Chapter 1– Freedom
As the evening turned into night, the huge trailer truck turned towards Ramnagar.
The small beautiful town on the outskirts of India’s largest Tiger reserve, Jim Corbett national park, was bustling with activity in the evening. Its small roads were full of people, both local and outsiders, for it was friday evening and people from nearby places came to visit the park on weekends in huge numbers.
Ramnagar, being a typical small Indian town had small roads. On the banks of Kosi, the town was as lively and busy as Delhi itself but as the night creped in the residents of the town did not venture on the streets. For Ramnagar’s beauty, being the gateway to Jim Corbett national park came at a terrible price. The streets and roads surrounding the town were prone to tiger visits.
The huge cat with striped black and yellow body was a sight to behold from a distance. But in its natural habitat, the animal was the king. A fearless predator that roamed and did as he pleased. And so, people stayed indoors at night. No bicycles, motorbikes, autorickshaws, or cars moved on the streets that were home to country’s largest predator.
The trailer truck wanted to use that to its advantage. As far as the driver knew, the truck was sealed and its contents safely contained in cages. Three similar trucks had already passed the area in last three days and this one was headed to the same destination.
The man drove calmly. He had done it many times. He was an experienced man and his greying hair and beard with weather beaten look were a testament to that. He was a man who in a gathering of fellow drivers, proudly mentioned that he had spent more nights on road behind a steering wheel than in his own bed.
Mountain roads were not new to him. But this time it was different. Apart from his young truck attendant, there was another passenger in the driver’s cabin. The passenger that the driver and his partner had pulled out from the trailer when they had stopped the previous night. The passenger was in a small cage and lying at the attendant’s feet.
He kicked the cage for the thousandth time. A small growl emanated from the cage in response and the man laughed.
“Stop doing that, will you?” The driver Bhola snapped.
He pulled the truck towards the city’s main road.
“What? Why? I am getting bored. I have nothing else to do.” Sarju replied.
“Go to sleep then.” Bhola suggested.
“Are you crazy? If I sleep you will drive us directly into Kosi. I will not sleep and enjoy myself by kicking this cat.” He kicked the small cage again and this time a louder growl came.
The man laughed as the truck rolled onto the road that led to the barrage on the Kosi river. The barrage connected the Ramnagar town to the highway that led to Haldwani. As the barrage came in view, the sound of the flowing Kosi was heard.
On any given night, with no traffic on the road, the truck could have crossed the barrage and reached Haldwani in little over two hours. But tonight, was not just any night.
Sarju aimed another kick at the cage but he was jerked forwards as the truck came to halt with a screech.
“Are you drunk? Was that desi too much for you?” he snapped at Bhola and turned towards him. Bhola was looking directly at the road ahead.
“We are in trouble.” Bhola said and he was right. There was a long line of vehicles in front of them and at the barrage, there were at least 10 policemen directing traffic and checking the vehicles.
“Why? We have papers.” Sarju said confidently.
“Yes. For the ones in the back. Not for this young fellow.” He looked at the cage.
“What do we do then?”
They looked at the road ahead. Even in the dark, one of the policemen had seen the truck and was already walking towards it.
“Get out.” Bhola said as he started to pull his jacket. Sarju looked at him as if he had lost his mind. But Bhola was smarter than Sarju. He had done these kinds of things for a long time and that is why the owner of the truck trusted him so much.
He put his jacket on the cage. “Take the cage and start walking to the other side. I will call you after I get clear.”
Sarju looked at the road. The policeman was getting closer. Another one was coming towards them from his side. Without waiting for another word, Sarju opened the door and jumped out. With his back turned to the policeman, he leaned inside the truck and brought out the cage. It was covered by Bhola’s jacket so no one could see what was in it.
Sarju started to walk away. The policeman was just one car behind just when another growl came from the cage. This one was the loudest the animal had made yet and Sarju cursed his luck.
