An Encounter of a Special Kind
My father was a medical professional working
for a private company in Raniganj in West Bengal.
The officers of the company were housed in individual
bungalows inside a large campus. Our house was in
a corner of the campus. The officer’s club was
adjacent to the boundary wall of our garden. The
compound was luxurious with green grass, colourful
flowers and a host of tall and majestic trees. The
seasonal vegetables in the kitchen gardens of the
households and the magnificent trees constantly
attracted squirrels and many species of birds; a group
of langurs had even made their den in an aswatha
tree nearby. They had all become a part and parcel
of our existence and daily life.
A small incident on a Saturday afternoon left a
profound effect on me and unfolded before my eyes
a whole new dimension to the wonders of God’s
creation. It was a few days into the Puja vacation.
Just like for any other child, the holidays provided
an opportunity for me to become engrossed in
various magazines and storybooks published specially
for children in the festive season.
After a hearty lunch, my parents and my younger
sisters lay down for an afternoon nap and I settled
down with a storybook. The quiet afternoon presented
the perfect backdrop for reading an adventure story.
The silence was occasionally broken by the sound of
my family snoring, the intermittent chirping of house
sparrows, the harsh cawing of a crow the shrill call
of a kite flying high above the ground. Minutes
ticked by. I became deeply absorbed in the book.
Suddenly, I heard a group of street dogs barking
furiously in the distance. I chose to ignore the
commotion thinking that the pack of dogs might
have cornered a hapless pig. But soon, the barking
became louder and more aggressive and the alarmed
cawing of a flock of crows added to the cacophony.
I also heard the disturbance approaching closer.
Curiosity got the better of me. Leaving the book aside, I rushed to the veranda to see what was going on. I glanced towards the roof of the club house and saw something horrible. A big male langur, apparently the leader of its group, was holding a baby langur in his hands and mercilessly biting it all over with a definite intent to kill. The helpless mother of the baby and other lesser members of the langur group were scattered on the roofs of the buildings nearby watching the baby being killed. I recalled the terrible custom in the animal clan according to which a dominant male usually does not allow another male baby or adult to survive within its group. Without losing any time, I gathered a stout stick in one hand and hurled a piece of stone at the marauding langur. The langur was so infuriated that it hardly took any notice of my assault. But then I started throwing more stones. The dogs on their part raised their pitch of cry. The changed circumstances and the sudden unexpected attack from unknown quarters forced the langur to drop the baby from the sloping roof over the veranda. The baby was listless and appeared to be dead. As its body started to slide down, the excitement of the pack of dogs grew manifold at the prospect of a good kill and meal. Keeping the dogs
at bay with the stick, I managed to catch hold of the baby langur’s tail just as it tipped over the edge of the tiled roof. The baby appeared inert and lifeless. It was indeed a male baby. By this time, my parents and sisters had come out on to the veranda and were witnessing my rescue operation. Some of our neighbours had also gathered in the distance. I took the baby langur to our backyard and gently laid him on the floor inside the poultry coop. His body was full of deep bite marks and scratched. Blood was oozing from some of the wounds. The baby remained motionless. My father provided first aid to clean the wounds and stop the bleeding. I was relieved to find out that the baby was breathing, even though his breaths were shallow. Splashes of cold water made the baby stir and after a few shaky attempts, he sat up. He was in state of shock and started trembling like a leaf in the wind. His two little twinkling eyes welled up with tears and he started to sob with a muffled cry - just like a human child would after experiencing trauma. I offered him a peeled banana which he accepted with his unsteady hand and began taking hesitant bites. My attention was fixed on the revival of the baby langur. Suddenly, I had an uncanny feeling of being watched. I turned away from the coop and looked up. There sat the mother langur on our kitchen roof, watching every move I made. She simply sat there quietly, as if convinced that no harm was being done to her child. Meanwhile, the baby sensed the presence of his mother and started to sob and cry a little louder. I retreated from the door of the coop to allow the mother access to her baby. Immediately, the mother descended on the floor of the coop and picked up the baby in her arms. She gave the baby a thorough body inspection to check his injuries and then cuddled him tightly in her bosom. The baby found great solace in her caring arms. The mother sat still with the baby in her lap for a few minutes. It was almost as if she was pondering over her options and trying to figure out how she could keep the baby safe from further assault. For a few seconds, the mother langur looked straight into my eyes. Even today, I cannot forget that look in her eyes, showering silent gratitude on me for saving her child. I was overwhelmed by the emotion, the sentiment and the way she said thanks to me. There sat a universal mother holding a stricken child in her lap. Then, in a flash, she jumped with her baby clinging to her belly and reached our kitchen roof. She surveyed the area for the vicious male langur and then leapt away in the direction opposite to the place of the violent encounter. The brief meeting with the mother and the baby langur convinced me that interspecies communication and mutual trust is indeed a reality and should anyone strike the right chord, the relationship hums into action. The mother langur showed me that food was not the only means of communication between man and animal but that there were other means of establishing a bond through trust, compassion and mutual understanding. Fifty-five years have passed since that day. I am now seventy years old. But I still fondly remember that ‘encounter of a special kind’.
