Mohammad Ali Sattar
Dear good friend, I was one of the serious souls who watched your movements and travails all along the period (starting June 26) of your mighty struggle to find your way back home and above all to live. Your valorous acts, stubborn stand and frustration all showed.
Reports say “..the wild male, weighing some five tonnes, washed away from northeast Indian state of Assam in the strong currents of the Brahmaputra, the elephant had entered Bangladesh through Kurigram border on Jun 26. It travelled a few hundred kilometers into Bangladesh to Sirajganj via Gaibandha and Jamalpur and then travelled back to Jamalpur….”
We saw you in the midst of water bodies most of the time, we saw you feeding on grass. We saw you starving. We watched you waning. As a matter of fact, we saw you dying a gradual death.
We also witnessed how you fought the odds and adverse climate that engulfed you. The bravery with which you went on facing the situations was simply amazing. The tortuous conditions that you have had to face were unthinkable in modern times.
However, the human knowledge about the elephants tells us about your mind and psychology. You were certainly upset and traumatized. The pain of losing the near ones and the deserted live that followed were excruciating.
Your intelligence and understanding of the conditions and the bleakness of times must have made you more dejected. But you went on battling the odds- the huge foes that stood in front of you were much stronger than you thought. We named you ‘banga bahadur’ which means ‘hero of Bengal’.
How you lost your way and crossed over to this land of ours (which is seldom friendly to animals) is still veiled in obscurity. May be we shall have no time to trace back. We shall never know the fact of the desolation that drove you here.
For nearly two long months, until Aug 16 you traversed on our land covering miles of rugged wet lands and muddy water bodies. The unbearable pathos that invaded your mind and body will surely have no comparison. The moments of agonizing pain that ticked by must have been like ages. For you, the time was the worst enemy for clocks did not move.Sun and he moon were miser in their dealings. The sun beat down upon your battered body and the moon hid her behind the dark clouds, The stars didn’t smile. The breeze blew the other way. Only water came in from the sea to make life harder. The swamps were for your physical test. In the vast stretch of this unfortunate land you did not get enough to feed yourself. Untold pains were your endless partner.
We watched you trample along the unknown land. The roads and ditches and the wide wet lea, all you treaded on was not your abode. You did not rest to sleep. You did stop to enjoy the nature, that you did so often with your friend and kin back home.
Each day and night, had been the repeated haunting of the darkness and the continuous tortures of the predators must have tormented you on an unbearable measure. Thirst and hunger came in permanently to reside in you.
Your desperation also upset us. The locals of the area were there to follow you, watching your movements and guessing your thoughts. But we delayed in our actions of rescuing you. We took time, may be due to our ignorance. When the rescue operations started things were not organized. It was not carried in the proper way. The measures taken to transport you to a better place were not good enough. Our rescue efforts have caused you more pain and pushed to the throes of death. We were rough and rude.
The images of your agony and pain in the sloppy grounds and muddy surface were the most tragic scene one could behold. Dear hero, I thought you gave up hope to live, you wanted to die sooner. You hid your face under waters to avoid looking at us – the humans. You had million thought crossing your mind. Your urge and yearnings to see your dear ones were there but we could not listen to any sigh or whisper from you. You left us with heavy heart of annoyance.
Your family and friends will keep looking for you but will never know about the tragic end of yours. Their search will never end. May the almighty forgive us for our ignorance and may he relieve you of all the pains.
You will remain our hero – the hero of Bengal.
Mohammad Ali Sattar is a journalist, columnist and peace activist
Email: malisattar@outlook.com