The policeman had heard the growl.
“Hey you!” the policeman shouted. “Stop!”
But Sarju had lost his mind by now. Instead of looking back or stopping, he started running.
It was dark and he had no idea where he was going. He arrived on the main road and turned right and kept running.
That was a wrong decision!
*
“Why is daddy driving so slowly?” Young Nini asked her mother who was sitting in front with her father.
“Because, we are in the animals’ home, sweetheart. If we drive fast, we might hit them accidently.” Her mother Vinita, answered with a smile.
“But why do we come in the animals’ home? They never come to ours.” Five-year-old Nini’s questions never ended.
The father, Suresh, smiled as he navigated the dark treacherous mountain road. They were on the highway that entered Ramnagar as it crossed the national park. They had already crossed the bridge and were now in the resorts area.
“The lights are out.” Vinita observed. The generally well-lit part of the highway was plunged in darkness today. Before Suresh could answer however, his cell phone rang.
“One shouldn’t talk on phone while driving.” Nini reminded her father who had already put the phone on his ear.
“This is ranger Suresh.” He said.
“What? When?” he asked after hearing the other side.
“Are you sure?” he asked again after a long pause.
“All right! I am coming from that side only. If I see him, I will call you.” He said and started to put the phone down.
Just then Vinita screamed, “Lookout!”
Suresh turned his head just in time to see a man running towards the car. He braked without wasting time and the car started to slow down.
But not in time for the man. Before the man could stop, he ran straight into the car.
The bump was not hard but it did somethings. The man was thrown off balance. He fell towards the road. But he was holding something in his hands that flew out and went over the car on the other side.
Suresh turned around and confirmed his family was fine. After that he said, “Stay here.”
Without wasting another moment, he stepped out of the car to check the man he had just hit. The man had rolled on the road but was already getting up.
Nini saw the man getting up and heard her father say stop.
But something else caught her ear. From the other side of the road a sound was coming. A peculiar sound little Nini had never heard. A weak growl as if some small animal was hurting. Unable to contain her curiosity, she opened the car door and stepped into the night.
As she came down she heard the growl again. It was not coming from far. She walked slowly towards it and found a jacket from under which the sound the coming.
Without an ounce of fear, the girl pulled the jacket and two glowing eyes greeted her. She bent down to see clearly.
The plump round face with black and white stripes on yellow background was visible even in darkness.
It was a tiger cub and it stopped growling the moment she lifted the jacket. She looked into those eyes and could see the pain clearly. She saw the poor animal’s tail was trapped in the cage and it was hurting.
Nini reached out and the animal shrunk in the farthest corner of the cage. She could feel that it was afraid.
“Don’t worry little one. I will get you out.” She said as she released the latch and opened the door of the cage. The tiger cub gave out another growl but did not move.
Nini stepped back as she said, “I will not hurt you. Just come out and go to your home.” She stepped further back. Just then she heard her father’s voice.
“Nini! Where are you?”
She quietly turned away from the cage and walked towards the car, leaving the tiger cub in the open cage.
*
Lotu watched the little two-legged creature walk away. When it had come, he was not sure what it was going to do. But the moment it opened the door, Lotu knew it was a gentle being.
Lotu was still afraid but he had no choice. It was his chance to be free. He remembered how his parents talked about the time when they were free and in the jungle. Lotu looked behind and saw it. Even in the darkness, he saw the trees and understood that this was the jungle. He had the chance to be free now. He knew his parents wouldn’t be there. But then, his parents had told him that the two-legged creatures would take him away anyways.
Lotu thanked the little two-legged creature, who was surely different from the others he had seen before, and walked out of the cage. He felt his paws press against the moist rough ground. He hadn’t felt something like that ever. Before he could think anything else he saw lights coming from the direction where the little one had gone.
Lotu just turned around walked towards the trees, the jungle, his supposed home.
Lotu walked towards his freedom.
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