Read Online The Complete Adventures of Feluda: Volume I by Satyajit Ray - Free Book Online
Authors: Satyajit Ray
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in it, sunning itself lazily. Bonobihari Babu said, ‘Ten years ago, when I found it in Munger, it was only a baby. I kept it in a water tank in my house in Calcutta. Then one day I discovered it had slipped out and swallowed a kitten!’
Little pavements ran from the pond to other cages. A strange hissing noise came from one of them. We left the alligator and made our way to it.
A large cat, nearly as big as a medium-sized dog, stared at us through bright green eyes. It had a striped body and was really more like a tiger than a cat.
‘This comes from Africa. An Anglo-Indian dealer in animals in Calcutta sold it to me. Even the Alipore zoo doesn’t have a creature like this.’
We moved on from the wild cat to look at a hyena, then a wolf and then an American rattle-snake. I knew it was extremely poisonous. An object like a long, narrow sea-shell was attached to its tail, not different from the kind of shell I had often collected on the beaches of Puri. The snake shook its tail slightly as it moved, dragging the shell on the ground, making a noise like a rattle. In the western states of America, it was this noise that warned people of the movements of a rattle-snake.
We saw two other creatures that made my flesh creep. In a glass case was the large and awful blue scorpion of America. In another was a spider, sticking out its black, hairy legs. It was probably as big as my palm, with all my fingers spread out. This, I learnt, was the famous Black Widow spider from Africa.
‘The poisons of the scorpion and this spider are neuro toxins,’ Bonobihari Babu said. ‘What it means is that one sting from either can kill a human being.’
We returned to the living-room and sat down on sofas. Bonobihari Babu himself took a chair and said, ‘Often, in the silence of the night, I can hear the hyena laugh, the cat hiss, the wolf cry and the snake rattle. It makes a rather strange chorus, but it helps me sleep in peace. Where would I find a better battery of bodyguards, tell me? But then, if an outsider did break in, none of these captive animals could really do anything. I have a different arrangement to take care of that. Badshah!’
A massive black hound bounded out of the next room. This was
Bonobihari Babu’s real bodyguard. Not only did Badshah protect hismaster, but he also made sure that no harm came to the animals in the zoo.
Feluda was sitting next to me. ‘Labrador hound,’ he said softly, ‘the same breed as the Hound of the Baskervilles!’
Baba had been silent throughout. Now he said, ‘Tell me, do you really enjoy living with these wild animals in your house?’
Bonobihari Babu took out a pipe and began filling it. ‘Why not?’ he replied. ‘What’s there to be afraid of? There was a time when I used to go hunting regularly, and my aim was perfect. But I never killed anything except wild animals. Once—only once—did I kill a deer. I was simply showing off to an American friend, trying to prove how good my aim was, and the deer was about a hundred-and-fifty yards away. I felt such bitter remorse afterwards that I had to give up hunting altogether. But animals had become a part of my life. So I went into the business of exporting some of them. Then, when I retired, having a zoo in my house seemed only natural. The good thing about living with these animals is that they don’t pretend to be anything other than what they are—vicious and venomous. But look at man! One who appears to be totally good and honest may turn out to be a first-rate criminal. You can’t really trust even a close friend these days, can you? So I’ve decided to spend the rest of my life in the company of animals. I don’t meddle in other people’s affairs, you see. I keep to myself. So what others think or say about my lifestyle doesn’t matter to me at all. But I’ve been told that my little zoo has been responsible for keeping burglars at bay. If that is true, I must say I’ve unwittingly done some good to the whole
Little pavements ran from the pond to other cages. A strange hissing noise came from one of them. We left the alligator and made our way to it.
A large cat, nearly as big as a medium-sized dog, stared at us through bright green eyes. It had a striped body and was really more like a tiger than a cat.
‘This comes from Africa. An Anglo-Indian dealer in animals in Calcutta sold it to me. Even the Alipore zoo doesn’t have a creature like this.’
We moved on from the wild cat to look at a hyena, then a wolf and then an American rattle-snake. I knew it was extremely poisonous. An object like a long, narrow sea-shell was attached to its tail, not different from the kind of shell I had often collected on the beaches of Puri. The snake shook its tail slightly as it moved, dragging the shell on the ground, making a noise like a rattle. In the western states of America, it was this noise that warned people of the movements of a rattle-snake.
We saw two other creatures that made my flesh creep. In a glass case was the large and awful blue scorpion of America. In another was a spider, sticking out its black, hairy legs. It was probably as big as my palm, with all my fingers spread out. This, I learnt, was the famous Black Widow spider from Africa.
‘The poisons of the scorpion and this spider are neuro toxins,’ Bonobihari Babu said. ‘What it means is that one sting from either can kill a human being.’
We returned to the living-room and sat down on sofas. Bonobihari Babu himself took a chair and said, ‘Often, in the silence of the night, I can hear the hyena laugh, the cat hiss, the wolf cry and the snake rattle. It makes a rather strange chorus, but it helps me sleep in peace. Where would I find a better battery of bodyguards, tell me? But then, if an outsider did break in, none of these captive animals could really do anything. I have a different arrangement to take care of that. Badshah!’
A massive black hound bounded out of the next room. This was
Bonobihari Babu’s real bodyguard. Not only did Badshah protect hismaster, but he also made sure that no harm came to the animals in the zoo.
Feluda was sitting next to me. ‘Labrador hound,’ he said softly, ‘the same breed as the Hound of the Baskervilles!’
Baba had been silent throughout. Now he said, ‘Tell me, do you really enjoy living with these wild animals in your house?’
Bonobihari Babu took out a pipe and began filling it. ‘Why not?’ he replied. ‘What’s there to be afraid of? There was a time when I used to go hunting regularly, and my aim was perfect. But I never killed anything except wild animals. Once—only once—did I kill a deer. I was simply showing off to an American friend, trying to prove how good my aim was, and the deer was about a hundred-and-fifty yards away. I felt such bitter remorse afterwards that I had to give up hunting altogether. But animals had become a part of my life. So I went into the business of exporting some of them. Then, when I retired, having a zoo in my house seemed only natural. The good thing about living with these animals is that they don’t pretend to be anything other than what they are—vicious and venomous. But look at man! One who appears to be totally good and honest may turn out to be a first-rate criminal. You can’t really trust even a close friend these days, can you? So I’ve decided to spend the rest of my life in the company of animals. I don’t meddle in other people’s affairs, you see. I keep to myself. So what others think or say about my lifestyle doesn’t matter to me at all. But I’ve been told that my little zoo has been responsible for keeping burglars at bay. If that is true, I must say I’ve unwittingly done some good to the whole
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