Live And Let Live

She moved on and on. It seemed she was sailing in the air. She felt so light. It was so foggy. She could only see white fumes around her. Where was she going? What had happened to her? She could not recall anything. But she liked this journey. There was something new and exciting in store for her. Excitement always made her sleepy. She moved downwards. Her feet touched the ground. Her hands touched a trunk of the tree. Taking its support, she sat down. Soon she fell into a deep sleep. When her eyes opened, it was dawn. There was little visibility. A cool breeze was blowing. There were sounds of twittering, chirping, cooing and so many other which she could not identify. She looked all around with wonder in her eyes. She was not in her room. This hard surface was not her bed. There were only trees and bushes around her. She could smell pleasant fragrance of fresh flowers. The place looked very beautiful and colorful. There were so many flowers of different kinds all around. She only had roses, marigold, dahlia and sunflower in her garden. She could identify only some flowers whose pictures she had seen in her science book. She could identify mahua, achar and bamboo only. All other plants were new for her. Wherever she was, the place was very refreshing. She looked around and asked herself, “Where am I?” “You are in the woods of Kanha In Madhya Pradesh.” came a sweet voice. She looked around. She could not see anyone around. But she was sure that she had heard some clear sounds. “You mean Kanha National Park forest. I was sleeping in my house in Delhi. How could I reach Kanha forest?” “You always wanted to visit this place. Why?” “Because I’ve read so much about it in The Jungle Book. I’m a fan of Rudyard Kipling who wrote this book. This forest is called Kipling’s world that powered him with such magnificent imaginations. The vegetative attractions are a perfect habitat for jungle beings. I love wildlife. But who are you? I can’t see you.” “I’m Sweeto the peacock. I live in this jungle.” “Hello Sweeto. I’m Kavya. I am twelve years old and live in Delhi. My parents are not around so let’s give company to each other till they come.” “First you tell me what you people know about this jungle.” “Well, Kanha National Park is the largest national park in Madhya Pradesh. 300 species of birds are found in this wood. Some of these birds are migratory. It is a home to 200 species of flowering plants. The barasingha or the swamp deer is the most popular animal of this forest. Other animals found here are Royal Bengal Tiger, leopards, sloth bears, sambhars, chitals, gaur and Indian wild dog. Along with these we can also see porcupine, jungle cat, fox, jackal, mongoose, python and monkey.” Kavya was happy to share her knowledge with Sweeto and felt elated because she was talking to a peacock. It was unbelievable. “I think I should introduce you to all my friends in this jungle. You’d love meeting them and talking to them.” Sweeto offered to show her the jungle. “What about my mummy and daddy. They will be worried when they don’t see me here.”“I will send a signal to all my jungle friends. They will help me locate them. When they come back for you, they’ll inform me and we’ll come back.” “Okay, let’s go” “My friend, Fifi, the python lives in this hole.” “Oh! I’ve never seen a real python. Let’s go to his hole.” Fifi, the python was very huge and long. He was dark grey with big black spots all over his body. He looked very handsome. Kavya expressed her pleasure in meeting him. He offered to accompany them around the jungle. Leepy, the monkey noticed the peacock and python moving around with a human being. He didn’t like human beings. Men often came to the jungle to catch monkeys. They dressed them in human clothes, tied a rope around their neck and forced them to act and dance. Small children like that human being clapped and laughed at them. He felt so humiliated for his friends who actually faced all this. “Sweeto, what are you doing? Why are you being friendly with human beings? They have never been nice to us.” Leepy expressed his frustration. “Hello, Leepy. Meet my friend Kavya.” “I don’t want to meet her.” “Why are you angry with me. What have I done? We’ve not even met yet.” “You humans are very bad. You exploit all the animals. You cut our jungles and make us homeless. You catch animals and force them to perform feats so that you can entertain yourself.” Leepy exploded. “I’m really very sorry. I apologize on behalf of all the human beings. We think we’re very intelligent and resourceful but actually we’re senseless. We use all the natural resources for ourselves. We get crazy and greedily use everything. Time comes when we realize that we’re ruthlessly exploiting our resources. We’ve understood now that we don’t have copyright on this earth. We should share the resources with all the living beings.” Fifi supported Kavya and said, “Can’t you see how human beings are making up for the damage they’ve done. They’ve reserved jungles and protected them from damage. Our jungle is a protected area and National Park now. See how happily we all animals live together. Men are planting more trees as they’ve realized their importance. Number of animals are increasing.” “Okay no more complaints now,” said Sweeto. “Leepy can you swing from one branch to another using your tail. I’ve seen monkeys do this trick on T.V. Can you show me how you actually do it?” said Kavya. Leepy was more than happy to do this trick. It was his favorite. He even plucked a fresh mango from the tree and gave it to Kavya. She jumped with joy. She clapped to see Leepy swinging on the tree. “You’re absolutely amazing Leepy.” He smiled to hear the appreciation. Hearing all this, Sheru, the lion woke up. “Why is there so much commotion at this time? You know it is my sleeping time,” the lion growled.“We’ve a guest in this jungle. Though she’s a human being, she has made us realize that man is now using available resources judiciously. He is also implementing various schemes to increase these resources,” said Sweeto. “It’s nice to know this. Please take care of her. Show her the whole jungle. Feed her on fruits and hunted animals. Oh! Sorry, I think you eat cooked meat. You’d not eat raw meat like we do,” said Sheru. “Thanks for being so considerate. I don’t eat meat at all. So, no problem,” Kavya expressed her gratitude. Sheru said, “Since it is very bright, I’ll go to sleep. Report to me what you did for her to make her feel comfortable.” “Yes, Your Majesty,” chorused all the animals together. Kavya was surprised to see all this. Humans thought that only humans could communicate. But the animals were talking to her in her language. This must have happened for the first time in this world. She smiled. “Kavya, why are you smiling? Why don’t you get up? It’s time for school. If you don’t get up just now, you’ll get late.” This was her mother’s voice. Why was she scolding her in the forest? She looked around. Her eyes opened. She was in her room. Oh! God this was just a dream. Visiting her favorite forest, talking to animals and going around in the jungle was just a dream. So, she hadn’t talked to animals. It was just a fairy tale.