The sun will again rise tomorrow, till then I have to wait. My mother is not speaking a word. Some of the elders had gone in search of my father and they have not returned as yet. The whole world is engulfed in darkness. Why did father not come home? The other day when Jikky’s brother did not return home how everyone was tensed. At the end of the day’s search it was discovered that his brother has been hunted down. There is a strange fear in my mind.
No sooner did the day break; I set out in search of my father. Unaware of what was awaiting for me in the future with no clue of which direction to take I started from a point. I was aware that mother was also awake the whole night. If it would have been some other day she would have stopped me from going out alone at such an early hour. Today she pretended to unnoticed me, just to combat with her perturbed anxiety.
No sooner did I start my search I heard a whispering and a very cautious trumpet. I recognised that it was none other than my friend Jikky’s sister and my beloved Jerry. Her presence gave me an inner strength. She came forward and insisted on accompanying me. I made no objection since Jerry’s presence was already radiating hope. My hob-knobbing thoughts now took a single string of bringing father home. Without much delay we headed forward.
After searching for an hour or so suddenly we were delighted to hear familiar trumpets that came from a very close distance. Since Jerry had given birth to my kids thus I have committed myself as one of my soul mates, there was no fear of being found together by the elders. To my great ecstasy I saw my father among the other fellow mammoth elephants.
We came home and then after resting for a while we all set out for our daily gathering. On the way father narrated the story of the reason for his sudden disappearance. He said that as he had gone down to drink water he heard a sudden noise. When he turned back he saw few figures, they had a bent back, unlike us they were stooping and balancing themselves on the two hind limbs and the fore limbs bore stones. He could not see much of them. He hid himself silently without making any move. He was watching them silently. Then he saw that they used those heavy stones and they also had something that was tied to branches of trees that were cleansed of the leaves to kill.
I was shocked at the words of my father. We all were choked. We sat down quietly. Jikky’s grandmother wept. She said few years ago life was so beautiful. They would only hunt, gather and lead a simple life. They reside near the water. Gradually the waters started to estrange the relation which they shared. One night there was a sudden rise in the water and then followed by heavy downpour of torrential rain. Before they could move to a safe place the water gurgled and came over. It rose to such a height that it swallowed all that was near it. Many of them lost their lives. After that incident many of them were attacked by strange illness.
We all were silenced. After a long pause granny continued when she was a young, they would move from one place to another as we do now. But during their time, when they started travelling they could hardly see who was there at the end. And now it is only like a single rain drop. Now it is not only the bad weather but also these creatures of which my father was talking are destroying us.
That day before sun set we all left that place and headed for a safer place. Little did we know that there was no safer place left for our survival. We had taken a few steps that we were attacked by heavy stones which were being thrown aiming our heads. We were scared and blows came from all corners. Few of us were wounded. With agony and fear those who were unhurt made strong moves. Blowing our trumpets loud and it echoed all over, we ran towards the direction from where the stones were being thrown. We successfully scared them. Soon darkness fell all over. We were all scared, and fatigued. Suddenly there was a loud cry; we all noticed that granny was no more. The huge body was lying in the ground and her head was bleeding. And her body had turned cold.
Next morning everybody made a move from that place. There were several questions in my mind. Who is my creator? Why did he make me what does he want from me? Did he not create those who killed Granny? Then why did they kill her? Is it that as we turn down trees which are also a type of destruction we are also being destroyed? Are we created to be destroyed? I wonder.
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