Corona The Brighter Side

By Shalini Khare

The book has been inspired by incidents which happened during the pandemic.

These are real stories of real people, some based on the writers observation of the life aro

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blue Rose Publishers
• Release date: Aug 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9789354722066

Book preview

JUNGLE ON THE ROADS

CHAPTER 1

I am Satish Naidoo, a forest ranger posted in Jalandhar, Punjab, at the forest conservation department. Belonging to Andhra Pradesh and used to the beautiful beaches there, it was difficult for me initially to adjust in Jalandhar but by and by I got accustomed to the beautiful city flanked by natural beauty.

It was the end of May 2020 and lockdown was about to unlock. I had been married for two years now and my wife had gone visiting her parents and partly due to the lockdown and also due to pregnancy she was stuck up at Visakhapatnam.

Our marriage anniversary was on 15th June 2020 and she made up her mind to join me in Jalandhar. I was apprehensive as it was her 9th month of pregnancy and travelling in such a condition was not advisable.

But she was a determined person and was getting ready to travel on the 5th of June 2020.

How will you manage to travel in non-AC coaches dear? You know very well that only Shramik express will be running, I was concerned.

I will manage. All the hardcore training I have undergone during my NCC and Scouts and Guides will come handy now, she tried to convince me.

Well, please take care and be safe. I will be at the station to receive you, I told her.

By train from Visakhapatnam to Jalandhar it would be 2 nights and 3 day’s journey, I mused.

So came 5th June 2020. My wife must have boarded the train, I thought. By 7th late evening, she would be with me.

I was admiring the cleansed beauty of nature. Corona had cleaned and purified the greenery for sure. And with the decrease in the pollution, mountain ranges of the Himalayas were also visible. Being in the forest conservation department I was always surrounded by nature.

I took out my diary and flipped down the pages of memory lane. I reached the page where I at the university of Hyderabad, had had won a gold medal in racing. I was a keen athlete since childhood and was called ‘Cheetah’ lovingly by my classmates.

And a Cheetah I was on the sports ground. I was quite infatuated by the animal cheetah and would watch videos of running cheetahs. I admired its majestic persona and wished I could come face to face with one in the future.

I shut the diary and opened the television as I was told by ‘Shanta cable’, the local cable channel that they would be showing ‘Mowgli-the movie’. Before the movie the cable used to show local advertisements, appeals, lost and found cases, and local news. A local news was going on.

CHAPTER 2

I dug deep into the newspaper waiting for the movie to start. Suddenly the news reader's mention of a ‘cheetah’ made me look up at the screen.

There it was, a huge cheetah, moving regally on a road flanked by buildings on both sides.

The animal was romping about in my society. It was a live programme and the people on the road were running helterskelter and within 5 minutes the road became deserted and nobody could be seen.

But also disappeared the cheetah from sight. I called up the conservator of the forest extension a new chap recently posted on the job and the introducer of the ‘Hariyali app’.

Cheetah got extinct in our country in 2013, Satish, he updated me.

But there is one in our society, Satbeer, I was excited and informed him.

"Yes Satish there was a Namibian forest department officer, Kagumbo who had brought a pair of male and female cheetahs to the forests of Jalandhar.

This was after the Supreme Court’s order in 2020 to reintroduce them in India. He had brought them in January 2020. They were only a few months old when they arrived. Cheetahs attain puberty around the age of 21 months. The officer had informed me that, when his men went to feed the pair in the jungle, the female who was pregnant was absconding," I thanked him and disconnected the line.

Suddenly Mr. Gupta, the proprietor of Shanta cable appeared on the screen and with folded hands apologised to the viewers about not being able to air the movie which they were about to show shortly.

I am very sorry that we are unable to show the movie 'Mowgli' today as there is some disturbance in the radar of the cable on the terrace. Its a small problem where the wire has to be connected to a plug but the technician in the office has refused to visit the terrace as he’s fearing that the absconding cheetah could be hiding on the terrace. So fearing for his life he refuses to move. That’s that. Movie next time. Thank you. Gupta signed