The Bear Story 
It was Dalhousie a beautiful place in Himachal Pradesh in 1969 about 40 years back and I was a kid of 5 years then. My Father was posted there and we were staying in a beautifully located area called ‘Balloon’ which was far away from the main city and in the cantonment. I was a student of Sacred Heart Convent there and in a KG class but I remember each and everything. Our house was surrounded by forests and there were about 10 houses only in Balloon area. The wildlife could be watched both during the day as well as night. In the day one could notice langurs, jackals and at times bears also. In the night one could hear the loud cries of Hyenas and jackals clearly. Not only this everyone locked his door tightly during the nights as I myself had seen my mother shooing away leopards during the night from inside the door through the grill who used to sit like a pet dog in our verandah. They used to frequently come to protect themselves from extreme cold during the winters and used the covered verandah of those old British houses which provided them a good shelter from it.
We had a servant with us named Kishori who was a local from that place and used to come daily from a far of village located about 10 kms away for carrying out his duties . By the time he returned home he would encounter darkness before reaching his village so he carried a big bottle of kerosene with a wick fixed in it which he lighted in darkness to prevent any wild animal from approaching him to avoid any attack by them. The most prominent risk those days was attack of a local bear called ‘Reech’ during the night as it generally ambushed from the rear of its prey as many such cases had come to light. As result of this the villagers avoided going out during the late hours of the day. The area was mountainous and had restricted foot tracks which were used by the villagers and the bear was well aware of these as well on which he used to plan his attacks. There were deep ravines along the foot tracks and some open places on the way to village with a large number of pine trees which gave hissing sound when the wind blew across them making the atmosphere more scary especially for a person travelling alone. Some villagers carried a long stick (Lath) with them when they ventured through that path for their defence in case of any attack. The best way to avoid the attack was to move in groups : the technique which was generally followed by most of them.
Kishori was a good friend of mine and used to play all sorts of games with me, he in fact first taught me how to play ‘Gulli Danda’ (a local game of India played with a small stick and a small oval shaped piece of wood) and would always keep me engaged narrating his interesting and adventurous fables of his village. In return I used to teach him carrom , ludo and my mechano set with which we played indoors when my parents went for the party in the evenings. He would light firewood in the fireplace, and give me milk and pakoras and I alongwith my other friends used to have a gala time. Kishori was about 22 years old then, had an athletic and stout body with short height as generally the people from the hills have. He was a fearless person as he always ventured alone even if it was late at night inspite of our insistence many a times to stay at night. He loved adventure.
Once he left late from our house and did not agree to stop even on our insistence saying that he would join the group of some men enroute and carry on to his village with them and there was nothing to fear since he is used to it. He filled up his empty rum bottle with kerosene right upto the brim inserted a broad and a long wick into it through the pierced lid of the bottle and made his lamp ready. He lighted it to test then switched it off and inserted it in his cloth belt duly secured and kept a matchbox in his kurta (An Indian shirt worn generally by villagers) pocket and wore a pull over it. He also hung a cloth handbag on his shoulders thereafter and started his journey home to his village. It was 6 PM in winters and it had started getting dark. As he reached the start of the forest foot track he waited for sometime for the company and then joined a group of three going towards his village. They all started off their journey which would take about two hours for them to reach their village.
The winds were cold and creating hissing sounds with the pine leaves, the birds were returning home , the cattle were not seen and dog barks at places could be heard giving a feeling of security. The distance of man to man was about 3m and all were moving fast so that they could reach home early before it gets very dark and colder. After covering about three kms two of the villagers turned to other track as they had to proceed at a different place and now only Kishorie with one companion, Ramu were left . Ramu was ahead about 3m from him and he was in his rear. It was nearly dark and the birds chirping had settled down as had reached their nests since it was their rest time .The sound of crickets could be heard and Kishorie lighted his lamp now to face the darkness. On his right was a deep ditch and one could barely hear the sound of the stone thrown from the track into it which indicated its depth. There was pin drop silence and only winds could be heard and felt. On to the left ahead was a plain area of about 30m by 20 m where both of them sat down over a hung branch of the tree grazing the ground for some rest as they had covered about more than half of their journey. Kishorie went to free himself to loo behind the bushes in a half moonlight night and while going there he kept his lamp near the tree where his companion was sitting.
