Turiya is a small gentle river flowing near village Sakambahar in Sundargarh district of Orissa . On one side of the river is a village and on the other side there is a dense forest . The village attracted hunters and tourists as the forest was known to house many animals like elephants , bisons , Sambhar & barking deer’s, Bengal tiger and the lion . It was a common sight to see children and elders having a bath on the village side while elephants , lions and deer’s , drank from it, on the other side.
River Turiya was not feeling herself since many days . Her waters turned muddy and her whole expanse of belly was filled with plastic and trash .She would hardly react or chat to her close friends on the banks -Jamuna, the jamun tree, Bani, the bamboo tree, and Mallika and Amrapali the two mango trees . They threw leaves and twigs one by one into her waters to provoke her into a ripple of laughter, but Turiya was glum. Her look would say it all – ‘Mujhe nahi baat karni‘ (I don’t want to talk). When chanchal the hawa (wind ) blew past her , she would not even look up , which was strange as they often greeted each other. Chanchal blew close to the waters to tease Turiya and create ripples in the latter’s belly – but no reaction. When villagers would come to have a bath she would recede to the middle or suddenly swell near the banks scaring them. People started getting scared. Amrapali heard Baavri the buffalo telling Garima the cow that Turiya is tasting very bitter nowadays.
On the forest side of the river Rabya the rabbit and Ladki the woodpecker tiptoed to the river to have some water. There were no big animals or birds in sight and both friends decided to quench their thirst. Turiya was an honest and forthright river. She saw them and said – Listen friends I am not well and if you drink of me now , you will find me very bitter. I don’t want you to have a bitter taste in your mouth. According to Prakriti (Nature ) I am supposed to quench the thirst of all sentient beings but I feel sick and unable to perform my duties am sick and want to have a bath and till I get one,. Rabya was grateful for Turiya’s honesty and offered to spread the word around to the animals and birds in the forest. Please take care and get well soon said Ladki , and wondered where they could have water? Rabya was worried as he and his clan need a lot of water to digest their food . Today he had eaten a lot of grass and dandelion leaves which was a prize his mate had shown hidden amidst large trees . What should we do he chattered his teeth loudly and asked Ladki ? Well the only other place is Shahriyar’s Jharna . But that is forbidden territory for us isn’t it ? Ladki let out a loud screech and said – O’ come on there is no choice . I will sit on the treetop and watch out for the Shahriyar and his family while you drink and then you can keep a watch.
Soon the message of Turiya’s sickness and bitter taste spread in the forest like wild fire. Shahriyar the lion was furious. In all his life he hadn’t heard that a river would discourage sentient beings from drinking its water. In his last durbar (court ) he had heard his subjects chattering about a cow and buffalo found dead on the other side of the river after drinking water. Sadly they were on the other side of the river which wasn’t much use to him and his family . But if this happened after drinking Turiya’s water then this was serious business . The entire forest would go thirsty and animals would die? He wanted to see animals roaming around always, for his own food security. He was also worried about his own little Jharna in the forest , from which he and his family drank water . It was the unsaid law of the jungle that no other animal should be seen drinking waters from where the royal family quenched their thirst . He summoned Vanraj the chieftain of the monkeys as he had heard that their God Hanumanta could remove any obstacles or alleviate any problems.
Chapter 2
Vanraj came and bowed down to Shahriyar who was taking a walk by the river, engrossed in deep thought . Vanraj do you know , what ails Turiya? You know we can all die if she protests and does not give us water to drink. Chanchal was blowing all over the forest today, whistling that Turiya is making available only bitter water and she is going against the law of Prakriti. Can you pray to your God Hanumanta to clear away this obstacle?I know you are a Bhakt (devotee) of Hanuman? He will surely listen to you.
Vanraj after carefully listening to what his king Shahriyar had to say, spoke in a low thoughtful voice . Hey King, I think Turiya is right . She has been very slow of recent. She lets things on her surface remain and has stopped looking after herself . I feel her beautiful calming sound is also weak . So she maybe speaking the truth when she says she is not well.
Vanraj continued – I heard her moaning on the last full moon night saying that one of the tourists had mixed some poison into the water to catch fish. Many of the fish on that side whom she doted on lay dead in her womb. To add to her woes, a cow and buffalo who drank the same water died . The villagers blamed her for being unclean and carrying poisonous waters. She was unable to take this slur on herself, as she has always been following the norms of Prakriti.
Vanraj, I get what you are saying but Turiya needs to get her act together and and ,,, he let out a loud R O A R in desperation ? There are not enough streams and waterbodies in the forest to quench the thirst of the entire animal kingdom and we will be able to hold on for a maximum of 15 days or even less . Besides at least once a week, I like to drink Turiya’s water as my dad Shahjahan said it will give me strength.
All right my Lord, I shall cross the river tonight and go to the Hanuman temple. But I am afraid my Lord Hanumanta believes in action. Turiya is very unclean and she needs to be clean and only then can we ask the lord to bless her . Meanwhile I have an idea and you may wish to think about it? From tomorrow onwards why don’t you command the entire animal kingdom to work two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening to clear the river . The animals who can do a deep dive can go to the river bed and carry all the rubbish from there and bring it up into the forest. Birds can peck and lift the rubbish from the surface . This way Turiya will be assured that we are her well-wishers and she may be kind to us.
Shahriyar looked thoughtful and said good idea but once we lift out the rubbish from Turiya where do we put it ? I don’t want the jungle to be dirtied . My little cubs walk around the whole jungle bare foot . I don’t want their feet get into muck and plastic . I also heard that last month a bison was killed in the adjoining jungle as he had picked up some food wrapped in plastic , near the edge of the River. He choked on it and died. May Allah give him Jannat (heaven) said Shahriyar thinking sadly about the prize feast, the bison would have been if he was in this part of the jungle. The adjoining jungle was ruled by Zalim the tiger and his wife Maya . According to Shahriyar both Zalim and Maya were responsible for all the killings on the other side of the jungle and of course for the ones he had not feasted on in his own jungle .
Don’t worry Lord, said Vanraj, we can dig a deep pit here with the help of all our comrades and we will keep accumulating all the rubbish and the dirt from the River into it. Once the job is done we will fill it up with mud. But you see Vanraj said Shahriyar, these naughty animals here , can dig up the pit anytime . Not if you put your paw mark as the seal of the King of the jungle , on it said Vanraj with a smile . Good idea and we will instruct Chanchal and the trees around it to warn anybody who tampers with it .
That night Vanraj and his sister Vani went on choti nauka (the boat ) to the village across.
to be continued as Chapter 3