THE GREAT RESCUE!

There lived in what we call today Kanha wildlife sanctuary in Orissa, an elephant family. The baby elephant was called Moti. He was the centre of attraction in the whole herd. He was cute, intelligent and naughty too. He somehow learnt all sorts of acrobatic tricks with which he made all his friends spellbound. He was fond of swimming in the river that meandered through the forest. One day when he was amusing his friends by rotating a bamboo stick with his trunk, a passer by,a hunter, saw him. He was amazed by the skill of the baby elephant.

The first thing he did when he went back to the town was to inform his friend who was running a circus company about the extraordinary elephant calf Moti. Then things started happening very fast. The circus Wala came in a truck with his men and started combing the forest for Moti. They came to know the love that Moti had for swimming at a particular spot on the banks of the jungle river.

They hid themselves nearby and waited for Moti. Poor Moti came to the spot as usual to have a bath. He hardly finished his bath when he was surrounded by screaming men of the circus Wala. In no time Moti was chained and led to the waiting truck.  The trainer at the circus turned out to be a tyrant. Even though Moti knew almost all the tricks they wanted him to perform, he was treated very badly.

The ruthless fellow made him stand on his head and climb onto a small stool and walk on rear legs only. There was no limit to his sadism. He wielded a spike which he freely used on poor Moti. Moti became despondent and lost all hope of going back to his free and happy days in the jungle. One night when Moti was brooding over his days in the jungle he heard a voice from the branch of the tree he was tied to. “ Hello Moti, at last by God’s grace I found you. I am Blinky the owl. For the last one week I’ve been searching for you throughout the forest at the request of your parents and your friends. Don’t worry, now that I have found you we will rescue you shortly.”

Moti was very glad to hear this. But he knew the circus was about to move to another town the next evening. The company made arrangements for the animals to be transported by a goods train the next night. When Moti told Blinky this, he was not perturbed. “ Don’t worry, this will make our rescue easier” said Blinky and flew away. Before dawn Blinky reached Moti’s parents and told about the success of his search. Moti’s parents were relieved that Moti was alive. They went to see the head of the herd to discuss the rescue bid.

The goods train by which the animals of the circus were supposed to be transported had to pass through kanha forest. So a plan was drawn to intercept the train in the heart of the jungle and free Moti. Half a dozen able bodied elephants were selected to form the rescue squad. Around 5 in the evening they reached the railway track. It was decided by the herd to stop the train by standing across the track.

It was a little after midnight when the train came into view rounding a bend in the track. When he saw a herd of elephants standing on the track ahead the driver got nervous. He whistled and whistled but the elephants did not budge. He had no alternative but to apply the brakes. The engine came to a halt a few feet from the elephants. One of the rescue party pulled out the driver and held him in the air while the fireman climbed onto the roof of the engine to escape.

The leader of the rescue party told him not to harm the driver. “ We will let him go as soon as our job is over”, he said. Then started wagon-to-wagon search. Poor Moti was confined to the last wagon. When the door of his wagon was wrenched open he could not believe his eyes. He trumpeted with joy. As he was already emaciated, it was not difficult to lift him from the wagon and place him on the ground. The elephant that held the driver was signalled to set him free. The train started moving with the rest of the circus animals. Many of these animals did not know what happened, for, they were fast asleep. Even the guard, a lazy man, did not know because he was snoring away in his cosy cabin!