My memories of Jessie have started to blur over the years. She was a black Labrador Retriever and came to my father when she was about a year old. Mr Allen, my father's 'Burra Sahib' or Manager had decided to leave Jessie with my father while he was preparing to leave India. This was in the January of 1973 when my father, better known as Charlie to his friends, had completed only six months in tea.
So Mrs Allen handed over a list of instructions on pet care and Jessica Joe or Jessie was adopted by my father. Jessie, took an instant liking to her new master and soon she was comfortable in her new home.
We loved her company and my fondness for Labradors could be attributed to her. I am yet to come across a pet with such levels of tolerance as Jessie's. I'm told that she displayed great patience when it came to being around with kids. She would always be the first one to greet my father as he entered the bungalow.
One evening, Jessie went out for her usual after supper rounds. She was gone for quite some time and there was some panic in the bungalow . The bearer, cook and watchman went out in different directions yelling out for her to respond but there was no sign of Jessie. It was dark; the torch lights provided limited vision. With every passing minute, the pangs of separation from her became unbearable. We simply had to find her.
Then, something called from a distance. There was a thud on the ground followed by a rustling of dry leaves. It came from the direction of the forested patch below; the bungalow was on a small hillock. It didn't take us a moment to realize that there was a leopard in the vicinity and in all probability, it may have been sitting on the lower branches of a tree. The thud on the ground could have been an attempt to pounce on Jessie. The rustling sound was an indication of a fierce struggle between the predator and the victim. With the sound of rushing footsteps and human voices coming closer to the spot, the leopard thought it prudent to retreat. The sight we all saw after that is so hard to document on paper; it brings tears to my eyes and fills me with pride, as I recreate that image before you..
Jessie climbed up the hillock in a show of great strength and willpower; blood dripping down her throat. She was determined to live. The garden doctor was present in the bungalow as well and on close examination it was found the the leopard had only got hold of her skin. Labradors have a thick layer of skin and this made it difficult for the leopard to get to her flesh when it jumped on her. Her wound was attended to with great skill- liberal doses of antibiotics, ointments and a few stitches and she was bounding with energy again. This incident made her the 'super girl' in our lives !
A few years prior to this, Jessie had given birth to a litter of six puppies, each of these were adopted by fellow tea planters. Over time, her eyesight and sense of hearing was diminishing. Her end came rather unexpectedly on the eleventh year of her life. A motor car rally was being held in the club. We were then posted in Gingia Tea Estate. Jessie was lying down in a long passage that linked the bungalow to the kitchen. It was quite dark by then. An assistant , while trying to reverse his car, hit the sleeping Jessie, unintentionally. Like before, Jessie stood up again...this time she cantered up to her favorite spot in the lawn- the pink Bougainvillea tree that gave her respite from the Sun after playing with us on the lawn. She sat there and stared at us with her loving eyes that conveyed gratitude, longing and affection ; we couldn't believe that she had left us this time. Her lasting memories have led to the fruition of this piece. The pink Bougainvillea tree of the 'chhota kothi' in Gingia Tea Estate became her final resting place. She sleeps peacefully under that tree, tucked under a sheet of pink Bougainvillea blossoms.
