ENCOUNTER WITH THE METHUNS(Bisons)

 

It was a very beautiful place in Arunachal Pradesh where I was posted in 1995 and placed  at a remote location called Pongchau. The detachment comprised of some locally built barrack shelters and some Border Roads Organization personnel  for construction of roads and bridges, as Bailey bridge construction work was going on in the valley to connect two hills about 5 kms away downhill from my detachment. A small stretch of jungle fell on the way downhill. My job was to go daily at the bridge site, stay there all day and finally wind up in the evening at sunset. Generally, I would go in a vehicle with the men but at times walked to keep myself fit. Carrying a stick, I would set out on the winding kutcha tracks along the hill with many waterfalls enroute, gossiping with the staff accompanying me. We carried packed lunch with us  which we relished at the site during the lunch break like in a picnic. 

One fine day I decided to return from the construction site early.  It was a bright sunny day with a chill so I decided to walk up the hill till my detachment alone. The birds were chirping, the butterflies were flitting from flower to flower on the short bushes and the green valley looked fresh. The hill had a lot of sharp curves crisscrossing each other. Just to ease climbing and keep my hands busy, I picked up a stick as usual. For all I knew, it would come handy later. At various turnings on the freshly cut road I could see some birds picking worms out of the freshly dug mud and some dogs and cattle moving across the road, which made the walk interesting as there was not a person to be seen on that lonely route with whom one could talk. My body warmed up due to continuous walking.  I had started to climb up the hill. Round and round I went, with various road turns coming on the way. Nothing was visible for more than 100 metres  ahead or behind me as the winding track hid the route and one could only see the beautiful valleydown below. 

As I was walking, I got the feeling that something was following me. It was only a sort of intuition; there was no evidence to convince my mind with affirmation. The noise of waterfalls on the way diverted my attention from the thought. As I proceeded further I could feel some movement on the ground which felt like tremors just before an earthquake. It is said that the elephants perceive such waves with their feet and come to know of impending disaster many kms in advance, but if I being a human could sense that meant there was definitely something near me which tensed my muscles. I felt a bit nervous and scared being alone but  somehow carried on and increased my pace. I walked  whistling along trying to  gain control over the unknown fear. 

Soon I could  hear the thumping noise of hundreds of feet, as if of some horses were charging towards me. I turned back, but still could not see anything as my vision was blocked with the hill and the turns. I walked a few steps ahead with adrenalin pumping through my nerves every second. I kept looking back again and again but all in vain. 

Later I came across a straight stretch of about 200 metres showing the clear path ahead and  I started to jog a little. As I approached the end of the stretch I could now hear the thumping noise clearly and when I looked back this time, it was no assumption, no dream and seeing was believing. I saw not less than 100 strong buffalo like creatures called ‘Methuns’ all facing me, and amongst them was their leader, the strongest one standing in the centre of the herd. They stood as if  were posing for a group photo with the leader staring on to the  camera. He had  anger in his eyes ready to attack at the slightest provocation. He stood with his legs braced, neck slightly lowered, gazing in front with raised shoulders, gushing air from his wet nostrils and horns erect. All the others were behind him waiting for a ‘ready get set go’ order from their leader. I got the shock of my life and it took me about 10 seconds to come to my senses and understand the situation. I then realised that they were ready to charge at me on my slightest movement indicating fear. I studied the area around me and came to a conclusion that I was caught in a catch 22 situation. If I decide to run away from them I would not be able to as I had to climb the hill towards my detachment and these wild beasts will not take more than a minute to catch up with me and crush me to bits and pieces. The other option was to run to the sides but that was also ruled out as on one side was a steep cut in the hill, inclined at 90 degrees, which could not be climbed quickly as the vegetation was wet and on the other side  was a ditch 200 feet deep which would as it is crush me to death, so the only way left to run was downhill towards the Methuns, which only a fool would do. 

