The Tale of Uma.

               Ashokvai, the army man turned ascetic, left 120 battalion on his permitted morning walk to Chitrakut Ashram as the dawn settled down.He found a new born almost red and frozen on the side of the road. Not frozen exactly, it was moving its tail or may be the rather windy breeze was doing the same, he could not decide.

               He knew a mother and a midwife never dropped the baby, if done the first is called a witch and the other is sued heavily. But in the ape world the rules reversed as told by his village elders that the onus to stay on the breasts or to fall down was on the babe. If fell down was discarded,unfit to the species standard. He didn't believe it until now, but how else this tiny creature was dropped here!

                He picked it up, having no other choice and found it to be a female.The first question came to his mind, would it be so, the monkey species, Rhesus Macaques in this case, started discriminating gender! Unknowingly he uttered in compassionate disgust, uummaa how tender! And the name of the baby christened.

                'Uma' the divine consort of Lord Siva.

                He returned to his barrack, the entry of the pet was hassle free as per the need of the situation and for Ashokvai’s growing regards for his knowledge in Tulasi Das' Ramayana.

                 His defense skills of survival, came in handy. He made all arrangements for its warmth by hanging an electric bulb nearer to its bed made up of a blanket. As it turned warm it suckled from the nozzle of a hospital syringe loaded with milk. Within a day it almost normalized, made playful alien noises never ever heard in an army barrack. As soon as he availed leave Uma was brought to our home.

                  It was almost healthy and hearty, started eating varieties of fruits available in our village. The elders without hesitation guided us the do's and don’t do's churning their wisdom of ape rearing.

I doubted the wisdom without experience and so I ran to the Ojhajeje's house who once upon a time used a langur as an assistant to wind his blacksmith's furnace. But it happened before I was born. I too rushed to the Singh sahi where Vikari Singh had one exact Uma’s type who amused people, playing several tricks. Tips of both of them was same and to be discarded. They used graded doses of opium to make them obedient. Recent news of a baby somewhere succumbed to opium overdose created fear for any such practice. That didn’t reduce our care and belief that Uma had every chance to be domesticated.

                  Many times she was set free to taste the joy of freedom and to test the level of humanization. (To be continued till Uma’s long life journey……). 


Own and outsider.
(The third part of Memoir story: UMA)
It was a cool dawn of a late spring in 1990s. Everyone got surprised; Uma was not there, neither her chain. A decade ago, Tipu, our pet dog had vanished in a similar manner. We panicked as Uma always remained wild and attacked humans; specially the women of my family and those of the village. Everyone woke up and went in a search mission. Soon we became aware of the absence of another member, my father's age-old bicycle. Nobody gave importance to the absence of my elder brother Kartikchandra, who had recently retired from Indian army, as it was his drill time. However, we presumed that he might have deviated off his plan and went with Uma for a stroll. Normal activity went on till breakfast. Yet, my brother did not appear. No one, including my Bhaauja(his wife) had a clue. Villagers had not seen them. Mobile phones was not imagined in that period of time.

The day progressed. There was no reason to be worried. He was the second person, after my father, with whom Uma behaved as a pet. All trials to unchain and domesticate her had failed in the past fifteen years. The herd had abandoned her on road as a new-born for some mysterious reason. A human discarding a daughter did not surprise; but monkeys! How a monkey could have behaved so humanly! Some self-claimed experts opined that any newborn not capable of holding her mother, when falls down, is considered unfit and rejected by the herd. Another brother, late Sri Ashok, a Rama-bhakta, working in 120 battalion, Bhubaneswar, had saved her life. She had, since then, always remained wild. And chained; that made her more furious.

Brother did not return for lunch. Silence prevailed till the evening, when he came back with the chain and the cycle. He looked very tired and concerned; did not speak anything to anyone and refreshed himself. After taking a little bit of dinner, he confined himself in his room. But where did he leave Uma? And where did Uma go? The silence prevailed again. I do not remember what exactly was the conversation amongst the family members, the agricultural helps and the neighbors but it looked more ominous than silence. A hostile animal could be as dear as a wicked family member. One of the most significant day in my family. Somehow the night passed!

Next day I woke up late, to know that my brother had gone out with the cycle and Uma's chain. We did not bother; rather became really happy that the menace might be coming back. They returned in the late afternoon, Uma sitting on my brother's head, still as steel. She gulped down, probably, two litres of water before grasping a guava. My brother too was seen eating a happy lunch. The story unpacked.

May be his retirement, from defense service, inspired him with the sense to gift the animal her birth-right; Freedom. He wanted to release Uma in her natural habitat at Mahavinayak, about thirty-five kilometers away from my home. The mission boomeranged. Nearer to the place, hundreds of unfriendly monkeys came attacking. The prudence of mind of a Jawan saved both of their lives. He went in to a nearby water body. Later, a truck driver entered to a safe depth of water and helped them inside the driver's cabin. They moved till a good distance, to a no ape greenery. He was determined to make her free. He adapted some tricks to leave her and come back alone. But as he came back closer and closer to our home, his worries surged up, and up. What should happen to this unfortunate animal, once abandoned by her mother, when she galloped from tree to tree to reach the danger area? And what if she did attack the locals or vice versa?

All these questions made him sleepless. Cycling back to the place, he searched village after village; taking tips from people until he found Uma in the fourth. He was surprised as Uma came and sat on his head without any difficulties. All his attempts to feed her failed. Only after seeing her foster home, the creature could acknowledge her safety to drink and eat.

Her nature did not change and neither we could free her. She lived for several years and went to her heavenly abode in an uneventful death. Her savior, Baba Charushila Saran(late Sri Ashok) also left for his heavenly abode five years back.