Chapter 3: The Life in The Forest

  It’s been four months since the storm struck the forest. Neel was now four months old. He has grown up now, or we can say in his teenage years. At this time, he learns about the rules and behaviours of the herd. He was now able to walk and run fast. Neel now eats grass and other vegetation. He spends most of his time with his mother, trying to learn about the herd, different animals, and the forest. If you want to survive, you must learn the rules of the forest and your surroundings.

  Deer wakes up early, before the sun rises. In the morning, the forest is cooler and safer. They start grazing as soon as the sun's rays strike the forest. It’s their safest time of the day for feeding.

  “Wake up, Neel, it’s time,” whispered Purnima with her soft and gentle voice. She licked her son with affection and toddled him to wake him up.

  Neel groaned and said, “No, I want to sleep more.” His eyes were closed, still half-asleep, and he huddled, pulling his legs to his body to feel warm.

  “Come on, Neel, everyone is awake, we have to go for grazing,” said Purnima and she again toddled Neel with her head.

  “No,” Neel groaned again.

  “You won’t wake up, huh?” said Purnima, standing straight, pulling her head up, “then, I have to make some coercive efforts”

  She started to tickle Neel’s tummy with her head. Neel started to laugh because of the tickling.

  “Stop, stop, I am getting up, please, stop,” said Neel, laughing because of the tickles.

  “Good boy,” said Purnima with a wry look on her face.

  Neel stood up and started to stretch his body. He first stretched his forelegs and put his head down, stretching the front part of the body, then he pulled his right hind leg back and stretched it, the same with his left hind leg, and shook his body to wake up from the sleep and to start his new day.

  “Are you fully awake now?” asked Purnima.

  “Yes, mother,” said Neel.

  “Today, I will teach you about the rules of the forest and our routine life in the forest,” said Purnima, and they started walking.

  The weather in the forest was cold; it was Winter. It was still green because of the past rainy season. A cold breeze was flowing through the forest. Birds were tweeting and filled the forest with their calming melody. Some peacocks were a little sad cause their favourite season ended (Monsoon). Peacocks enjoyed this Monsoon season despite some storms. They danced in the rain, spreading their majestic feathers filled with all types of colours, painting the forest in rainbow like feel. Their voice of happiness filled the forest with melody when the rain came. But now that the monsoon was gone, they were no longer able to dance in the rain. They have little melancholy on their faces, but they are happy to have an amazing time enjoying dancing in the rain, and are waiting for their next Monsoon to dance again with their beautiful train.

  The Sun was rising and filling the darkness of the forest with its light. The morning sun is really beautiful, its orange and yellowish look shows the birth of the new day, a new day which brings new life with it. Forest was filled with mist too, the rising sun was removing the mist of misery, fear, and unknow with its rays of inspiration, love, and warmth. The morning forest is just beautiful. The rays of the Sun passing through the gap of the tree’s leaves create a beautiful pattern of shafts of light falling on the flowing river.

  The river's flowing sound creates a beautiful and calming sound. The water of the river is clear and reflects the beauty of the forest, yet it is visible to see the beauty inside it. The school of fish is swimming through the river, swimming and enjoying their new day in the cold river water. Their different and colourful skins are painting the river with live art, swimming through it.

  It's morning, and many animals and birds of the forest came to calm their thirst with river water. The river plays its part in the forest, calming the thirst of everyone, no matter whether it’s a bird, animal, or insect. For the river, everyone is the same. Not just walking animals, but living organisms like trees, grass, and vegetation too, which drink the water of the river through their roots deep inside the soil. Different animals and birds, with their little ones, came to the river for drinking and playing. Everyone has an equal right to the water of the river.

  Deer, Monkey, Wild Boar, Sparrow, Peacock, Duck, Swan, Nilgai (Blue Bull), Barasingha (Swamp Deer), and the biggest animal of the forest, the elephants, were at the riverbank drinking the water of the river, and their kids were playing in the river.

  There comes the family of the most feared animal of the forest, yes, the lion family. This pride has 5 lionesses and many little lions and lionesses, who have come to drink the water of the river. When the pride walks through the forest, every other animal just hides from where they are passing through. No one wants to dare to come in front of their death. The lioness has beautiful and shiny skin, their walk is elegant, their eyes show pride, and their teeth and claws show death. With the death, there were walking little cubs, who were new to all this. Cubs are wobbling a little, and try to run fast to catch up to their mothers. They are with innocent eyes, cubs are not more different than kittens, they are energetic and playful, yet other animals fear them, because they are future kings and queens of the forest.

  Talking about the king and queen, we have seen queens who have come to drink water, but what about the king of the forest? Where is he? Little far from the river, below the little tree, there is the king of the forest lying, his name is Vanraj. There were many lions in the forest, but he was the strongest and most ferocious among them. He woke up now with the rays of the sun. Sitting under the shadow of the tree. The king is sitting with pride and fearlessness. Why would he be feared? He is the king. His majestic look is amazing. Beautiful, shiny golden hair, big canines and claws. He has some scars on his body from the battle with other lions and animals. Where he walks, it becomes his territory; where the king sits, it becomes his throne.

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  Now the king stands. Shaking his majestic hair and stretching his body. When the king yawns, you can see his dangerous incisors and canines, which are his front teeth and fangs, that with just one bite are enough to pull out enough meat to kill anyone. The king started walking while shaking his hair; his slow and powerful walk shows his strength. Without any fear, he can walk all over the forest. The king has already had his prey last night, so he has no plan for a hunt today, but that doesn’t mean other animals that came in the king’s way are safe. The first rule to survive in the forest is never to go near the king.

