As the daughter of a forestry officer, she had many privileges. For starters, he had a zoo. Yes, he literally had a zoo as a playground!
My father used to be a zoo director at Padmaja Naidu Himayalan Zoo. I loved that place with all my heart. It might be a childhood illusion, but I think we had the best house in Darjeeling. From the French windows in my parents’ room, we could see the entire Kunchenjunga range. From my room, which my sister and I used to share, we could see the garden with its beds of bright red poppies in spring and summer on one side and a jungle, which probably only had jackals, on the other. Although I knew from the beginning that I would have to leave this magical place, my own Narnia, one day, that did not stop me from being friends with the various animals that lived there. And of course I also had my favorites.
The zoo campus was my stronghold. I inspected it every day, stopping to admire the beauty of the clean, green environment that was brought to life by the singing of exotic birds and the roar of Siberian tigers. Every day the zookeepers and guards told me stories and events that happened at the zoo. Believe me, it felt exactly like being in the Narnia fairy tale. Only these animals did not speak English.
My favorite anecdote was one in which the leopard broke a visitor’s umbrella. Some tourists got excited after seeing the leopard. But they were soon disappointed when he didn’t act the way a carnivore is supposed to. I guess they hoped he was growling and inflicting fear on passersby. So they poked him with an umbrella until the leopard got angry and grabbed the umbrella and broke it. After that incident, Achilles (mispronounced Ac-chilis by the zookeeper) became my favorite leopard.
I also enjoyed playing with the fluffy looking snow leopard. Every time he was near his cage, he used to mirror my movements. If I ran, he ran. If I walked, he walked. Sometimes he used to hide and look at me out of the corner of his eye and then catch me suddenly jumping out of hiding. Sometimes, under supervision, he would even stroke the back of his furry ear. I could tell he really enjoyed it with his throaty purrs.
I loved how he had found secret hiding places at the zoo. On every holiday, if we weren’t on a family outing, I would walk to the Siberian Tiger enclosure, which was at the far end of the zoo. And even though they weren’t very friendly, I did enjoy looking at them. He was also very jealous about the fact that they had a nice cave where they could take a nap.
I didn’t really like the deer family and the mountain goats because they spent all their time eating. However, I made a friend. A small mountain goat named Pooja Bhatt. I gave this name to the goat because it had cute bangs that the popular actress sported. However, I’m not sure if the goat was even a female. But I loved feeding him grass and he definitely had a huge appetite.
Like I said, there were many perks to being the daughter of a zoo director. One of them was being able to play with and care for the cute, helpless-looking pups that grow into majestic but fearsome-looking creatures.
The tiger and leopard cubs were extremely cute. If you had a stuffed toy next to them, you wouldn’t be able to tell them apart until the real one moved. It’s funny how everyone is so afraid of these carnivores. Every time a puppy was born, we eagerly waited for it to grow up and play with us. Sadly, the pups abandoned by their mothers did not do very well despite all the warmth and nutrition we tried to provide to simulate the care they would have received from their mother. It was heartbreaking watching them die. When you looked at the scared and trembling puppies with their wide-eyed innocence, you forgot that when they grow up, they could kill you with a casual flick of their paw to your face.
But if I had to pick a favorite, it would definitely be the bear cubs, Sunny and Mani. I don’t remember how they ended up staying in the guard room outside the house when they were first brought to the zoo at just a month old, but I do remember them gnawing at the bottom of the wooden door with their moderately sharp teeth.
I wouldn’t say we have the best garden, but we do have very pretty poppies, petunias and fuchsias, among others. However, it took just half an hour for these adorable but destructive pups to ruin our gardeners’ hard work. But how could we be angry? These cuddle-worthy pups never let us get mad at them for being so lively and funny.
My memories of my time at PNHZP have faded a bit over the years. But what I still remember and will never forget is that I only had friends and not enemies. I had a good day every day. I was in Darjeeling a while ago and decided to visit the zoo. The place looks so much grander now. But sadly, it is no longer my Narnia. I saw Sunny again. He is old now and of course he did not remember me. But that doesn’t matter because I have the best memories of him and they will always stay with me.