All these things went through my mind in a fraction of second based on which I had to decide fast before the animals took stock of the situation and followed what their leader decided. I somehow took a long breath and prayed to God as it appeared to be my dooms day. I suddenly remembered something that I had seen in the discovery channel that if you encounter Hyenas, you raise a stick not to hit him but to show that you have grown taller and are of a bigger size than him. This scares him and he turns back and quietly sneaks away from there. But will this Hyena formula work here was the million dollar question. Having no other option I decided to go ahead with it. When a person is in distress he can do anything and all the courage, bravery, and strength come on their own. So without wasting a moment, and before the fear of what I was going to do could grip me with its consequences, I raised the stick I was holding with both my arms stretched up straight, taking the top of the stick to about 12 feet from the ground and charged ahead on to their leader running at full speed towards him shouting aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa at the top of my voice: a suicide mission or stupidity, whatever one can name it. I ran for about 10 metres thinking that something will happen and the Methuns would show their unknown reaction to it and break the suspense. 

It took about 3 to 4 seconds for their leader to understand what was going on and all of a sudden he immediately turned back, kicking a lot of dust in the air due to his turning around at 180 degrees and pumped out air from his nostrils with a loud noise, this was what was needed. All his battalion immediately turned back and they started to run in the opposite direction, with me chasing them as a lion chases a group of herds, not knowing that my state was not more than a jackal in front of a group of Tigers! I chased them for a good distance of ten metres. By that time, each one including the last of them had turned back and had started to run in the opposite direction and then ---- I suddenly turned back at 180 degrees and with all the strength and stamina left in me (which I had earned in my life including that gained at Indian Military Academy) ran uphill towards my detachment at a speed much faster than I could attain running downhill, and did not stop in between for a good kilometre or so. I then saw the gap increased very fast as both me and the Methuns were running in opposite directions back to back, thereby adding up our velocities and hence the gap between us.

 I came to my normal senses after taking a sigh of relief and thought how God helps those who help themselves. Never after that incident did I venture alone on that path again.

It is a story which  repeats  in my mind whenever I recall my Arunachal days even today. 

THE ROCKET

 

No sooner did we settle after the Holi incident saving us from the danger which we had just bypassed by taking advantage of the probability, Harpal one day came up with yet another idea;

“How about firing a cracker in the girl’s hostel?”

“What? Are you mad? We have just come out of such a risky incident. Moreover ‘Diwali’ is far off” I replied.

“I was only a spectator till now but I want to perform some action as you did”said Harpal feeling left out.

“No I am not into this, so please count me out as everyday is not a Sunday” I tried to avoid my presence in the new prank.

“You just be my moral support I’ll manage the rest” he said again.

“But I will not enter the girls hostel now in any case” I made it clear as crystal to him.

“Agreed. We’ll do it remotely”

“How are you going to do it?” I asked him to make sure I am out of trouble.

“First you say yes” he pleaded.

“What would be my role and the where do you intend taking me to? I’ll not leave the boys hostel premises.” I clarified.

“You will be with me and be a watch out man as I cannot trust anyone else since this requires secrecy to be maintained.” he clarified.

Fearing the conditions of the plan I was trying to explore maximum out of him so that he does not involve me in any trouble after taking a commitment from me. I hesitantly agreed to him being his close friend.

“Ok but do not involve me directly”.

“Thanks” he replied with his naughty eyes.

“Now tell me about your plan.” I asked him with curiosity.

“We will place a rocket on the terrace pointing it towards the girl’s hostel and light it which will zoom to their balcony and blast. Simple” Harpal briefed.

“Are you a kid? Do you think it’s that simple? Will nobody come to know that you have placed a rocket and lighted it with a match stick. The flame of the fire by a matchstick will at once draw attention of anyone in the vicinity and also the smoke emanating out of it cannot remain hidden as a result we can be easily noticed by someone. We will not have adequate time for doing this.” I said criticising his plan.

“You leave that to me as I’ll be able to manage that. You just have a look around the area while I am placing it in position and signal me all clear. That’s all. The rocket will not go off immediately since I have applied some brain.” Harpal said confidently

“What? How?” I asked with curiosity.

“At least have some faith in me” he reiterated and requested me not to ask any more questions as he is of the opinion that if he speaks out his plan it may fail; a superstitious belief he believed in.

