Is anybody listening?

At 2120 hours I finally gave up calling the District Forest Officer after more than 10 calls were either rejected or simply not picked by him. This was a week ago. For the next four continous nights, we faced our toughest test ever; a full grown wild elephant would strike the farm and I, with less than six men, would try to stop him. This elephant has already killed many. He does not merely kill innocent villagers but tears limbs one by one and then crushes the head with just one footfall.

Friends from Kharagpur, friends from Calcutta reached the farm with different elments to fortify the farm. A special mention of Sagar is due. I will always be indebted to him. He responded to my SOS and drove middle of the night with crackers to the farm. Not once, but many nights there after. Motivating the scared villagers to unite, inventing jungle intelligence to drive away the elephant were lessons I learnt over night & shall never forget. Imagine this; the diameter of the elephant's feet is 29 inches.This means he is four times i.e. 116 inches tall at his shoulder. Now add another 24 inches to reach his head. I was at the mercy of a 13 and a half feet wild animal who had already rippped apart not one or two but 10 people.

The District Magistrate of West Midnapore, Mr. Narayan Swaroop is a good man and a friend. He tries to help. But I was stunned to see how he was simply at the mercy of the forest officials who dont take his orders. They not only refused to respond to my SOS, they came up with an entire list of more-important tasks that they have. Disgusting! They are inefficient, unethical and corrupt. The government, I wonder has any control on them?

Finally, I decided to track the elephant with a small team. We followed footmarks into the forest, with two search lights and some twenty five crackers. Knowing fully well,this can even mean death of any of us, I made a call to speak to my 23 months old daughter before I started. Told her mother that in case I dont return from the forest, she should tell the little one when she grows up, that her father was an elephant fighter.

Today, I am still alive.

We cut off the elphant's daily path and ensured that he moves in a different direction. This is a very risky process and the wild animal can always retaliate which means you can be flung in the air, pulled limb by limb away and die before you blink.

If this is the state of risk of a farmer and the apathy of the forest officials, why would people have faith in the administrative system? Is anybody listening?