1997-0000 Short Prose ‘Our Jungle Friends’ by Mahadevi Annapurnna, ISPS Dharamshala, Class 5 from 1997-98 Sahaj Amrit, Pages 11 and 12
Our school is a pious place. At times we feel that even wild animals living in the jungle, sit in terraced gardens or under the long Pine or huge Walnut trees, no animals dare come out of the bushes of caves found on the hillslopes, to disturb us so far in the history of Talnoo school, nothing untoward has happened on the part of animals.
It is wonderful fun to watch a family of bears who daily come to take leftovers of our dinner, which our kitchen staff leave in a big tub, kept behind the boundary fence of the school.
There are five in number, the father bear is jet black and a huge one, the mother bear is also big but not like the father bear. She has a silver streak on her chest which adds a charm to her shinning black coat. The three cubs are so cute that one get tempted to play with them, their arrival time is generally 9 to 10 p.m., but during winter they start coming early, maybe due to snowfall on upper regions of the mountains, around the jungle. They come very slowly near the tub, and without making any noise, pick up the lid, keep it to the side, and then in a very disciplined way, first the parents take their share of the food, only after they are finished, are the cubs allowed to take the rest of the food. Even a faint sound sends them an alarm to run away. We try our best not to make any noise while watching them.
Only the other day, we celebrated Diwali. We had a lot of fun with fireworks for 4 to 5 hours. The whole school was shining with coloured lights. That day the bears never came. We waited for a very long time, but it was of no use, then we understood that the sound of the crackers might have threatened them. We were sad that a family that is, in a way, so closely linked to this school, had to go without food. The next day, everything was normal, and we were happy to see them again. They have bright, shining eyes, long tounges and big teeth. Sometimes, we take their photographs and to the camera flashes they respond, with a friendly look.