Cheenu
was rather a unique boy. He was restless, hyperactive, intelligent and notorious.
He was kind hearted in his own way only that his acts of kindness often led to
undesirable outcomes. During his childhood days he was a nightmare to those
around him. Every now and then he would get a bright spark – so distinct that
no one would even dream of it. One such great idea was to set up a zoo!
Our
young hero lived in a small town on the foothills of Western Ghats. It was a
quiet, laid back place that was home to domestic animals, rodents, stray dogs,
cats, troupes of monkeys, occasional rabbits, local birds and insects in
addition to a large population of humans. If one did not take into account the
human beings, there weren’t much chances of finding variety of inmates for the
zoo. Nevertheless, he managed to sell the ‘zoo idea’ to his friends, Chandru,
Swami, Visu, Kumar, Sankar and Ramu. Few days went by and the group gathered to
finalize the plan. Well, first things first. It was unanimously decided to name
the zoo after Cheenu. Not a surprise, considering Cheenu’s reputation of
notoriety. It was also decided that each group member would contribute either
an animal or bird to the proposed zoo.
Next
problem was to find a place to house the animals and birds. It so happened,
Chandru’s older sister Meena was fascinated by this idea and she convinced
their widowed mother to let the kids use the only room in the first floor of
their house. So, a placard that read “Cheenu’s Zoo” in bright colors was
displayed on the window sill facing the street.
Before
long the hunt for the animals and birds began. Chandru, though not a pied
piper, decided to catch a rat, for the simple reason there were quite a few
running around his house. He tried several times using a trap with different
baits, but to no avail. Ultimately, he managed to catch a white rat, probably
an albino, after successfully using ‘masala vada’ as the bait.
Cheenu’s
mother loathed all pets, except a cat called Jinju, as it helped reduce the
large rat population in the house. Jinju had recently littered, but wouldn’t
allow anyone to come near the kittens. One day, one of the kittens got trapped
on the first floor ledge, though no one knew how it got there. Both Jinju and
the little one made such a racket, that Cheenu’s father got the gardener to
rescue the kitten. After this incident, Jinju became much more protective of
the kittens and Cheenu had to abandon the hope of making one of the kittens a
proud member of the Zoo.
Soon
neighborhood doctor’s mongrel littered and the sympathetic doctor let Cheenu adopt
a brown puppy, who was named ‘Tommy’.
The puppy drank milk and barked all the time. Cheenu’s mother lost
patience after a few days, and so Tommy was shifted to the ‘zoo’. Cheenu had to
smuggle milk from home to feed Tommy.
Swami
found a parrot with a broken wing in his garden, and shifted the bird to the
‘zoo’ in a cane basket. The boys fed the
parrot with bananas and mangoes. Cheenu and Sankar spotted a rabbit on their
way to school and decided to give a chase. They ultimately caught the rabbit
after running through the paddy fields for more than a mile, stumbling and
falling several times. It became Sankar’s responsibility to feed the rabbit.
Even
after a month, the number of zoo inmates remained the same. Hence, after an
emergency meeting, it was unanimously decided to catch as many insects as
possible. So a dragonfly, few colorful butterflies, a cockroach, a grasshopper,
a caterpillar, a moth and a beetle were added to the collection. Taking pity on
their plight, Meena lent them a chicken. As the inmates grew in number, the
upkeep of the zoo became a problem and as always, Cheenu came up with a
brilliant plan to open the zoo for public viewing. He suggested that the fee collection
could be used to feed the animals, birds and insects. An entry fee of four
annas (25 paise) was charged from the neighborhood children and friends who
visited the zoo. Unfortunately, the zoo had visitors for only a couple of days.
With
mounting school work, the boys could not spare time for the zoo on a regular
basis. Over time, the parrot’s broken wing mended and it flew away through the
open window. Meena took back her chicken, the white rat escaped to be with its
mates and the insects could not be contained for long. Chandru’s mother grew
tired of Tommy’s incessant barking and asked the boys to vacate the zoo. Cheenu
was deeply distressed to part with the puppy and the rabbit, but managed to
find loving homes for them. Yes, Cheenu was indeed a unique boy, albeit with a
golden heart.
9-Aug-2010: "Making of a Zoo!" was published on Writershideout.net
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