I kept quiet after that and smiled at him.

The very next day he brought some crackers with a long Rocket nicely packed in a brown sheet which nobody could make out from outside what it was. After having lunch when everyone had settled down and there was no disturbance he locked the tower bolt of the door of our room and unpacked it in front of me laying it on his bed. Soon he took out an incense stick from a packet already kept in his box and tied it to the wick of the rocket with a thread. Keeping a match box in his pocket he got up and said,

”I am ready let’s go now as everyone is relaxing”

I followed him. He inserted the rocket into the sleeve of his shirt to hide it.

We climbed the upper floor and then finally reached the terrace. As we approached the parapet wall of the terrace facing the girl’s hostel, he asked me to have a round of the terrace and see if all is clear with nobody around. I quietly went and circled the complete periphery. There was hardly anyone as the students were in their rooms. Some music systems were switched on at low noise in the lower floor comprising of first year students. After having a round of the terrace I came back to him. He was leaning on to the parapet wall and looking below towards the Dhaba and the girl’s hostel. We both gossiped for a while and after about 5 minutes decided to act.

Harpal asked me to stand near the door of the staircase mumty and indicate him with a gesture by raising my hand in case anyone is seen approaching the terrace. I saw him pulling the Rocket out of his shirt sleeve slowly which he placed on the wall facing it towards the girl’s hostel. He oriented the wick part towards him. There was hardly one girl sitting on an easy chair reading a book in the balcony of their hostel.

He took out the matchbox and awaited my signal of all clear. I confirmed all clear to him.

“CHHHHHHHHHHHHHHZZZZZZZZZ !”

I heard him light the matchstick in his cupped hands with which he lit the incense stick tied to the wick of the rocket. As soon as it was lit he quietly moved in a casual manner looking at all the sides and joined me.

“Come let’s go” he said and placed his left hand on my right shoulder indicating to get down from the stairs.

“Should we hurry up?”I asked him.

“No not at all” he said smiling and switched on to a different topic discussing about the Moment of Inertia while getting down stairs.

I was worried that any moment the rocket may go off but it did not.

We safely crossed the second floor where the juniors lived.While on the way to our room he shook hands with two more of our friends who crossed us and chatted with them for a few moments making me tense as the safety fuse was already on fire both on the wick of the Rocket and patience of my mind. We reached the first floor and finally to our room. After getting inside he again smiled while I looked at him.

“Now you watch the fun precisely after 5 minutes” he said while opening the window partially. We had locked the door from inside and were lying on our respective beds facing the window with chins resting on our hands and elbows on the pillows. We gazed at the girl’s hostel through the partially opened window waiting for some action to take place.

“It must have switched off,” I said to Harpal as already 10 minutes had gone past.

“Not a chance! It is a good quality incense stick” he replied with confidence.

While we were busy discussing about it I could hear a loud hissing sound with a trail of fireballs approaching towards the girl’s hostel right from our hostel terrace as if some aircraft was about to crash on to their hostel. It was our Rocket which got ignited and headed straight at the target.

“ZHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHH!”

It went just over the girl who was reading the book in the balcony and out of reflex she dived down while the Rocket went inside their room. After about two seconds there was a large sound of explosion.

“BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!”

Out came all the girls screaming towards the balcony including Amrita while two of them rushed out towards the Warden’s room.

“Oh my God!” I only prayed for no one getting hurt.

“Don’t worry nothing will happen to them they are just screaming out of their habit” replied Harpal.

It was a real fun watching them react to our stumuli. The incense stick fixed to the rocket acted as a safety fuse giving a time delay of 10 minutes during which we easily came down and also gossiped with some of our friends on our way back leaving no scope of anyone doubting us for the act. The eyes of suspicion were definitely not on us as we were on our beds when the rocket was actually fired.

The teachers residing under the the girl’s hostel immediately came out to find out what happened and soon it was inferred that someone had fired a cracker in the girl’s hostel. The million dollar question was,

Who?

