I AM TARA, AND I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY!

And your breed better listen up, for even the impossibly fickle-minded among us, the ever chattering tree-dwellers, have fallen in line!

It was only the previous sunset that the two of us, my son, Bagheera, and I yet once dropped by to quench our thirst in your backyard, and again, none of you came to know!

Was it because we, the only breed among myriad others on the face of the land here who came together to howl at the moon in her Majesty’s praise, understood the meaning of ‘hush’ better than the rest?

Or was it because, like always, I’d followed the rule my mother had taught me as a pup, to be extra careful and never let my guard down while outside, especially when among your kind?

After finding my way into the outer enclosure surrounding your den via a tiny squeeze-through gap between a cluster of shrubs that let us in, I signaled Bagheera to stay put & hidden amid the shrubs, then took my time creeping along the ground as noiselessly as I could, all the while angling my ears around to interpret any danger signals coming in.

The field was safe as I neared your den, and I stood close to a clear-yet-solid object that barricaded outside entry on all the openings, only letting me see inside the den and not get in; not that I wanted to, far from it!

And what did I see? The same I’d been witnessing from the past few full moons.

A group of your breed huddled together within the impregnable den; their eyes glued to a strange object that sat unmoving in the den’s corner. And inexplicably, inside the inanimate object were more of your variety who kept chattering among themselves in the peculiar sounds your breed makes, accompanied by vague forms that kept moving by their own in the backdrop.

On impulse, I decided I’d focus on the alien object to understand what exactly your breed stared at.

I did to only regret it the coming second, as I almost lost my balance owing to my having unnaturally balanced myself on the tips of my hind feet, and this happened because the temporary focus on the crazy thing made my head spin wildly!

Well, I got back on all fours and gave my head a vigorous shake that cleared it up for me. And that made me remember I’d kept Bagheera waiting in the shrubs!

I found my way back to fetch my little one who quietly awaited my return, then guided him to one of the tiny pools of water we’d been finding on the surface around your den from a few days, to drink our fill before moving on to finding dinner.

And our routine has been the same since the past few full moons. We leave our den when it is yet bright, to reach the region that divides our land from yours while there is still light, then find our way to different spots within your layouts, drink and eat, following which we spend the nights exploring your deserted domain. We time our return as the moon goes down, to be back here the next day, or the day following.

If I was to point out a reason for my straying into such zones, along with my pup, to top, and I mean zones marked ‘danger zones’ by the leaders of our land, it would have to do with what has been going on from the past few full moons.

I’ll tell you. We haven’t been seeing your kinds around the places we used to, or anywhere else for the matter, which wasn’t the case until the past few full moons! I took this as a safety sign and ventured ahead, to find none outside. And, I mean, none. I did not see anyone even last dawn!

If you ask me for the location, I can tell you this much.

The place we’ve been haunting; I know it’s been unbelievably safe so far; is close to the layout where the jungles end and the ‘mostly tree-less’ domain starts.

We cross the division to get to your area, a colorless expanse with queer, massive blocks for dens that seem to be everywhere. It is a place with not much greenery, with a hard, plain surface in the place of regular jungle ground that endlessly runs on, and with countless monstrous beasts racing over it while continually discharging foul-smelling gas from their backsides; I reckoned living beings only did that a few times between sunrise to sunset–these aliens kept at it non-stop!

This morning, as we’d crossed the dividing area and were getting back home, we bumped into Uncle-Dabloo, the oldest bear among their only sleuth living close to where we are regular visitors off-late. I recognized his presence the moment I sniffed him out from a distance, for I’d met him on occasions in my life when he would roam about our territory to find fresh honey.

After the initial bout of growls we hurled at the other from several safe sprint-lengths away, for I’m certain he did not recognize me, and with Bagheera hiding behind me, scared out of his wits on seeing a bear ten times his size challenging our timid pair, I let out a few friendly howls mimicking those of my puppy days which made the old and presumably now half-deaf bear tilt his head a few times in trying to place the voice. And his expressions turned friendly as he did. We neared; and was he happy to see me!

We soon got by with our ‘safety sniffing procedure’ followed by us when different varieties of beings, be it grass or meat eaters, come into the safety-space of the other, and finished our informal small-talk growls.

Uncle-Dabloo voiced his concern as he’d seen us approach from the direction of the danger zone. I brushed aside his worries and updated him on what all Bagheera and I had been up to, then bragged about the places we’d found, and owned from the past few full moons, before finally announcing the complete absence of the breed that lived there, hence no safety concerns!

He patiently heard me out, then spoke. And he spoke of things that froze my blood for a while. Here is what he said.

