Shikar Stories by Ruskin Bond

Author:Ruskin Bond [Bond, Ruskin]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9788129115959
Publisher: Rupa & Co
Published: 2004-01-01T16:00:00+00:00

(1929)

Drought in the Jungle

By F.W Champion

"Of sapphire are the skies, but when men cry Famished, no drops they give."

LIGHT OF ASIA

oon has passed some hours ago and the heat is now reaching its dreadful climax in the middle of the afternoon. A dull haze envelopes the whole jungle and the surrounding hills are but vaguely outlined against the sky, which, as though feeling in disgrace for having failed to produce one single drop of rain for a period of months, has now turned a dirty yellow colour—sullen and menacing. The previous monsoon has been a failure; the winter rains, which might have helped so much, were a bitter disappointment; the hot weather storms—the last hope—are still awaited. The inevitable result of such a shortage of the life-giving rain is that drought, cholera and famine, that dread trio, are now stalking forth, arm in arm, to take their fearful toll from man and beast, bird and fish, tree and plant alike. The trees have already dropped most of their leaves, in their valiant effort to save their lives by stopping transpiration of the little moisture which their far-spreading roots can suck up from the parched ground. The green grass, which should have sprung up after the winter-burning of the low-lying grassy areas, has completely failed and the hordes of half-famished cattle and herbivorous jungle animals are wandering aimlessly from place to place in their forlorn search for the food which practically does not exist.

The cattle, many of which have been brought from the famine-stricken village lands on the edge of the forest, form a terrible picture. Every rib stands sharply out from the tightly-drawn discoloured skin, the quarters are deeply sunken, the eyes staring, and many a miserable beast already carries the unmistakable hallmark of approaching death on its drawn and haggard face. The wild animals' plight, though bad, is perhaps not quite so serious as in the case of the cattle, for Nature wild creatures are at all times far healthier and stronger than the domestic animals of man. Also, a denizen of the wilds, born and bred in the jungle, has much more experience in obtaining food when food is scarce than the miserable overworked and under-fed cattle of the Indian villager. The scavenging and carnivorous animals, on the other hand, although also put to trouble over the scarcity of water, are now waxing fat on the trials of their neighbours, just as the war profiteer grows bloated at the expense of his country and countrymen during times of stress. The tigers and leopards have little trouble in obtaining more food than they can eat, for the deer and cattle are too weak to look after themselves properly and are forced to drink at one or other of the very few remaining pools of water, even though they know that death in feline form is probably awaiting them there. As for the hyenas, foul but necessary scavengers that they are, they now feel that 'Der tag' has indeed come

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