The Last Encounter
To those of you who are curious to know how the man eater of Astha - and by this I mean the big the wolf who was obviously the leader of the pack -met his end; I should like to narrate the final encounter that took place with this animal, on the evening of 2nd January 1986.
I have already mentioned the cart track that goes south to Amla Mazzu village after coming down from the Dodi plateau. This track was obviously much favoured by the wolf, because the pug marks of a large wolf were often seen on its dusty surface. About half a kilometre south of the spot where the Rupahera track branches off from this road, there is a low hill that stands to the north of the track. The track skirts the base of the hill, coming from the north and turning west along the periphery of the hill, before turning south again and disappearing into the distance. The hill in question has a north south axis, and its south face, below which the track passes, commands a good view of the terrain to the south and west. The south face of the hill slopes gently all the way and is covered with a sparse growth of lantana bushes. It was here that the man eater of Ashta finally met its nemesis.
I have already told the reader that the wolf was unlikely to be tempted by baits tied up for it at selected locations. It needed a more powerful inducement to tempt the wary animal, and working on this hypothesis we thought of a scheme. Our hypothesis was that the wolf, though not interested in conventional baits, would not be able to resist the temptation if offered a human bait. Our plan was to prepare a human dummy, the dummy of child, and dress it up in cast off clothes to complete the deception. The clothes would give off the human small, so essential to tempt the wolf. This dummy we stationed on the lower slopes of the hill at a spot which was roughly equidistance from three lantana bushes, where we intended to conceal ourselves. Our party consisted, apart from myself, of Siddique, Naqvi and Ram Singh the home gaurd jawan already described earlier. As Ram Singh was a talented mime, he was asked, from time to time, to render the crying of a small child, and he acquitted himself with credit on this day. It was this plan, that we now proceeded to put into effect.
All three of us were armed with twelve bore shot guns. After stationing the dummy some distance from the bushes, we hid ourselves behind the bushes, I sat in the middle bush along with Ram Singh. I also had a battery operated flash light with me, which we would need when it became dark. Siddique and Naqvi sat in the flanking bushes.
As we sat down to wait for the wolf it was still afternoon and there was some time left yet before the sun would set. Siddique, wanted to have a last smoke before taking his station, and offered me a cigarette too. He was in a reflective mood, "Bhai, Collector, sahib, much as I love shikar, it is time for me to call a halt. You know the work load has been piling up and there are several judgements that I have to write. In particular there is complicated civil suit, in which will take take me quite a while to dictate the judgement. I think, this may be the last outing that I will be able to afford for quite sometime. It seems the man eater of Ashta must fall to the guns of some other shikari."
Naqvi who had been looking quite glum all the while, now spoke up. ''Sir, I must tell you, they are planning to post me out to a production division ond this may be my last shikar, too."
Both these gentlemen, who were keen shikaris, were sorry to leave the whole matter unfinished as it were. Siddique was in the mood to reminisce. "But I must say, I have enjoyed the whole business of looking for this man eater, though the only time I really set my eyes on the wolf was when we saw it for the first time in the ravine. Well ,one must accept the luck of the hunt, as they say. In legal parlance, this is one case, where the proceedings have to be adjourned indefinitely."
"No, no, judge saab, perhaps it is premature to pass judgement just yet. We still have to witness the last act. Who knows what might happen this evening."
"I agree, with you sir," said Naqvi, "I have a vague feeling that all our efforts will not go to waste".
We finished our cigarettes, and sat down to wait for the wolf. The sun was close to setting. The scene that presented itself before us was one of tranquil beauty. Before us to the south and west, stretched fields of ripening jowar, a tall abundantly growing crop, with large ears of densely packed grains, swaying gently in the light breeze. Far to the west was another low hill, like the one we sat on, and the sun was sinking slowly behind it, shedding a flood of mellow light on the landscape. As the crimson orb slowly dipped behind the hill and the fiery glow gradually faded, a hush descended on the scene. The gentle breeze that had been blowing died down, and the half light of twilight, still with a residual glow of gold about it, filled the valley basin, as clear water fills a trough. Sitting behind the lantana bushes, on our elevated seat , we had a clear view of the whole amphitheatre below us, and the interplay of light and shade that accompanied the advancing eventied. From time to time Ram Singh did his imitation of a child crying, but apart from this it was silent. But the silence and tranquillity was short lived. Suddenly, at first barely audible, but then rising in volume and pitch, an eerie, ululating wailing was heard in the distance. The wolf had arrived, and for once was broadcasting his presence to the world.
By this time it was quite dark. The moon had not risen, and the early stars were too weak to provide any illumination. The wolf called once again, this time from much closer at hand. He was obviously some where in the field of Jowar right in front of us, across the road. We held our breath in anticipation. Minutes passed, but nothing happened. The silence was palpable, you could cut it with a knife. As the waiting became intolerable, I switched on the light and shone it on the dummy. It was a reflex action, done to relieve the tension, rather than out of any hope of finding anything. But there, almost in the act of springing on the dummy was the wolf. As the bright beam of light caught it unawares, it paused and looked up at us, and in that moment two guns spoke simultaneously to my right and left. Hit by two twelve bore cartridges, one of which was loaded with a ball and the other with BB grape shot, the wolf was thrown off its feet, and lay gasping. At this point Naqvi who was sitting to my left, ran out and fired off the other barrel of the gun into the prostrate wolf. Not content with this, he started hitting the dying animal with the butt of his shot gun and broke the wooden stock. Such was his excitement that he failed to see that the man eater of Ashta, the elusive animal that had given us the slip so many times, finally dead.
The dead animal was an outsize wolf in prime condition. Its fur was a little darker than other wolves that had been killed, and was shot through with streaks of grey, but there was otherwise nothing wrong with it. The ball fired by Siddique had made a large wound just below the shoulder, and the grape shot had penetrated various parts of the stomach and chest. Blood was oozing out of these wounds, but apart from this the wolf seemed to be slumbering peacefully. There was nothing to indicate why the animal had turned man eater. No physical infinity, or old wounds, but then in the case of wolves there never are.
When a carefully devised plan works out perfectly, and after innumerable failures, one's efforts are crowned with success, it is natural to feel a quiet satisfaction. As we sat down, with the wolf lying between us and the bright stars of the night as silent witness, we felt at last at peace with ourselves and the world. Because we knew that the last of the man eaters was now dead and the people of Ashta could once again lead normal lives, free from the paralysing pall of fear. And from that day to this, the peace of that region has not been molested by any manner of animal, man eater or otherwise.
