Mongoose on the loose

It scooted right before my eyes, from one bush in the garden to another. I was dumbfounded. Was it a snake slithering its way to its hole after feasting on a juicy frog? I am wary of snakes and maintain a prudent distance from them. So I refrained from treading into my garden. Live and let live—that’s my motto.

But in the ensuing days there was no sign of the creature, leading me to believe that it had migrated elsewhere. Perhaps it found my garden too dreary. Then one day I spotted a dark apparition shooting before my eyes — from right to left. If not a snake, it could be its adversary — the mongoose. I didn’t mind caressing a harmless mongoose, like the squirrel in the Ramayana. But I drew the line there.

How did a mongoose materialise in my garden? Did it turn one of the holes inhabited by the snake into its home? Strange that sworn enemies like the snake and the mongoose tenanted the same space, yet underground they were the best of bedfellows!

I watched the mongoose running up and down on the boundary wall. Suddenly there were three miniature mongooses running silently on its tail. The mother had decided to convert our garden into a maternity ward! I wished I could go near and cuddle the babies. But I knew their mother would not take kindly to ‘interference’. So, I observed their playful antics from afar. What a lovely way to while away my mornings!

Two days later, I was surprised to see the mother mongoose curled up in a corner. When I looked closely, there were only two of her brood. What had happened to the third one? I tried to help her by looking here and there for the baby. She stared at me, as if appealing to find her missing one.

Though the chances of finding a baby mongoose were slim, I called a labourer and asked him to make a thorough search of the thicket. But he was to be careful so as not to harm the animal.

There was no sign of our quarry, even after my help had searched all burrows in the vicinity. We were about to give up when he heard a squeaky sound coming from a nearby burrow. He promptly dove in and picked up the truant. It was trembling, and it was very hungry!

Apparently, in trying to evade some predator, it had landed in another ditch that the mother had overlooked. I fetched some goat milk and caressed the creature to calm it down. As soon as the mother got a whiff of her baby, she came running.

Soon my garden was bursting with mongooses as if it were their home.