Intro
It was a 7-day long trip, and we were on our last day back home. Having seen Ooty, the last place in our bucket, we were heading to Mysuru, and then home. It was already pretty late, about 10:30 PM when we left Ooty. We planned on having a night-long journey on our last day, but little did we know that the Karnataka Border Check Post in Mudumalai closes the border at night and re-opens only in the early hours the next day.
Story
Yeah!! We were stuck right at the check-post for a whole night. And here’s where the story begins. First of all, there were hardly any buildings around us, so it was pretty sure that we had to sleep in our travellers. Oh yeah, we were 12 btw — 3 families with 4 each. Sleeping in a hitchy traveller was no big deal compared to the events following.
We inquired about the timings and the place to sleep. The policemen were helpful with the former but not the latter. There was a small shop where we had needy items like, you know… Chai (Tea). And that’s when we got to know that the forest surrounding us had lots of elephants and they would be regular visitors here. We just ignored that by assuming that there would be someone who could handle elephants, like Mahouts. But No… No No No No No No. There were only policemen who were trained in handling only humans.
Somewhere around 2:00 AM, while we were asleep (you know, we used to sleep early back then! No Smartphones! No Internet! Get it?), we heard this loud noise of an elephant trumpeting. It was like that elephant was right next to our vehicle. Oh wait!! It was right next to our vehicle!!!!!!!
We were frightened as hell. One sweet dunk and we’re gone. Gone!!!! My mother and the other ladies started chanting the Gayatri Mantra and Hanuman Chalisa.
Seriously, I don’t know if it was fate, or our luck, that the elephant just turned to the left and moved away. And then we came to know that it was neither fate nor luck — it was actually a policeman who tempted that elephant with jackfruits.
Yes! The reason these elephants break the fence (which apparently has been knocked down hundreds of times) and visit the check-post is to have their late-night snacks. Jackfruits are the elephant version of Maggi.
The next morning, we saw the fence broken down, jackfruits half-eaten and half-smashed… And we also saw that those policemen had caught the elephants and tied them to a place (from where they’d be returned to the forest) with jackfruits.
So here’s the catch: life is full of adventures. So get your back down to the ground and travel.
