Who knew, that one man could do so much? That too, a man who is physically challenged. Who knew that the same man could lead to the uncovering of the most notorious, infamous and violent poachers of the Nilgiri Hills? This is the story of that man.
Tom was my best friend. He was short and stout, a complete opposite of me as I was tall and thin. He had piercing blue eyes, contrasting to my gentle brown. He had long, glowing blond hair, while I had close, short-cut black hair. He had a small, stubby nose, while I had a long curved one. He had two ears, and so did I. But, none of his functioned properly. From a young age, he had been diagnosed as deaf. When he first moved into our neighborhood, I immediately made friends with him. Knowing ASL, American Sign Language, it was easy for me to communicate with him, as opposed to my other friends. To compensate his disability, he has a fantastic sense of smell. He could track any object, just by following its scent. This had helped us gather many different exotic fruits and other delicacies of nature, just outside our neighborhood. On one such occasion of searching for food, he complained of a different smell. (The dialogues in the story are a translation of the sign language.)
“What?”, I signed. “Yes, a different smell.”, he signed, “I remember every smell and this is clearly a new one.” “Want to follow it?”, I signed. Silence was all I got. After a few minutes, he signed, “The smell seems dangerous…” “A nice adventure then!”, I signed happily, “Drag me along!” And so he did, literally. He dragged me by the hand into a short clump of trees. “You sure?”, he signed, “I’ll do it if you want to, but only because we have had a sort of symbiosis till now.” “You have been nice to me all along and it’s time I return the favor.” “I will lead you to the adventure of a lifetime.”
Following the scent, we landed in a clearing in the woods. There were three tall fir trees which clearly demarcated the place. Below the trees was a small cottage with a disgusting smell emanating from it. One of decaying animals and who knows what else. “You sure?”, he signed again. I nodded my head in agreement. Stealthily, we made our way to the door of the cottage. I could hear gruff voices inside, “Let’s kill another animal, I’m bored.”, one voice said. This was followed by loud laughter for no apparent reason. “These guys are maniacs!”, I signed, “So fun!” Tom just shook his head in disappointment. At that very moment, with a loud ‘klonk’, both of us passed out.
When we regained consciousness, we saw no trace of the trees or the cottage. But the clearing seemed the same. “What in the world?”. I started to sign, but was immediately stopped by the expression on Tom’s face. “The smell is different…”, he signed, “Smells like home!” We walked a few steps, and sure enough, we found ourselves out of the forest and in front of our homes. At that moment, it didn’t registered in our minds that we had not entered the forest from there. Nevertheless, we looked at each other, and in agreement, we rushed to the police station.
“What?”, was the only response from the police superintendent when I explained what had happened to us. “Let’s go!”, he said immediately, catching me by surprise. With a platoon of 50 other officers, we followed the trail of scent again and landed in the clearing again. After surrounding the cottage, the superintendent burst through the front door. “HANDS UP!”, he shouted. The men inside raised their hands slowly, but one of them snarled at Tom and I. I quickly signed to Tom that he was the same man who had knocked us out earlier. After taking them into custody, the superintendent told us that they were the most notorious, infamous and violent poachers of the Nilgiri Hills. They were a gang of 7, but they had captured only 6, which meant that one was still on the loose. And he would want revenge…
This story is continued in The Last Man Standing.