Reminiscence of a wild life enthusiast!

A nightmarish experience

It happened nearly 3 decades ago, but it gives shivers to think about it even now – and it happened during our families first visit to Parambikulam forest reserve.

We went with family and a few friends as guests of my friend who was a police official and we were put up in Tamilnadu Government guest house. An ideally located bungalow  overlooking the vast Parambikulam lake and deep into the forest. A vast well maintained garden in the front and the bungalow was custom built to protect against attacks from wild elephants, in as much as all the rooms were open to a closed backyard which has a escape tower with a steep stair case so that elephants cannot climb.  The corridor in front of the room was also too narrow for elephants to approach.

My two daughters were very young; 5 and 3 years old and thus were playing around in the garden in the evening running about in wild abandon and enjoying the lavish supply of sweets we were provided with.  Unknowingly, they were strewing pieces of sweets all around the place.  

We retired to our room after a sumptuous dinner, which was the second room from the front in the oval shaped bungalow; the first room was occupied by our friends and relatives. In our room, my daughters slept with their aunt in a makeshift bed on the floor, while we rested in the bed. There was night bulb burning in the corridor, giving us some light. It was a calm and quiet night and by midnight it all began to happen.