tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80243073246566223312024-03-05T14:03:41.198+05:30This, That, & the OtherThis blog is about my personal experiences, feelings, and views. It also relfects the contemporary happenings.Nikhil Khasnabishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06546925844401663693noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8024307324656622331.post-63608924158026816102010-04-02T08:53:00.004+05:302010-04-02T09:00:00.008+05:30Kaziranga National Park – a leading wildlife sanctuary of Assam – the hidden story of poachers<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9PQ6Wkv924kQ1XhELctF9z6aF-VCQa3pXnxNKxI7nkCDJMA40qOFGVPrvoA-6PBCyoKCQS9h10_H-ZizipzQ9o_ltCydT-XcZdCQVo5bY-GyjQWzQwH77yub_JRs68hosqn72VaT90yTB/s1600/kaziranga-national-park-rhino-assam-sanctuary-wildlife-forest-tourism-poacher-hotels-map.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 105px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9PQ6Wkv924kQ1XhELctF9z6aF-VCQa3pXnxNKxI7nkCDJMA40qOFGVPrvoA-6PBCyoKCQS9h10_H-ZizipzQ9o_ltCydT-XcZdCQVo5bY-GyjQWzQwH77yub_JRs68hosqn72VaT90yTB/s200/kaziranga-national-park-rhino-assam-sanctuary-wildlife-forest-tourism-poacher-hotels-map.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5455376701534449810" border="0" /></a>
<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFKemNZ-lwCDq-vXHv7kKyIkdK4wPYwqo7lvXOYkkwff38aO2NyPqZxVFwhvTqEIIFye7Cgy298QKATXwMBmwKEQhM1yTUYfjgrQaC_87MeY5QWQdNGBVLi_ugmssoYkNF6bC_c_TDH8-B/s1600/kaziranga-national-park-rhino-assam-sanctuary-wildlife-forest-tourism-poacher-hotels.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 132px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFKemNZ-lwCDq-vXHv7kKyIkdK4wPYwqo7lvXOYkkwff38aO2NyPqZxVFwhvTqEIIFye7Cgy298QKATXwMBmwKEQhM1yTUYfjgrQaC_87MeY5QWQdNGBVLi_ugmssoYkNF6bC_c_TDH8-B/s200/kaziranga-national-park-rhino-assam-sanctuary-wildlife-forest-tourism-poacher-hotels.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5455376541412001282" border="0" /></a>
<br /></div><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CCbare%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C03%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceName"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceType"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="State"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p.MsoHeader, li.MsoHeader, div.MsoHeader {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-link:" Char Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; tab-stops:center 3.0in right 6.0in; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} span.CharChar {mso-style-name:" Char Char"; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-link:Header; mso-ansi-font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB; mso-fareast-language:EN-US; mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Whenever I go to <st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype> (the leading wildlife sanctuary of <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Assam</st1:country-region></st1:place>), I try to stay at Bonoshree. Bonoshree is a beautiful lodge in the beautiful environment <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>. I love Bonoshree and its rooms. From Bonoshree, you can have a view of the hills (the hills look magnificent in a moonlit night) of <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>. And there you can breathe in the <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place> smells too.<span style=""> </span>You can find lots of hotels near <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>. The hotels are nice.<b style=""><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style=""> </span>I spent the night at a rented house at Kohora near <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>. When I went to see the forest <st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype> in the pre-dawn light, I saw rhinos, elephants, buffalos, and deer—they are a common sight at that time at <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>. You don’t have to go to a swamp or a pool dotting the sanctuary or into the woodland of <st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype> or into the grassland of <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place> to watch them, if you get up before dawn.<span style=""> </span>When I visited Kaziranga National Park — I had visited Kaziranga National Park (leading wildlife sanctuary of <st1:country-region st="on">Assam</st1:country-region>), the Brahmaputra floodplain, several times before — I met with five poachers at Kohora, near <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>. Though they tried to avoid me, I secretly followed them and went into the tunnel through the impenetrable grassland of <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>. <span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style=""> </span><st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>! The hunters are killers at the sanctuary. Cool-blooded killers. They love killing any animal they can kill. To enjoy killing. To enjoy flaunting their masculinity. But some people hunt only rhinos at <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>. They are poachers. They kill rhinos at <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place> with business interest. The tuskers at <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place> are killed for ivory.<span style=""> </span>The rhinos at <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place> are now killed mainly for horns. In the past, at <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>, the rhinos were killed also for hide; from the rhino hide, bowstrings were made. In those days, shields were also made from their hide, including the coulters of ploughs. The rhino horns were traded as valuable products from <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Assam</st1:country-region></st1:place>. You may read A’in-i-Akbari and Ptolemy to know more. It was believed that a goblet made from the rhino horn could detect poison. So the Medieval European monarchs and Sheikhs used such goblets to drink. Nowadays, the horns are sold at a high price, since some people believe that they have aphrodisiac power. Some people also wear rings made from the rhino horns. Modern decline of the rhino population is a result of superstition. Many people hunted rhinos for sports. Emperor Jahangir hunted rhinos. Maharaja of <st1:place st="on"><st1:state st="on">Cooch Behar</st1:state></st1:place> hunted rhinos.