Suddenly Kishorie heard a loud shriek. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! and it was quiet after that: a stunned silence. He immediately called for Ramu, his companion but did not get any reply nor was there any noise of any disturbance of the bushes and grass but a total quiet atmosphere. Kishorie ran towards Ramu and found him lying unconscious with his face bleeding from his neck and temple side. As he was thinking what had happened he heard some movement in the bushes which was advancing towards him. He all of a sudden could see silhouette of a great bear of his height with two sparkling eyes like a torch .There was no way to run except towards the track and the bear suddenly emerged out of the bushes in front of the track starring at him to attack. Kishorie understood the situation and had only one way to escape and that was the village way as we have heard in old stories that the bear does not harm the dead or the body which does not make any movement. He immediately dived on to the plain ground with his face towards the ground covering his head with his arms and back towards the sky. He lied down still with no movement.
The bear came near him advancing slowly, with his nostrils gushing air out of them intermittently and finally reached Kishorie for examining him. Like a dog he sniffed his ear causing tickling sensation in them with his wet nostrils, then his back, his lower back, inner thighs and finally his feet. The bear was smart, and not as the one we heard in stories who would let him off so easily thinking he was a dead man. He with his razor sharp claws pulled kishorie towards him by siderolling him to turn his ventral side up for he wanted to doubly examine him whether he is really dead and harmless or not. Kishorie was rolled and now his stomach was facing the sky and arms over his face which he somehow managed while taking a sideroll so that the bear does not do any damage to his eyes . The bear again sniffed him in his ears and his nose this time .I do not know how long could Kishorie manage to hold his breathe when the bear was sniffing his face but he did succeed. It was easier for Kishorie when the nostrils of the bear went down for his further post mortem examination as he could afford to breathe slowly now. He released the compressed air out of his lungs slowly as the nostrils of the bear were away now near his torso. The most difficult part which Kishorie described me while narrating this incident was the time when the bear touched his nostrils to the bottom of his feet which had shaked him for a while as it became very difficult for him to be still while he poked his nostrils on the base of his feet.
After carrying out the scanning the bear did not attack him but was however still not satisfied since he kept sitting there for some time. Maybe he had some future plans in his mind . He then suddenly got up sniffed kishorie's stomach and then went near the edge of the ditch just about 5 m from the place where Kishorie was lying down. He went there and stood still at the edge of the deep ravine looking at its depth and then in between used to glance at Kishorie by turning his neck to his back watching that if still Kishorie was making any movements. Kishorie was watching him by managing a peep hole between his arms and wondering what the bear had in his mind now. Then he got the idea of what the bear was planning to do . Kishorie guessed that the bear was thinking time and again that if he manages to bring Kishorie by dragging to the edge and push him in to the ravine will kishorie die after falling from such a height or not and he must have guessed it right from his experience. A smart bear indeed.
As this thought came to Kishorie's mind he decided to act immediately before he gets late as now there was no chance of survival if his intuition of bear's plan was rightly guessed. As the bear was bending to see the depth again by moving his front legs ahead more towards the edge with his front body further lowered towards the ditch to have a better view Kishorie got up quietly and ran with full speed towards the bear to gain enough momentum and kicked the bear at his back with his leg with all the strength he had in him and down went the Bear tumbling after into the deep ravine never to be seen again.
He then immediately ran towards Ramu ,sprinkled water from his water bottle and wiped his face with wet cloth who came to senses and was slowly out of shock but had severe bruises on the back of his neck. He helped him walk for the remaining part of the journey and with the help of that lamp and a stick they both managed to reach their village by 9 PM . The villagers loaded Kishorie with money when they came to know of his act as a reward since they were also fed up of this bear since long. Next day when the area was searched there was nothing left except a few bones of the animal as vultures had their meals to their hearts content and that was the end of that bear and my story too.
