Based on how seven members of this magnificent forum have been requesting me to provide an account of a certain topic for quite some time , it is my privilege to oblige. Today , l shall provide an account of hunting leopards from an elephant macchan . If any of my respected forum members is wondering what a macchan is , then let me elaborate . A macchan is a large box built on top of a high structure from which Shikaris would hunt dangerous animals. The elephant macchan is such a box which used to be placed on the back of a domesticated elephant for hunting leopards and tigers in the days gone by . I myself have been fortunate to be party to two such Shikars in my life. While one went by completely uneventfully , it is the other incident , which l shall relate here , today. Thus , Let us begin.
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Photograph taken by professional photographer brought by the Captain.
Karim is next to the client . I am on the third elephant seen on the right side.
It was the year 1965 , three months before my poor colleague Rongon was executed by the Nilgiri Wild Life Association’s orders for failing to save a client from a Royal Bengal tiger . Times were still positive and all the Shikaris in Sundar Raj Shikar were busy guiding various clients in pursuit of Royal Bengal tiger, leopard , , Gaur , boar , Asian Honey Bear , Nilgai , deer and fowl.
I had just come back from a fishing trip in the Buri Ganga river , and had gone to Sundar Raj’s office , to see what new clients had come. Indeed , there were clients . But let us focus on the client whom Karim and l would be guiding. He was a retired British Military or Naval Captain who had served in the Second World War and was an extremely rich client. He was a man of lavish taste and had brought eight guests along , including his young American mistress.
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A hunter l am for ever, however fishing was ( and still is ) a most peaceful past time. With me is my old cook , Yasin Miah
What this gentleman had his mind set on , was a little bit of goose shooting and a large male leopard. Simple enough demands and certainly one which Sundar Raj was capable of accommodating. However , his request came with a twist. The client wanted the Shikar to be conducted from the back of an elephant , just like he had seen when he was a resident in India in the 1930s decade. This was a complicated wish , because the Nilgiri Wild Life Association required a great deal of paper work to be submitted to authorize a Shikar from an elephant macchan. And the client ( for the sake of brevity , let us call him Captain ) did not want one elephant. He wanted three. He wanted his guests to accompany him as well. Fortunately , money speaks , and Sundar Raj knew his way with the Nilgiri Wild Life Association ( It is my firm belief that he could have actually saved Rongon from getting hanged , if he gave a bit more effort. However , that is another matter and l do not wish to speak ill of my late former employer ).
The Shikar was authorized. Karim and l would serve as the professional Shikari guides for this luxurious hunt. Karim was very excited , as an elephant macchan back in those days was the equivalent of a roller coaster ride in an amusement park for the young fellow of the 21st Century.
I must confess , with embarrassment, that l was initially terrified of elephants as a child. My mother used to terrify me with stories of how elephants would crush people to death and make them disappear . I suppose it followed me into adulthood. While initially reluctant to ride on the elephant macchan , l eventually obliged. After all , Client is King and Sundar Raj sir had given me a direct order. Karim also convinced me that it was time to grow out of childhood fears.
I had the good fortune to examine the Captain’s armaments . And what armaments they were. One was a double barrel shot-gun of 12 bore made by the excellent English gun maker , William Wellington Greener. It had 32 inch long fully choked muzzles and took the 70 millimeter paper cartridges. This gun was called an Empire model , according to the Captain. The Captain’s other fire arm was a beautiful and ornate double barrel rifle made by the English firm , Westley Richards calibrated for my personal favorite cartridge , the unrivaled magnum .375 from Holland and Holland. His 12 bore cartridges came in boxes from the English Firm , Eley and the magnum .375 cartridges came in boxes from ICI Kynoch. The boxes for the rifle cartridges , however , looked rather worn and l speculated that the captain had them in his possession for a few years.
Could more beautiful guns ever be seen ? I think not.
And so our Shikar would begin after two days , as the second part of this four part account will relate