The first of January will permanently be etched in my memories for on the first of January 2002, I saw a dead tiger in my life for the first time. Well, it was not a tiger, but rather a giant leopard. However, for some reason, the locals did not bother and spread the news of its death or killing. Yes, the leopard was killed.
It was the new year and we woke up early just like any kid those days. We had it planned that we would go to the museum. As we were getting some sun in the front yard, we saw our neighbour walking hastily towards our house. Not to visit us. He stopped to give the news that a tiger, which was killed later, had eaten Mr Barman, a person we had known for a long time. We were shocked at the terrible news. My father, sister and I covered ourselves in warm clothes and got out to be with the family; while at it get a glimpse of ‘the tiger’. We reached there soon after and gathered that the story was completely different, except for the ending.
Guwahati is a city among the hills, bordered by wildlife sanctuaries, wetlands and jungles. Hence it had wildlife prowling within the city. But it was not until the 90s, that people started constructing homes in hills. The place where we live has a hill range some 1 – 1.5 km north that branches out from the Nilachal hills. Even our whole locality sits on a highland. In the 90s these places were full of leopards, civets, jackals, porcupines, pangolins and hares. Some even claim to have spotted a Tiger, which is debatable. Then encroachments started. People came into the city in search of better work and lifestyle and started constructing homes on hills, filling parts of wetlands with earth moved from hills, clearing forests, digging wells and doing whatever was done in a typical urbanisation scenario. Porcupines and pangolins were poached and the entire habitat of leopards and tigers, if there were any, was disturbed. Thus, the animals came into human settlements – a textbook scenario of a disrupted ecosystem.
This story starts on the night of New Year’s Eve. People were up until late at night partying – the rural kind of partying where people eat, drink and dance to loud music played on rented speakers. A woman named Puhuni however, slept early as her husband went to work a night shift. Covering for some other who was partying. The family was economically marginalised and depended on egg and goat milk sales to get more money. The goats lived in a raised shed in the outhouse of the family. The hens lived in cages below the shed. On the new year, Puhuni woke up at sunrise and walked to the chicken coop in a semi-sleepy way. She pulled the cage from below the goat shed and let the hens free for the day. The hens clucked loudly, jumped out of the cage and ran away. Puhuni though surprised, paid no heed and walked back to let the goats out. As she neared the shed she heard a low but deep purring sound from below the shed. She thought it was a cat and looked down. She winced, aghast to see a leopard, sitting all relaxed but looking straight at her. She involuntarily threw firewood at the leopard, let out a scream ran back inside the house and closed the door. The leopard jumped out of the outhouse and came onto the street. Perhaps he was shocked at his reception too.
By the time the leopard came onto the street, the sun was already up. The house help of Mr. Bora carried their one-year-old child out for a walk and some fresh air. Little did she know that a leopard was sauntering on the street. She walked down the street passing two or three houses when the leopard suddenly appeared in front of her. Nobody in the situation would know how to react. The same happened to her. She froze. But she clutched the baby and did not let him go. The leopard came nearer and gave her a super slap on her right cheek tearing the skin and some flesh away. The girl did not even let out a shout but fainted with fear and shock. Two or three people saw it while it was happening and shouted and clapped to scare the leopard away. The leopard, already scared of its previous encounter, left the sight as soon as possible and jumped into the bushes. These two encounters made people aware that a leopard was on the loose and something had to be done to scare it away or capture it and call the forest department.
The leopard however was perhaps confused about what to do as people had already started beating steel buckets and sheets towards the street. So the street was not an option for it.
There was a family who lived a little above the street level on the hillock. Kalita carpenter. Mrs Kalita that morning did something utterly foolish and left the baby on a small bed in the courtyard and went to have her morning bath. Leaving babies in courtyards is not very smart because a scorpion or snake might bite it or a monkey might kidnap it if not eaten by a leopard. As soon as Mrs Kalita entered the bathroom she heard all those noises chasing away the leopard. She came rushing out to protect the baby and oh boy…! She was just in time to protect the baby. The leopard walked slowly towards the baby. The intention was unknown but Mrs Kalita held her baby and turned her back towards the leopard to protect the baby. The leopard too did not spare the lady. It landed its paw on her back and tore the skin away. The husband Mr Kalita came rushing to save his wife and the baby. The leopard jumped over him and mauled him. It placed its jaws on Kalita’s shoulders and gave a proper bite. It was an attack out of fear and confusion, not New Year’s breakfast. The leopard left Kalita and went inside the house to hide perhaps, but not before mauling Kalita’s shoulder, head, hands and chest and leaving him whimpering and gasping for life. By that time, the crowd gathered in Kalita’s courtyard and noises grew. People started calling to kill the leopard after seeing the Kalita family’s agony. Some by that time had called the police and the forest department. The police and forest guards were on their way. Some brought in an auto rickshaw to take the Kalita couple to the hospital. Some had already taken the first victim, the girl to the hospital.