-Tapan Mukherjee
An Encounter of a Special Kind English workshop
1. State whether you agree or disagree with the following statements. Justify your
choice with proper reasons.
(a) The compound where the writer was living, rich in nature’s bounty.
(b) Holidays provide us an opportunity to read various magazines and storybooks.
(c) The narrator made a mistake by saving the baby langur.
(d) Animals cannot convey emotions.
(e) The narrator was fifty-five years old when this incident occured.
2. Match the phrases given in Group ‘A’ with their meanings in Group ‘B’.
Group A Group B
(a) to be a part and parcel of (i) to observe and give attention
(b) to be engrossed in (ii) to be able to solve a problem
(c) to take notice of (iii) to find comfort and peace
(d) to figure out (iv) to think about seriously
(e) to ponder over (v) to be completely occupied in
(f) to be overwhelmed by (vi) to be an essential or integral part
(g) in a flash (vii) to be affected emotionally in a powerful
way
(h) to find a solace (viii) very quickly
3. Write in your own words.
(a) Why did the narrator ignore the barking of dogs ?
(i)
(ii)
(b) Why did mother-langur make no effort to grab her baby from the coop?
(i)
(ii)
4. Read the text carefully and arrange the occurance of happenings in the text in
a sequential order.
1 I took the baby langur to the backyard.
2 I cannot forget that look in her eyes.
3 I heard the disturbance approaching closer.
4 I recalled the terrible custom in the animal clan.
5 I became deeply absorbed in the book.
6 I was engrossed in various magazines and story books.
7 I offered him a peeled banana.
8 I still fondly remember that encounter.
9 I gathered a stout stick and then started throwing stones.
10 I saw something horrible.
11 I was showed that food was not the only means of communication.
12 I managed to catch hold of the baby langur’s tail.
13 I allowed the mother, access to her baby.
5. Discuss the following and write about it in your own words in 5-6 lines.
(a) What would you do, if you found an injured bird while returning from your
school ?
(b) What opinion do you form about the narrator, from the story?
Loneliness Avoided
Loyal Our Best Friends
Serve us Protection and Security
Kindness, honest, compassion Do not hurt or destroy us
Encourage students
to find such proverbs/
slogans/maxims in
their mother tongue and
English.
Mother-Child Relationship
Love and affection
Injured Animal
How
will
you
help?
Provide water/food
Allow the students to use
other bigger words from
the story time to time to
make different words.
TEN TOUR ENTER
6. Complete the following and write a paragraph on each of the given activities.
10. (A) Complete the remaining blocks determining the types of news.
Types of News
Sports
Business
Template for a News Report
Achievers narrate their success stories at
career counselling events.
India’s first ever tourism university to be
established by IIHM
(a) Headline (Title)
(b) Dateline (Day, Date, Place, Resource)
(c) Intro (Covering Maximum WH questions)
(d) Short continuing paragraph (Details)
(e) Conclusion
(B) Read the following Headlines and write the dateline, intro and a short
continuing paragraph.
(C) Read the following headline and write a news report. Follow the steps
as given.
l Headline : ‘Tiger attacks 8 year old at Rajiv Gandhi National Park.’
l Date line
l Leadline
l Body of the Report
(Use only 3rd person
pronouns/Passive voice)
l Conclusion (Reference
to a similar Past/Future)