Raja's Kitten

            Kamesh sat in the walled garden on his family’s estate.  He was lazily stroking his kitten, Ketifa, while they both warmed themselves in the sunshine.  The skies over Bangladesh shone a deep blue with not a cloud in sight.

            “Oh, Ketifa,” sighed Kamesh.  “What are we going to do today?”

            The kitten’s response was a huge yawn.

            Suddenly, Kamesh heard a commotion on the other side of the wall that divided his family’s estate from a section of jungle.  He ran over to the wall and found his favorite peeking hole, which was a crack in the wall situated perfectly for his height.  When he looked through the crack, he saw a great elephant struggling through the underbrush.  For a moment, Kamesh couldn’t tell why the elephant struggled.  Then the elephant’s back leg came into view.  An axhead was lodged in the leg.  While Kamesh watched, the elephant gave out a loud trumpeting sound and collapsed on the ground.

            Kamesh stood stunned for a minute, and then ran into the main house screaming for help.  It took several minutes to explain the situation to the servants, but finally a wildlife officer was located and brought to the estate.

            The elephant still lay where he had fallen.  When the wildlife officer determined that the elephant was still alive, a veterinarian was called to the scene.  Kamesh and Ketifa along with many of the servants watched the men work on the elephant from a safe distance.

            After a few minutes, Ketifa jumped out of Kamesh’s arms and slowly stalked toward the elephant.  Kamesh started to go after the kitten, but one of the servants pulled him back.  Kamesh called and called for Ketifa to come back, but the kitten was on the prowl.  The kitten crouched low to the ground and made his way through the tall grass toward the elephant’s trunk.  Then the kitten sprang into the air and landed on the elephant’s trunk.  Everyone expected the elephant to cry out and shake the kitten off of his trunk, but the elephant just lay there.

            Then Ketifa climbed up the elephant’s trunk and pounced on the elephant’s ear.  Kamesh watched in horror expecting the elephant to send his kitten flying off to his death any moment.  Instead, the elephant flapped his ear while the kitten tried to catch it.  This went on for several minutes until the kitten became so excited he flipped himself off the elephant and landed on the ground next to the trunk.  The elephant then curled his trunk and nudged the kitten.  Ketifa immediately took up the game again with the elephant’s trunk.  Up and down and around the kitten twirled and flipped chasing the elephant’s trunk while the elephant did his part to keep up the chase.  Now Kamesh and the servants watched in wonder at the game the elephant and kitten continued to play.

            Before long the men managed to remove the axhead from the elephant’s leg and bandaged it.  Then they, too, stood back and watched the game going on between the kitten and the elephant for several minutes until a huge truck arrived to take the elephant away.

            “Where are you taking the elephant?” Kamesh cried, suddenly very concerned about the elephant’s fate.

            “Don’t worry,” said the vet.  “We are taking him to a wildlife refuge where he will be able to heal.”

            The vet went over and scooped up the kitten midjump.  Then he handed the kitten to Kamesh.  The men worked with the elephant until they managed to get him back on his feet and then slowly guided him into the truck.  They closed the gate on the back of the truck, and the elephant stuck his trunk out searching for his new friend.

            Kamesh walked over to the truck and placed Ketifa on the elephant’s trunk.  The elephant curled his trunk.  Ketifa curled up in the trunk, fell asleep, and started to purr.

            “You need a name,” said Kamesh to the elephant as he patted his trunk.  “I think I will call you Raja.”

            The vet smiled and said, “Well, Raja, are you ready to go to your new home?  Don’t worry, Kamesh, the refuge isn’t far from here.  I’m sure Raja wouldn’t mind at all if you AND Ketifa came to visit.”

            This seemed to make Kamesh feel better.  He picked up his sleeping kitten, rubbed Raja’s trunk, and said, “You’ll be okay, Raja.  We’ll come see you as often as we can.”

            Raja wrapped his trunk around Kamesh and the kitten as if to give them a goodbye hug.  Then the truck lumbered off taking Raja to his new home.

            Kamesh stayed true to his word.  He brought Ketifa to visit with his new friend every other Saturday.  As Ketifa grew larger, so did the friendship between the elephant and the cat.