Death in the heavens

It was morning ,and by 7 am I was ready to be picked up by my  fellow Deputy Magistrate Mr Sushant Bala. we were on our way to Samsing , a small forest village in Gorubathan block in Kalimpong district. 

My driver came and knocked at the door , I was ready , so with out wasting any time , we set off . Gorubathan is about 80 km from Kalimpong ,  There are two routes to reach from Kalimpong. One goes up  from Kalimpong to Lava and then comes down through the lush green forest of the Dooars ,and the other via the famous coronation bridge and zip though the NH 31 to gorubathan. Samsing is about 6 to 7 kms from gorubathan.

Just a few days back I was here when I was spending a happy-go weekend with friends  at suntaleykhola .This places lines up in a straight line beside the jaldhaka river which is the border of India and Bhutan . Samsing, Suntaleykhola, Rockey island,Jhalong,Bindu and Paren, every places competes with the other when it comes to draw your imagination towards a heavenly outing . The lush green of the dooars forest , the silence of the hills, chippering of the birds and the bees, the long trails of the clouds that  dooze off here after hittingng the barrier of the mighty Himalayas at the end of  the long journey from the ocean every thing is magical.

Specifically after the first shower , this part of the world creates its separate identity .. the green is greener and the flowers are exquisite .  The narrow roads inside the dense forest will set the caged creature inside you absolutely free.  Inside these jungles there are small tribal villages , what we call forest villages , who are given forest patta to  settle inside the forest hereditarily under the forest right act . these people are very poor, illiterate and keeps struggling with the terrain for their survival, but thankfully this hardship hasn’t snatched the simplicity and smile from the faces . it’s the place and the people  who will give you and instant warmth to your soul when you are here .

The road to Samsing compound forest busty is broken , and so was my heart this time. A tragic incident unfolded a few days ago here. Two school students of class XI , neighbour and classmates was inside the forest to adjust the source of the narrow pipe that brings water to their home from the steam ,miles up in hills . Opening the tap and getting hot or cold water of our choice , what we call the life as usual is  constant struggle  for these families. On their way, returning back  they collected  mushrooms that grows on the rotting the leaves and twigs in the forest. Both the families had their meal and slept , from the next morning every one in the family started vomiting , they were quickly transported to the north Bengal medical collage, but it was two late ..

The kids and the family members by mistaken had consumed the wild variety of mushroom named “Amanita Phalloidies” or the deadly  "Death cap".   These extremely poisonous variety have a so stable toxic protein  that even after boiling for hours in pressure cooker the toxin remains intact and causes instant failure of lever and kidney . the parents of both the family who were aged wasn’t able hold on for too long , four people was already dead and 3 sons of them are in ICU.  

To the local the situation was tragic but nothing abnormal. The nature and the hills keep on  testing  them in different ways .So with out informing any one ,they came and buried the bodies in their backyard.  Local police came to know about the incident about a day latter ,and drew immediate attention  of the district administration.  At that time the variety wasn’t identified , so the sitation demanded immediate and through investigation. And as per the Code of Criminal procedure , the bodies must be unearthed from the grave by the police in presence of an executive magistrate, and magistrate must thoroughly investigate the bodies externally to check of any external injuries and apparent cause of the death and we had to send the bodies for port mortem procedure and further forensic probes.

It isn’t a job that any of us want to do will fully , some one who had been rested in peace forever to bring them back on the surface. But for the truth to  prevail the investigation must be done.all the earning members of two families dying at once in a night does sound fishy. And even if was poison , we must ascertain that it was actually from the mushroom and not something else done intentionally  or unintentionally. Code of criminal procedure of our country has empowered magistrate to do this investigation ,over the police and ensure the faith of common people remains intact on the civil administration.

The secene was tragic. People tried to resist the digging , needless to say that these things goes against the customs of these people and their faith. But we convinced them , that we are also helpless . After the bodies were taken out we did our part of investigation and prepared the report.

Later we talked to the family members and promised all kind of help what possible can be extended from different state and central govt  assistance program will extended. But this dosnt takes away the pain of loosing somebodies mom,dad or children .

On my way back it was raining insistently. The drops of rains couldn’t  sooth the aching heart. I was wondering whose fault was this . Is the administration is  at fault who couldn’t bring them with in the fold of this ever quarling , fighting and rat racing society, that they couldn’t know what KFC dominos or hot meals served at the table by Swiggy looks like, what a lakh of bank balance looks like  , or   they are better off there at the foothills ,in the jungle , in the cool breeze , in the absolute silence ,where they listen to only their hearts , the nonsense sounds of the mechanical world doesn’t bothers them.

According to me  death is tragic, not for the one who is dead, but for the people who you leave here. And for you its eternal  peace. And its better to be  hug the ultimate truth in life in these paradise ,being simple and innocent rather than fighting for money and power with bunch of morons in a concrete jungle ..

Amen …🙏

Manza