My circle of friends

I lost my favourite pendant a few weeks ago when I returned home from an evening swim and realized I had dropped it somewhere along the way. It was a cold day, and snow was expected, and I unwillingly acknowledged that it was the time to let go. I knew it was nothing but an inanimate object, and I wondered why I felt so attached to it – in many ways I felt it defined me. It was colourful and transparent, and shaped like a bull, which of course relates to my naturally affa’bull’ Taurian character!

I don’t know about lifeless possessions, but I believe that like pets, wild animals connect to us too, and I have a few stories about this to narrate myself. The wonderful home we had when we were children was in the beautifully overgrown NCL colony, with the hill at the back and numerous visitors (more or less of the human kind) up in the front. A couple of creatures visited us too from time to time, and one regular visitor was this 6-foot long rat snake. It was a regular sight to watch it slither in from one door and out from the other. If the doors were closed, it would occasionally stand up to its full length against the window and knock on the glass pane. To the irritation of the squirrels who originally claimed the space, it spent a few days in the neem tree at the back, right next to the kitchen window. 

An old scanned picture shows you how close it was to us, and I spent my time watching it play mind games with the squirrels. This felt like a house pet, our very own snake, and we would wonder where it disappeared if we didn’t see it around for a few days. I don’t know if it knew us, but it seemed to know that this was the house where it wouldn’t get killed.

Whichever part of the world I am in, I find myself wandering into the countryside, where I eventually find myself in the company of wildlife. Over time, one begins to recognize specific animals. The same pair of female elephants has chased the jeep I have been in on numerous visits to BR hills. A couple of times, they did seem to go particularly out of their way to track us down over the hilly terrain. One of these times, we didn’t see them, and as we went down the road we heard a distant trumpet. We stopped the jeep to see where the elephants were, and there was this pair, two hillocks away, walking purposefully towards the vehicle and trumpeting so that we wait for them. 

This appeared to be a planned attack, they took different routes so that they could get to the jeep from two different directions, and the only reason we didn’t wait there to find out what would happen next is because we recognized the elephants as the notorious two, and made sure we kept adequate distance. 

I am convinced that this was special treatment for the regular forest visitors, because this was certainly very unusual behaviour for a wild animal towards a bunch of unfamiliar tourists. I honestly believe that those elephants recognized us, and I always wonder how. The only stories I share with these elephants is when I have been chased by them – although this regular interaction leaves me with an elephant nightmare every now and then, it is a connection that cannot be ignored.

There is a nice little forest patch near Lollar, the village where my office in Germany is located. I lived in Lollar for a few months a couple of years ago. Being a village, this place lacks any form of entertainment, and the only way I spent my time back then was by taking a walk into this forest. Being a wildlife junkie, my eyes are always scanning the bushes for any form of movement, and invariably I would see a deer or two on each of these walks. This was considered rare, since most of my other colleagues and friends in the area didn’t see the animals quite as often, and they considered me very lucky. Of course, I believe it was partly luck, and but mostly my good eyesight. 

This visit to Germany finds me staying in Giessen, which is a town near Lollar. I travel to Lollar everyday to work, but don’t spend any of my free time there. One weekend I decided to head out for a really long hike, and the trail meandered all over the country side, briefly skirting Lollar at the edge of the same forest. It was a bright and sunny day and there were many walkers in the area – considering the human movement and the fact that I was only at the edge of the forest, I had no hope at all of seeing any of my “deer” old friends again. I was walking along the road, map in hand, and very, very exhausted and I missed a left turn. I walked about 5 minutes along the wrong road, still along the edge of the forest. The road hit a dead end, and I turned around, cursing my carelessness, because my legs didn’t really want to be associated with me any further. On my way back, I kept my eyes open for the turn I missed, and in a small open patch was this deer staring at me, completely still. I was stunned, because this seemed to have been fate working all its magic just to make sure I see a deer here again! It felt like seeing a long lost friend after ages, because it seemed like all the set of events that led to me standing at that place at that time seemed planned just to work out this reunion.

It has been since this run-in with the deer that I have been thinking of writing this blog, and laziness has stopped me ever since. However, today is the 2^nd of April, a big day for a very close friend of mine, and I’m heading off to a weekend in Rome instead of being with her on her wedding day – as I sit in the train heading towards Frankfurt to catch the flight, I think of all the people, animals, things and places I really wish I could see today. One thing I don’t need to look for though, is the pendant that sits firmly around my neck. As it turns out, I almost stepped on it the next day as I went out to get my groceries. There it was, lying on the side of the road, through the very cold night, waiting for me to come by and pick it up again! I suppose if I hadn’t walked by the road at that time, it would have found a way right to my doorstep. My circle of friends does seem to be larger than I realize!