“An urgent message has come through from our protector, the unseen force that lives inside us as our growls, the one that feeds and sustains us, our Mother, or the one we look up to when there is a dis-balance in her Ladyship’s creation’s balance.

For she has spoken to the chosen among us, through the invisible power present in them, as equally present in all; the power that makes us live if only through the deeper growls inside us, or our true identities.

And she hands us a message of counsel, for we are hurtling toward troublesome times, the cause being the breed that lives inside the danger zone.

The danger zone dwellers have totally upset the balance that every other living being here is striving to maintain, which has brought about consequences forcing their kinds to their untimely deaths, and the threat does not limit itself to their breed! For we, as much as any other being, like it or not, share unseeable connections with the other, and we respect and understand that!

But the unfortunate part is those among the breed in the danger zone, despite understanding this truth better than us, I believe, behave as though they do not understand; or is it that they do not want to understand?

If we, that are inferior to them and weaker than them; for they make mincemeat of our kinds by the countless every day, and with no say from our side; can reckon how to abide by the laws of the creator, then why not they, the most superior among us all? Our cries, from unseen new moons and full moons, have made it to the ears of the one who lives within us as our growls. Did you know the same one lives inside the breed we speak of? Can you believe it?”

He finally added.

“You’d do well by keeping the little fellow now hiding behind you away from the danger zone. His innocence is as stake when you take him there, wherever you do. Remember, we are those that live by harmony and innocence, for those alone will keep us ever protected.”

Uncle-Dabloo’s words struck me dumb. We stood there in silence as his message sunk inside my head that had begun pounding within! I wanted to know what exactly had happened, and I asked him.

He replied by asking me why I wasn’t seeing any member of the danger zone around, or the many foul-smelling wild beasts on their surface?

I had no clue! He let me in.

An abominable and invisible killer had risen to take the form of a vile being that was now targeting the breed belonging to the danger-zone, and none among them had a clue how to save themselves from its inescapable clutches. They had therefore shut themselves into their dens, to hide and safeguard their lives until the being’s anger subsided, or until the being hadn’t got what it was after!

I pressed Uncle-Dabloo to spell what the vile being was after. The old bear fell into silence for some time, then eyed the skies as he spoke in low, emotional growls.

“The being that banishes several of those from their breed to their graves asks for overall harmony. And the being is nothing but unchained, uncontrolled energy that has lashed out on those creating a dis-balance to the existing balance, which, I repeat, even we lesser beings are striving to maintain!

Next, you eat what you’re supposed to eat, and you eat when you’re hungry. You do not go about killing others for fun. It is a strict no, as per the one who lives within us as our growls. And the breed living in the danger zone have been doing this from the time I was a cub if you’re getting me. I guess the time has come for them to set things right. Otherwise, whatever is happening would not have come to pass.

How is it fair to those like us they chain and put behind bars for no reason? How is it fair to us when they, leaving all that which has been made for them to eat, eat us instead, torturing us to our deaths, to top?

We have been dying unnatural deaths by the countless, and from innumerable full moons, owing to their killing us for food, for fun, and whatnot! Today, they die unnatural deaths even as we roam their turfs freely, turfs we once used to shun — turfs they once used to rule!”

I took it all in, completely concurring with his every emotional growl! Dare they, the breed living in the danger zone!

But the soft corner I have developed for your breed that belongs to the danger zone, and this from the past few full moons, which wasn’t there before then, makes me put this out to your kinds via one among you, who I have reached.

And I’m doing this because you, albeit unknowingly, have been giving me and my little one water to drink every day from the past few full moons; you quenched our thirst, be it without your knowing you did, and to return what we have received is a law my mother taught me as a pup.

The one among you bearing my message today does not have a backyard and lives far into your land; but I found access to his den the same, thrilled to find Uncle-Dabloo was right! For the oldest and wisest among the bears I know of told me there were still a handful from the numberless in your breed that spoke our language, the language of all beings; the language of the heart; and said he’d identified one!

And that very second, I decided I’d try howling my heart to him.

So, the last night, I once more paid a visit to your layout, but on my lonesome this time, having left Bagheera behind in the safe jurisdiction of our locale.

My umpteenth visit to your domain despite, the trip was surreal because even as I approached his area to get as close as I could to his den; I saw him stand at the opening of his den, and surprisingly, with no clear-yet-solid object barricading the opening! It seemed he was waiting there for me!

I cautiously neared and found my place between two of your gas-releasing beasts that, for a change, silently stood to a side, then started howling my message to him.

He understood my howls as I passed Uncle Dabloo’s words on, and I left only after eliciting an oath from him which he pathetically tried howling back in reply: That he’d convey whatever I’d howled ‘verbatim’.