspected the baby's injuries and held the baby close to her bosom, the baby found the security and stability in the arms of the mother. The mother langur waited there for some time and considered the safety of the baby.

After that, she looked in the narrator's eyes as if she was showing her gratitude to him for saving her baby. The narrator was overwhelmed by the way of speechless gratitude, emotions, and sentiments. Whether animals or humans some feelings and emotions are the same. We get the feeling of a human mother in the mother langur, which is same everywhere in the world. So, the mother is called as Universal Mother, with its feelings for the child being universal.

At the end, the mother langur escapes from the place away from the wicked male langur.

The brief meeting with the mother and the baby langur convinced me that interspecies communication and mutual trust are indeed a reality and should anyone strike the right chord, the relationship hums into action. The mother langur showed me that food was not the only means of communication between man and animal but that there were other means of establishing a bond through trust, compassion, and mutual understanding.

Fifty-five years have passed since that day. I am now seventy years old. But I still fondly remember that 'encounter of a special kind'.

Understanding the text :

This incident tells that, food is not only the way of communication between the man and animal but mutual trust is also important for the communication.

After seventy long years also the narrator remembers the encounter, The encounter of a special kind.