It was Dalhousie a beautiful place in Himachal Pradesh in 1969 about 40 years back and I was a kid of 5 years then. My Father was posted there and we were staying in a beautifully located area called ‘Balloon’ which was far away from the main city and in the cantonment. I was a student of Sacred Heart Convent there and in a KG class but I remember each and everything. Our house was surrounded by forests and there were about 10 houses only in Balloon area. The wildlife could be watched both during the day as well as night. In the day one could notice langurs, jackals and at times bears also. In the night one could hear the loud cries of Hyenas and jackals clearly. Not only this everyone locked his door tightly during the nights as I myself had seen my mother shooing away leopards during the night from inside the door through the grill who used to sit like a pet dog in our verandah. They used to frequently come to protect themselves from extreme cold during the winters and used the covered verandah of those old British houses which provided them a good shelter from it.
We had a servant with us named Kishori who was a local from that place and used to come daily from a far of village located about 10 kms away for carrying out his duties . By the time he returned home he would encounter darkness before reaching his village so he carried a big bottle of kerosene with a wick fixed in it which he lighted in darkness to prevent any wild animal from approaching him to avoid any attack by them. The most prominent risk those days was attack of a local bear called ‘Reech’ during the night as it generally ambushed from the rear of its prey as many such cases had come to light. As result of this the villagers avoided going out during the late hours of the day. The area was mountainous and had restricted foot tracks which were used by the villagers and the bear was well aware of these as well on which he used to plan his attacks. There were deep ravines along the foot tracks and some open places on the way to village with a large number of pine trees which gave hissing sound when the wind blew across them making the atmosphere more scary especially for a person travelling alone. Some villagers carried a long stick (Lath) with them when they ventured through that path for their defence in case of any attack. The best way to avoid the attack was to move in groups : the technique which was generally followed by most of them.
Kishori was a good friend of mine and used to play all sorts of games with me, he in fact first taught me how to play ‘Gulli Danda’ (a local game of India played with a small stick and a small oval shaped piece of wood) and would always keep me engaged narrating his interesting and adventurous fables of his village. In return I used to teach him carrom , ludo and my mechano set with which we played indoors when my parents went for the party in the evenings. He would light firewood in the fireplace, and give me milk and pakoras and I alongwith my other friends used to have a gala time. Kishori was about 22 years old then, had an athletic and stout body with short height as generally the people from the hills have. He was a fearless person as he always ventured alone even if it was late at night inspite of our insistence many a times to stay at night. He loved adventure.
Once he left late from our house and did not agree to stop even on our insistence saying that he would join the group of some men enroute and carry on to his village with them and there was nothing to fear since he is used to it. He filled up his empty rum bottle with kerosene right upto the brim inserted a broad and a long wick into it through the pierced lid of the bottle and made his lamp ready. He lighted it to test then switched it off and inserted it in his cloth belt duly secured and kept a matchbox in his kurta (An Indian shirt worn generally by villagers) pocket and wore a pull over it. He also hung a cloth handbag on his shoulders thereafter and started his journey home to his village. It was 6 PM in winters and it had started getting dark. As he reached the start of the forest foot track he waited for sometime for the company and then joined a group of three going towards his village. They all started off their journey which would take about two hours for them to reach their village.
The winds were cold and creating hissing sounds with the pine leaves, the birds were returning home , the cattle were not seen and dog barks at places could be heard giving a feeling of security. The distance of man to man was about 3m and all were moving fast so that they could reach home early before it gets very dark and colder. After covering about three kms two of the villagers turned to other track as they had to proceed at a different place and now only Kishorie with one companion, Ramu were left . Ramu was ahead about 3m from him and he was in his rear. It was nearly dark and the birds chirping had settled down as had reached their nests since it was their rest time .The sound of crickets could be heard and Kishorie lighted his lamp now to face the darkness. On his right was a deep ditch and one could barely hear the sound of the stone thrown from the track into it which indicated its depth. There was pin drop silence and only winds could be heard and felt. On to the left ahead was a plain area of about 30m by 20 m where both of them sat down over a hung branch of the tree grazing the ground for some rest as they had covered about more than half of their journey. Kishorie went to free himself to loo behind the bushes in a half moonlight night and while going there he kept his lamp near the tree where his companion was sitting.