  Other carnivorous animals are not as powerful as the king but are yet strong enough to attack prey like deer and other small animals. The forest has leopards that always attack from hidden spots. A leopard’s skin is yellow and has a golden texture, with black spots. This helps them hide themselves in the forest environment easily and look for the prey. They are much more agile than the lion; they can climb trees and can run very fast on the field to chase their prey.

  “Mother, we have to live in a constant threat that some animal will attack us?” asked Neel, looking at her mother with fear in his eyes, as they were grazing in the forest.

  “In the forest, there is a threat to life, but that doesn’t mean that we have to live in constant fear. We just have to stay aware of the present moment. We have to stay aware of what is happening around us,” said Purnima, advising her son, “life in the forest is difficult and very unpredictable, but that’s the beauty of life. If you know what is going to happen all the time, the fun of life will be gone.”

  “But mother, we were always in danger. There are lions, leopards, and other animals that can attack us anytime, and we can’t do anything. I wish we were like them, I wish we were lions or leopards. Then we don’t have to live in constant fear,” said Neel, with disappointment.

  Purnima stopped and looked at her son and said, “That’s not true, Neel, even the king of the forest lion fears too.”

  “What? The king of the forest fears, too?” asked Neel, with surprise.

  “Yes, Neel,” said Purnima, “The lion fears that there will be another lion, attack him and take his crown, or some hunter will hunt him down.”

  “Life in the forest is unpredictable for everyone, Neel. Doesn’t matter if you are a deer, monkey, leopard or even lion. Rules apply to everyone. If you are not aware of what is happening around you, or you lose sight for a moment, anything could happen,” said Purnima.

  “But mother, we are not strong like a leopard or lion. If they attack us, we can’t fight back. We will definitely die,” said Neel, expressing his fear to her mother.

  “That’s not true. Even if an animal attacks you, it doesn’t mean that your life ends. You can still run for your life. Our bodies are very agile and strong. If we use it well, we can save our lives,” said Purnima, clearing her son’s doubt. “See, Neel, nature gave everyone different abilities to survive. There are lions and leopards, which have strong bodies, long fangs, and claws, for their hunt and to protect their lives. We deer, on the other hand, we didn’t have claws and fangs, but we are very agile, we can run very fast, to save our lives when some animals attack us.”

  “But, mother, isn’t nature unfair to us? Other animals got fangs and claws for their protection, and we didn’t have them to protect ourselves,” said Neel, with disappointment and anger.

  “We don’t have fangs and claws because we don’t need them. See Neel, we eat grass, fruits and different vegetables that grow in the forest. Which is easily available, and we didn’t have to go hunt for that. But for lions, leopards and other carnivores, they don’t eat grass and vegetation, they hunt for other animals, and to hunt they need fangs and claws. For nature, everyone is the same. Nature gave them a big and strong body, fangs and claws for their survival, and so as we got agility, we have a reddish-brown skin with white spots, which helps us blend into grasslands, and woodlands, to avoid detection from predators, we have excellent hearing, smell, and vision ability, which helps us to detect any danger in the surrounding. We always go for grazing in a herd, which increases our chance of survival. We are not weak, Neel, we have many different abilities that others don’t,” Purnima explained deer’s ability for survival in the forest to her son.

  “Wow, mother, I didn’t know that we are so unique,” exclaimed Neel, after listening to her mother and knowing his ability.

  “Yes, Neel, every animal, bird, insect and everyone has their own unique way of surviving in the forest. We are all unique in our own way, and yet we are all the same; we all fight for our survival in the forest. Forest and nature always help us to survive. For nature, we are all the same; we are all descendants of nature, we all have an equal right to the forest,” said Purnima.

  “Yes, mother, now I understand, we all are different and unique, we have our own ability and disability, but in the forest we all are the same in one or another way,” said Neel, with the spark in his eyes for life and for the forest.

  “Good, my son, you are learning things very fast. Let’s now eat, then you can go and play with your friends and your sister,” said Purnima.

  “Yes, mother”, said Neel with excitement. Now he can go and play. “Now, please, can I go to my sister and play?” Neel said, after eating.

  “Yes, Neel, you can now go, but be careful, remember what I have taught you, always pay attention to your surroundings, that’s the most important rule of the forest,” said Purnima, consolidating the most important rule of the forest to survive.

  “Yes, mother”, said Neel, and he ran like the wind, full of excitement.

  The surrounding field was full of deer that were grazing there. The sun was high now, spreading its rays to the forest equally. Filling the forest with its light and warmth. All the animals came out of the shadow of the trees and bushes to get the warmth of the sun. The scene of the forest was really beautiful, deer and other animals were grazing in the field, monkeys were hanging and jumping from one tree to another and enjoying the sweet fruits of the forest. Birds were flying in the sky, which was clear, and looking for food. The forest from the sky looks very beautiful. All the animals and trees look so small from the top. Birds enjoy their flight in the sky and look at the magnificent view of the forest from the top.

  Life in the forest is like this, full of surprises and unpredictable moments that sometimes turn into life-or-death situations. No one knows what will happen to them next; everyone in the forest fights for their survival, but it doesn’t mean that life in the forest is disastrous. It’s dangerous yet beautiful.

  Life in the forest always works in balance. There is no life in the forest without deer nor without the lion. Everyone is an essential part of the forest. They can’t survive without each other. If there are no carnivorous animals in the forest, the herbivorous population will increase exponentially, which will create famine for them, because there won’t be enough grass, fruit and vegetation to feed them. And if there is no hunt for the carnivorous, they will die without food. And at last, the life in the forest will be gone. That’s why there always has to be a balance in the forest for the survival of the life in the forest.

  And that’s how another day in the forest ended. It’s getting dark early because of winter. Days are getting smaller and Nights are getting longer, darker and colder.