The girl sitting outside in the balcony who was reading the book must have explained to the warden that she experienced a Rocket flying over her head from the boy’s hostel side pointing the needle of suspicion towards the boys hostel. All eyes were thus focussed on the terrace to trace out the prankster. They expected someone from the top floor to have done this due to close vicinity of the terrace to the second floor.

The first year students staying on the upper(second) floor were obviously expected to face the music. The warden immediately came out of the Girl’s hostel building with his eyes raging with fire towards the boys hostel terrace to watch for any student movement there. He immediately called for a ‘fall in’ of all of them. There was lot of noise and I could see all the first termers standing in three lines on the ground facing the warden where he addressed them.

“Coming straight to the point; One of you had fired a rocket at the girls hostel. Kindly own up immediately as I will pardon him with lesser punishment or else all of you will have to vacate the hostel within 24 hours” he roared at them.

Everyone looked at each other as did not know who the culprit was. They kept quiet and on repeated insistence by the warden one of them gathered some coursge to say,

“Sir no one actually has seen who did it so why punish all of us”

“Shut up” he roared back.

I told Harpal,

“Yaar we have unnecessarily put them in trouble this is not fair we must help them out”

“Hey don’t utter a word about it or discuss anything on this matter. Nothing will happen to them as the warden is just trying to instill fear in refreshers to force the culprit to own up. Do you think he can get the hostel vacated for such a petty thing and that also when the culprit is not known. Have these peanuts and go to sleep for the time being” he said handing over some of them to me while raising the volume of the songs in the background coming from the radio and went to sleep.

How could I sleep in such a tension while the warden carried on with his lecture addressing the students on ground which I could hear clearly from the partially opened window.

The warden finally dispersed them on the condition that the name of the culprit must be given to him in next 24 hours or else severe action will be taken against them. I could see all the girls in their balcony watching the event as if were watching some match in the stadium.

As everyone dispersed I could hear Harpal snoring by now. I kept thinking that I have not done anything wrong directly and the person who had done it is snoring to glory so why should I be tense. Having a handful of peanuts and gulping a glass of water over it I also slid in my blanket to have sweet dreams.

In the evening while in the dining hall there was only one discussion going on,

Who was the person who did this and what will happen if he is not traced out by tomorrow?

I only kept quiet showing no interest in it and observed what Harpal was discussing with others.

“You people have become very mischievous” he said to a refresher asking him what and how it had happened.

“I do not know sir but I am worried where would I get a room to live if the culprit is not found out as we have been told to vacate the hostel if his name is not given to the warden by tomorrow.” replied the first termer terrified.

“Oh my God! Don’t worry and wait for some time till the warden cools down. If you are unable to find out go and apologise collectively to him. I think he would listen to you as he is a very kind hearted person” Harpal convinced him with assurance.

“Thank you sir for your advice I think we have to adopt this technique only” the refresher nodded in agreement with him.

“But leave no stone unturned to find out the culprit as he must be punished.” added Harpal further taking the junior student into his confidence.

“No sir we will not ” saying this he went to collect rice from the table.

I only smiled looking at my face in the steel thali I was holding and went ahead to put salad in it.

As thought of by Harpal things went our way. The warden cooled off after the first day. No culprit was found and the first termers went and apologised to him who pardoned them being their first mistake.

The chowkidaars were made vigilant and were asked to keep a watch over the terrace on the activities of students for the next few days but could not detect anything except noticing  sikh students drying their hair in sun on Sundays.

The Wrong Hand

 

The Wrong Hand

The days in academy can never be forgotten in an army officer’s life as it forms the most important part of his life in the services. There are seldom opportunities everyone gets as difficult as they are made during the training time in actual real life ensuring  a seamless go thereafter. If you pickup any biography of a renowned army man it will definitely include a stint of his academy days. It is during this time that all of us coming from different parts of this diversified nation arrive at a  common grid during the training period at the Indian Military Academy. During this process various humorous incidents take place which are cherished for life and discussed during the course socials even decades thereafter where everyone  forgets his rank and falls to the same grid to recall the nostalgia of academy days.

