Our life is a journey like the waves of the ocean. We sail smooth and suddenly get the surprising turn in our life. All of a sudden, a little incident makes us think beyond our daily lives and makes us realise that we have got to do a lot for this earth and their creatures. All of a sudden some incidents turn on the hero in us. Here, I will narrate one such incident of my life. In daily newspaper, on TV news channel we often heard about illegal wild animal trafficking, but never had got the opportunity to eyewitnesses.
I remember it was Sunday. My whole family and I were planning to take a one day break to an island– Ganga Sagar Island in the Bay of Bengal. It was one hell of a journey, and by the time we left the island, it was late. We were all concerned whether we will be able to return home on time or not but somehow we were able to catch the last train on KakDweep Station. We were so tired, and everyone was sleeping. I was planning to get into bed as soon as I reached home and was praying to God that the time passes real fast. But I did not know, the adventure of the day did not end here, it had the climax saved for the last.
I, my daughter and son were on the same row of seat, whereas my sister in law and my hubby was on the opposite side with other co-passengers. Suddenly we heard a sound just like something heavy fall and also I felt a cold touch on my feet. Though we all were slumbering, the sound made us awake, and we began to search under the seats for what it is! All of a sudden one of our co- passengers draws our attention. Oh! My God! He had a turtle in his hand, and suddenly there started a clamour in the entire compartment. We wanted to find out from where it came? Then to our surprise, another turtle fell from a red bag that was kept on the luggage rack. In short time the passengers scuffle with each other to pull out the Heavy bag. I can remember that two or three people could somehow manage to pull it down and after opening the bag, we found almost 15 turtles. They were bagged to be delivered to the illegal turtle traders.
The daily passengers did not bother much. But I, my daughter and my niece could not step backward, so we cried loudly! Who is the owner of the bag—please come in front, but nobody came. My daughter and niece urged hard to set the turtles free, but not a single passenger came in support of us. Also, my hubby and other family members told us to keep the bag as it was, but our inside soul was constantly making me aware not to tolerate this illegal wildlife trafficking. So we decided to deposit the bag at the police custody. In the mean time the train becomes slow and suddenly one person came from the crowd. He tried to take the bag and want to get down from the train immediately, but he could not succeed in his mission. So he ran away; my daughter chased him, but could not catch him. We were entirely disappointed. We knew we were small enough to grab hold of such a big gang but thinking about the little innocent creature, we felt sombre.
We handed down the bag full of the little turtle to the police custody, but some co-passenger laughed at our attempts and said that the police are also involved in it! We were shocked no more, as the trade of such endangered species cannot be done without the help of a superior authority. We did whatever we could do, but could not hold down our tears. With such faulty laws and system, ignorance of public is the primary cause that our wildlife is at stake, and rare species of the turtle and other animals will abolish from the earth.
