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Saturday, April 5, 2014

The reverse chess: When hunted becomes the hunter

“Don’t blame the hunter if you aren't paying attention enough to spot the traps.” ― T.T. Escurel

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They sat together in a huddle, the evening breeze still carried the heat of morning. The sun was setting from far across the gurgling white water of the lone river surrounded by the dense green trees. The birds had started coming back to the nests, and the sky was turning a deep colour of the purple.




She knew she was the head of the herd, and she looked around and just saw scared faces. She looked across at the far end of the river and tried to see what lay behind those rough shrubs. "We will walk on the same path as we walked yesterday" she called aloud, as the tense faces looked back at her questioningly. 

The wise old one approached her, "but yesterday that little one was trapped and killed there only, lets go by another route". She shook her head to indicate end of the discussion. She started crossing the river and the herd followed her, the falling dusk cast dark shadows that added to the impending gloom!


Image source: www.hongkiat.com


She watched her steps carefully as they navigated the flow of river and looked ahead as the light faded away slowly. She had spotted them long ago as they stood in the shadows, waiting for her to make that one wrong move, "tonight things will be different" she promised herself.

They successfully crossed the river, and she stood behind those menacing bushes which had taken the lives of many in her herd, she had seen them die a painful death and tonight she would avenge them all. With her trunk, she uprooted the bushes around her. Suddenly she whispered to those who were right behind her and those whispered it back.



The moon was directly above them and illuminated the herd in its pale light. Suddenly a part of the herd moved away from it, just as the second part moved in another direction. She looked straight across, and moved a heavy stone in her trunk and threw it with all the rage she could muster in the opposite direction of the bushes. She knew "It was a trap" , and sure enough the stone was caught in the trapping net with shots being fired at it.

She trumpeted her loudest and started running wildly towards the hidden men, just as they trained their guns on her. But out of nowhere the elephants hit them from behind and the guns were scattered, which creaked as they were trampled upon. The hunters looked fearfully at each other as they were surrounded by the herd.

She looked at the fear in their eyes, just as she had looked in the dying eyes of her little one screaming to her to save him from a painful death. She wanted to tell the hunters, just like she didn't spot the traps earlier, they didn't spot the traps today; how the dry leaves creaked every time they walked, why couldn't they hear the approaching herd from behind, why did they take so long to cross the river so that the night falls and there is sound of every other animal. It was all there, they couldn't sense the traps, now they can't blame being hunted.

This time, all of them trampled on the hunters together, as their screamed echoed just like of the little one who was shot as he lay trapped in the net.She sighed at the blood, only if they can let them live, ONLY IF..
Killing was a curse and they knew it, this was not the survival killing that happens in the jungle, this was just GREED KILLING..ONLY IF..they understand.

She prayed for peace, for not killing anymore for just the days as they were without intrusion!! She didn't want to be the hunter neither the one who gets hunted who can't see the traps..



This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

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