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style=""> </span>Manas, Laokhuwa, Orang, Pobitora, Sonai-Rupa, Kukrakata, and Panidihing, including <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>, couldn’t (and still can’t) escape the boundless greed and cruelty of the poachers. Plainly speaking, the entire rhino population at <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place> is under their rapacity and cruelty till this very moment. If the Rhino Preservation Act of 1915 hadn’t been made, the rhino population, in my mind, would have been totally extinct even in <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>, like in Laokhuwa, Kukrakata, Sonai-Rupa, and Panidihing. </span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style=""> </span>When the about-two-ton mega herbivore, the landscape-architect, the influencer of nature of the <span style="">fauna</span> of the ecosystem, collapse to the earth, electrocuted or shot, the quake travels to every corner in the sanctuary to perhaps continue forever. A rhino’s muted scream of pain from the pit it falls in tears the sylvan silence of even the flat, undulating grassy plains of <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>. The rhinos at <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place> sanctuary that survive the bullets curse human civilization. A human with a humane heart can’t stand the gruesome sight.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style=""> </span>Through the woodland, the poachers secretly enter the grassland at <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place> again and find the tunnels made by the movements of the animals. They prefer a moonlit night at <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>. They watch the rhinos secretly inside the dense <st1:place st="on"><st1:placetype st="on">forest</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga National</st1:placename></st1:place> Park comprised of elephant grass. The poachers feel very happy when they find a dandi (a tunnel or a tract). The rhinos make a dandi while they move ahead, crushing the tall and dense elephant grass in the cover. The depth and width of a dandi are subject to the repetitions of their movements, and the rhinos express their democratic spirit through their preference to moving along the same dandi and defecating at the same place.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style=""> </span>It is dangerous to walk ahead along a dandi at <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>. It’s dangerous because a rhino may walk into the dandi any time, making the person walking unable to find a way to escape, since the elephant grass at <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place> is so thick.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style=""> </span>The poachers use bamboo spikes, hessian sacks, and daos (machettes). In the dandi, the poachers dug a deep pit so that even a huge rhino is swallowed in it. They drive the spikes into the bottom of the pit, their sharpened and pointed ends up, to make the spike-bed. Then they spread dried reeds over the pit and thatched the roof with grass so that the expected victim—a rhino—can’t even guess that that is a pit trap. Sometimes a boar also falls into the pit, front first, get its neck broken, the spikes penetrating its belly, and get the spikes into its body more deeply as a consequence of more efforts of no avail to avail itself of the opportunity of freedom like before, the screams through the layers of grass startling its surroundings, and then meet with eternal failure. </span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style=""> </span>Sometimes, they electrocute the rhinos at <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>. Sometimes, they shoot them. But the pit trap is an easy method.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style=""> </span>When a rhino falls into a trap, it remains lying battered and mutilitated, the failure of struggles glaring in its leathery eyes, the corners sodden with the dry streams of tears. The poachers do not give attention to anything but to the horn. They quickly cut the horn from its snout and escape from <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Kaziranga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>. </span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB">I list some useful links below: </span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on"><b style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;" lang="EN-GB">Kaziranga</span></b></st1:placename><b style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;" lang="EN-GB"> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></span></b></st1:place><b style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;" lang="EN-GB"> or wildlife sanctuary</span></b></span><span lang="EN-GB">: </span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.kaziranga-national-park.com/">Kaziranga National Park</a></span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaziranga_National_Park">Kaziranga National Park Assam</a></span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.indiawildliferesorts.com/national-parks/kaziranga-national-park.html">Kaziranga National Park Organization</a></span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on"><b style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;" lang="EN-GB">Kaziranga</span></b></st1:placename><b style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;" lang="EN-GB"> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></span></b></st1:place><b style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;" lang="EN-GB"> hotels</span></b></span><span lang="EN-GB">:</span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Do a Google search. </span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on"><b style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;" lang="EN-GB">Kaziranga</span></b></st1:placename><b style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;" lang="EN-GB"> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></span></b></st1:place><b style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;" lang="EN-GB"> tourism</span></b></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:180%;">: </span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB">Do a Google search. There are lots of tourism services in <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Assam</st1:country-region></st1:place>.