The story does not end here. Mr Barman, who as we were told was eaten by the ‘tiger’, was sound asleep at his home all this while. The Kalitas lived just some 50 yards away. Hearing all the hustle and bustle, Mrs. Barman assumed that the Kalitas got into a fight with someone. As the Barmans were on good terms with the Kalitas, Mrs Barman woke Mr Barman up by saying that the Kalitas got into a fight with someone. However. Mr Barman for some reason heard ‘tiger’. He jumped out of his bed, grabbed a sabul (a long spear-like tool used to dig earth) from the verandah and a two-by-two steel net and rushed out. Mrs Barman was bamboozled as she did not expect that and got scared.
By that time people had already gathered at the courtyard of Kalitas with bamboo spears daus (machete) and sticks, ready to kill the beast. But no one dared to lure the beast out of the house. The beast was inside, doing god knows what and the wild people were outside, on a war stance. Mr Barman’s arrival was seen as the arrival of a warrior who would help them win this battle. Mr Barman too liked the attention and wanted to show off his prowess in capturing a wild beast, a field in which he had zero experience.
“Where’s the tiger?” he asked in a proud voice. The people pointed towards the house, the door of which was still open. Mr Barman walked proudly and bravely inside the house. For a moment there was complete silence but after that, the people heard a roar. Mr Barman and the leopard came out, grabbing one another, not in love, but rather entangled in some kind of biting, holding and grabbing stance. Both the animals fell into the courtyard and the people present were bewildered as they could not figure out what to do now. The weapons Mr Barman carried were of no use. The leopard grabbed Mr. Barman and perhaps wanted to bite his face off, to which Mr Barman protected his face by placing his right hand in between. His right hand was inside the jaws of the leopard. His left hand pulled the leopard’s tongue out. The leopard twisted its hind legs with Barman’s leg and used the other hind leg to clasp Barman’s other leg. It was some kind of an impasse where both the animals kept turning and twisting. If the leopard came on top in a moment, the next moment Barman would be on top and this sequence repeated. One person wanted to rescue Barman by blowing the head of the leopard with a stick. He placed the blow but it landed on Barman’s hand as he came on top at that moment. It broke Mr Barman’s hand instantaneously. It did more bad than good. People could see no way and thought that would be the final day for Mr Barman as his hand bled constantly. Both the animals were tired and Barman was almost losing the fight and passing out. That was the moment when the leopard stayed on top for a little longer and released its tongue from Barman’s clasp and wanted to place a killing bite on Barman’s neck but a man took the opportunity and landed his dau on the leopard’s head. The dau landed on its nose and made a deep cut. That made the leopard freeze for a moment. It left Barman and lurched aside. Barman lay unconscious and wounded. Perhaps dead. The mob took the chance and hurled sticks. The leopard could not flee as it was hard for it to breathe with its bleeding nose. And in some moments both the leopard and Barman lay beside one another. The leopard died, however, Barman lived to tell the tale, of course after fifty days in the hospital.
Later the policemen and forest officials arrived and did what they do best. Filed a report. It was the first and last man-animal encounter in the locality that turned brutal. Many leopard sightings were reported after this incident. A milkman was killed too. But never did it turn out as where the animal is killed.
Aftermath
- The girl got 10 stitches on her cheek.
- Mrs Kalita got 12 or 15 stitches on her back. Mr Kalita got some 50 stitches and had to undergo surgery and repair his cracked skull.
- Mr Barman’s broken hand had to be plastered with multiple stitches to wounds and a blood transfusion to save his life.
- The leopard was a male and his partner leopard’s cries were heard for as long as a month and people lived in fear ever after.
Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/leopard-on-brown-trunk-tree-46254/