One such incidence took place in 1987 during a ‘Grenade Session’. The weapon training Ustaad taught us in a theory class on how to launch a grenade after explaining its parts threadbare on the blackboard placed on the easel which we all listened carefully sitting on a semicircular concrete bench under a  banyan tree besides river Tons in IMA. While holding a dummy grenade in his right hand with its lever facing the palm he very clearly explained how a clip is removed with the left hand so that the lever is not released even inadvertently. Then how to throw the grenade across the protective wall, duck down in the trench and not rise till the grenade explosion is heard. After this he made each one of us practice the same procedure by taking us to the actual grenade firing range. Every one  waiting in a single file  was called  one by one with a dummy grenade wherein after extracting the pin from left hand the grenade was thrown behind the protective wall with the right hand, ducking down for sometime inside the trench, handing over the clip to the Ustaad as a practice run by each one of us and thereafter exiting the trench to ensure that the procedure has been drilled into us. After doing sufficient practice finally the D day came after two days when actual live grenade firing was to be carried out.

The first cadet came and performed as practiced. After taking out the pin from the grenade with the left hand and throwing the grenade behind the wall with the right he ducked down waiting to hear the sound of explosion of grenade handing over the clip to the ustaad and exited the trench in excitement after bursting  the first grenade of his life allowing the next Gentleman  Cadet(GC) waiting to enter the trench on his turn. Likewise everyone followed.  Finally it was Prasad(name Changed) who came for his debut grenade launch. He was a left hander and could understand hindi with great difficulty but by watching everyone the drill was set in his mind with the visual mode of learning. He came with the grenade in his left hand took out the pin with his right hand, threw the pin behind the protective wall instead of the grenade and handed over the grenade to the ustaad instead of pin which was supposed to be in his left hand while bending down to hear the blast ducking his head between his knees.

“Arey yeh kya kar rahe ho GC “shouted the ustaad and with a good reflex action and his wisdom he  threw away the grenade behind the wall and also ducked down joining Prasad. The grenade blasted after 3 seconds.

Thank God ! Such Ustaads with mettle are posted to IMA to deal with such situations. The lesson learnt was
'Correct practice with awareness makes a man perfect'.

The Changing Perspective

 The Changing Perspective

Serving in the army is fun. You are looked after so well and your health is taken care by the organisation. I always had this perspective in mind and realised with experience that this belief holds good. 

I had joined my unit as a young officer and was to go for some office work to Udhampur from Jammu. So I boarded the army transit bus from the transit camp and settled myself on the window seat. The bus was as good as a luxury bus with wide cushioned seats, neat and clean. The gentry was good comprising mainly of officers and their families. As the bus was about to move a sepoy came in  and explained everything like an air hostess. He also indicated the water camper kept to be used if required,  saluted and got down after which the bus moved. I was impressed with the hospitality and care they took comparing the conduct with the civil buses and felt glad to have joined this organisation. I leaned back on the seat enjoying the spongy cushioned seat. As I leaned to rest I saw a placard displayed at the front side behind the drivers seat which read

"Please open your belts while you are seated"  Or

"Kripya belt kholkar baithein"( in hindi)

This further impressed me making me think that how much the organisation cares about me that even after providing so much of facilities they are bothered that I should be further relaxed by removing my belt to relax my belly too. I immediately took out my belt  and was more than happy after which I dozed off thanking God for giving me such a life where everyone cared so much.

As I reached back my unit and narrated the incident to one of my contemporary he bursted into laughter saying that they had written to open your belt while being seated in the bus  not for your comfort but 

"Unki seat belt ke back clip se na fatey isliye"

(To protect the seat cover of the seat from tearing with your belt clip at the rear side of the belt.)

This immediately made me fire abuses to my thought process as a reflex action. However later I realised why the perspective changed just on the thought process of another person as both the perspective still hold good. No doubt the organisation cares and even if it cares more about its property it is not compromising with the care engulfed in the system. 

So I resorted back to my original perspective as it contained my long developed emotions of love with this organisation which should not change  just by one such incident.

I never explored to find the motive behind putting such a placard till date and kept my perspective live.