</span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on"><b style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;" lang="EN-GB">Kaziranga</span></b></st1:placename><b style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;" lang="EN-GB"> <st1:placetype st="on">National Park</st1:placetype></span></b></st1:place><b style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;" lang="EN-GB"> map</span></b></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:180%;">:</span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://maps.google.co.in/maps/place?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=Kaziranga+National+Park+Map&fb=1&gl=in&ftid=0x374440abce0897fd:0x3107af4f710741ec&ei=IfGtS8HsNZS_rAfg9fimAQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CAsQ8gEwAA">Map of Kaziranga National Park</a></span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.mapsofindia.com/assam/tourism/kaziranga-national-park.html">Kaziranga National Park map</a></span></p> <p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://mapsof.net/uploads/static-maps/kaziranga_national_park_map_en_mod.png">Way to Kaziranga National Park
<br /></a></span></p><p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://mapsof.net/uploads/static-maps/kaziranga_national_park_map_en_mod.png">
<br /></a></span></p> Nikhil Khasnabishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06546925844401663693noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8024307324656622331.post-50856059149768477462010-02-27T18:30:00.001+05:302010-03-20T11:41:54.198+05:30The Theft in a Train<p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">After eating fried rice, I went to sleep. The supper was so satisfactory that I didn’t have to wait long for sleep. Though some people complain about interrupted sleep in a train, I don’t do so. I sleep like a baby even in a moving train. The movement of a train gives me the feeling of a hammock, and the train noises don’t disturb me. For sleeping like this in a train, I paid penalty several times. <span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Once I failed to get off at the station of my destination. When I woke up, I found my compartment in a shed about half km away from the station. It happened at <st1:place><st1:city>Rangia</st1:city>, <st1:country-region>Assam</st1:country-region></st1:place>. Another time, all my belongings were stolen away when I remained sleeping. <span style=""> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Anyway, the theft happened in Saraighat Express—a fast moving train—from Guwahati to <st1:city><st1:place>Howrah</st1:place></st1:city>. The theft was both funny and dangerous. At <st1:time hour="0" minute="0">midnight</st1:time> after the train had left Maldah, <st1:place>West Bengal</st1:place>, loud voices in the next coup woke me up. When I gave attention to the voices, I came to know about the theft. <span style=""> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>The narrator was an Assamese young man of strong build. He was leading a team of artists to Raipur. I don’t know how many artists were there in his team. But in his coup, there were two young boys and three young girls. The girls were smarter than the boys—they went to toilet past my coup—and their cute dresses made them look cuter. From their (loud) conversation, I learned that they sang and danced. One of the girls was putting on weight; the other two were slim. When they discussed education and behaviour of teachers, I made sure that they read at a college. Their Assamese was the Assamese of the people who belong to <st1:place>Upper Assam</st1:place>. Had I been in their coup, I would’ve talked a lot to them. Assamese in a train out of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Assam</st1:place></st1:country-region>, like Assamese out of the State, make me feel so proud and happy. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>The gang was comprised of five thieves. Like policemen, they wore uniform jackets. Shining their torches, they examined whether the passengers were sleeping. (I don’t know if they shone their torches on me either.) When they found the suitable man, they guardedly stood at his berth. One of them kept shining the torch straight on the sleeping man while the other became busy doing something, bending close to the man. The Assamese young man, who had already taken them for policemen, didn’t care to ask them anything. He just thought that they were just doing their routine duties. <span style=""> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>But the actuality came to light when they got off by pulling the chain. They cut the sleeping man’s pocket and took away five thousand rupees, including his ID card and ticket—he was a Hindi-speaking sales representative in Shillong. <span style=""> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>The Assamese young man and the victim went on loudly remembering the theft to each other and laughing off and on through the rest of the night, expressing regrets that they failed to catch them.<span style=""> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>I still wonder why they saw only fun in that incident. Was that really funny? Anyway, only that night I failed to sleep well and made a resolve not to sleep in a train, like a baby in a hammock, anymore.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span></p>Nikhil Khasnabishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06546925844401663693noreply@blogger.com0