The Maneater Of Narayanpur

I have a paternal cousin named Deep. He lives in Narayanpur, 15 kilometres from the outskirts of Kolkata, also, 30 kilometers from the Sunderbans. Tigers occasionally visit but the first instance of a man eater in that village was during my stay there on a full moon night.

Deep was walking along with me in the moonlight, absorbing its beauty. Not only the serenity but also the calmness of my ancestral land was out of bounds. He made up a poem in Bengali (with myself adding some good 'learned' words) which goes as follows:

ও গো জ্যোত্স্নালোকিত পথ,

ও গো ধানের খেত,

ও গো মেঘমুক্ত গগন,

সব যেন এক ছবির মতো,

যা কেবলি ভগবানের আঁকা।

Which roughly translates to:

O ye moonlit path,

O ye paddy fields,

O ye cloudless sky,

All like a picture,

Which has been drawn only by God.

After discussing over this poem for a bit, we heard a man shrieking, "Jag te raho! There is a man eater...tiger! Find shelter!" Before we could do anything the man shouted, "Ahhh!" followed by a roar. No doubt, the man had been seized and killed. We ran like hares to find shelter and saw the tiger entering a warehouse with the killed man in its mouth. It was soon trapped in a basement cellar with people discussing what to do when we entered. Everyone turned to the village secretary for advice. He told them, "The best thing to do now is to take Deep's father's gun (who was in the Forest department) to shoot the tiger." followed by making our way to our house, picking up the gun and its bullets (tranquilizers) before returning to the spot. Uncle was not home and nobody but Deep knew how to use it, so accompanied by Grandfather (both mine and Deep's) and my father, we went to counter the tiger which was still trapped in the cellar. Everyone (including the villagers) climbed to the second storey of the warehouse and, with the help of ropes, we opened the trap-door of the cellar. When it was opened, Deep was sure that the tiger would not come out immediately (which was exactly what it did) and the boy had to hurriedly aim the gun and shoot. However, in his haste, he aimed the butt of the gun at the tiger's head and fired, the bullet hitting our Grandfather behind. Thankfully, as the bullet was a tranquilizer the outcome was that he fell unconscious and was thankfully alive. The tiger, however, did not rush out (finding the doorway locked) and went into the cellar again. The door was somehow shut again. "You idiot! What on earth was that!" I scolded Deep once the dangerous job was concluded. He wanted me to shoot the tiger to sleep but I had a better idea: "Let it stay trapped in the cellar for the night. Tommorrow morning, uncle will come and then, we can see what happens." Everyone had to agree that we had no better option than that.

Eventually, uncle came with several of his colleagues and executed the same plan as the previous night, only this time, the people fired from all directions. The tiger was sent to the Alipur zoo in Kolkata lest someone else be killed by it. Deep decided he better not meddle something else again and, as for me, I was (and still am) glad that I live in a city. Also, may the brave man's soul rest in peace. And as for my paternal Grandfather, he stabilized after a few days but the shock was too much.