Suddenly Kishorie heard a loud shriek. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! and it was quiet after that: a stunned silence. He immediately called for Ramu, his companion but did not get any reply nor was there any noise of any disturbance of the bushes and grass but a total quiet atmosphere. Kishorie ran towards Ramu and found him lying unconscious with his face bleeding from his neck and temple side. As he was thinking what had happened he heard some movement in the bushes which was advancing towards him. He all of a sudden could see silhouette of a great bear of his height with two sparkling eyes like a torch .There was no way to run except towards the track and the bear suddenly emerged out of the bushes in front of the track starring at him to attack. Kishorie understood the situation and had only one way to escape and that was the village way as we have heard in old stories that the bear does not harm the dead or the body which does not make any movement. He immediately dived on to the plain ground with his face towards the ground covering his head with his arms and back towards the sky. He lied down still with no movement.
The bear came near him advancing slowly, with his nostrils gushing air out of them intermittently and finally reached Kishorie for examining him. Like a dog he sniffed his ear causing tickling sensation in them with his wet nostrils, then his back, his lower back, inner thighs and finally his feet. The bear was smart, and not as the one we heard in stories who would let him off so easily thinking he was a dead man. He with his razor sharp claws pulled kishorie towards him by siderolling him to turn his ventral side up for he wanted to doubly examine him whether he is really dead and harmless or not. Kishorie was rolled and now his stomach was facing the sky and arms over his face which he somehow managed while taking a sideroll so that the bear does not do any damage to his eyes . The bear again sniffed him in his ears and his nose this time .I do not know how long could Kishorie manage to hold his breathe when the bear was sniffing his face but he did succeed. It was easier for Kishorie when the nostrils of the bear went down for his further post mortem examination as he could afford to breathe slowly now. He released the compressed air out of his lungs slowly as the nostrils of the bear were away now near his torso. The most difficult part which Kishorie described me while narrating this incident was the time when the bear touched his nostrils to the bottom of his feet which had shaked him for a while as it became very difficult for him to be still while he poked his nostrils on the base of his feet.
After carrying out the scanning the bear did not attack him but was however still not satisfied since he kept sitting there for some time. Maybe he had some future plans in his mind . He then suddenly got up sniffed kishorie's stomach and then went near the edge of the ditch just about 5 m from the place where Kishorie was lying down. He went there and stood still at the edge of the deep ravine looking at its depth and then in between used to glance at Kishorie by turning his neck to his back watching that if still Kishorie was making any movements. Kishorie was watching him by managing a peep hole between his arms and wondering what the bear had in his mind now. Then he got the idea of what the bear was planning to do . Kishorie guessed that the bear was thinking time and again that if he manages to bring Kishorie by dragging to the edge and push him in to the ravine will kishorie die after falling from such a height or not and he must have guessed it right from his experience. A smart bear indeed.
As this thought came to Kishorie's mind he decided to act immediately before he gets late as now there was no chance of survival if his intuition of bear's plan was rightly guessed. As the bear was bending to see the depth again by moving his front legs ahead more towards the edge with his front body further lowered towards the ditch to have a better view Kishorie got up quietly and ran with full speed towards the bear to gain enough momentum and kicked the bear at his back with his leg with all the strength he had in him and down went the Bear tumbling after into the deep ravine never to be seen again.
He then immediately ran towards Ramu ,sprinkled water from his water bottle and wiped his face with wet cloth who came to senses and was slowly out of shock but had severe bruises on the back of his neck. He helped him walk for the remaining part of the journey and with the help of that lamp and a stick they both managed to reach their village by 9 PM . The villagers loaded Kishorie with money when they came to know of his act as a reward since they were also fed up of this bear since long. Next day when the area was searched there was nothing left except a few bones of the animal as vultures had their meals to their hearts content and that was the end of that bear and my story too.
