Buffalo gals...just stay in tonight, ok?

I love those moments where you’re going through your day as though things are normal, and suddenly, you are in the right place at the right time. Something that wouldn’t have happened had you made slightly choices throughout the day. Choices that didn’t even seem like a big deal.

My plans changed a lot tonight. In the original plan, I would have had a ride home. In the plan that happened, I didn’t have a ride home, and ended up walking home around 10, after chatting with Mom.

I was debating on which way to take home, and chose one of the short cuts. It has sort of turned into my favourite way to take to between home and work. It is a walkway bordered on either side by slum type homes. As you get past the buildings, one side has a dirty, rather smelly waterway running alongside of it. I often see dogs and goats wandering along this path at all hours when I take it. Tonight though, as I was walking home, I saw something that was a little unusual. Well, first I heard it. The sound of hooves coming toward me, and a weird thrashing, and banging of metal. Then I saw them. A whole herd of water buffalo coming toward me. They are not an uncommon sight in parts of Ooty, but here, they were quite uncommon. And a little bit scary. There was not much room to get out of their way. They are usually calm and unthreatening, but they have massive horns, and they were moving quickly, seeming not to notice me. I counted as they went by. There were thirteen. Some were half grown calves, but most were full grown, with great horns. I tried to stand on the small wall at the edge of the walkway to avoid them, but then there was scrambling, and a calf jumped out of the waterway just a little way in front of me.

The last of the herd passed me (I thought), but there was still clanging and banging coming from ahead. I kept walking, not sure what was happening. A man standing by the end of the walkway called out, telling me that there was a buffalo stuck. He said it fell in, and he was telling me to be careful. He even came and walked with me around the buffalo.

There were two buffalo trapped actually. They fell in a narrow section of the waterway, and they had cement walls on either side of them. The space between the walls was only slightly wider than the buffalo, and the walls were just about up to their backs. The worst part of it was the pipes that were against the throat of the larger buffalo. She would try to push her way out, but each time, had to give up because she was strangling herself. The smaller one tried time and again to jump out, climbing on the larger buffalo, but could not get a proper angle to push herself out of the pit she was in.

I thought that the men who were standing around would try to rescue the buffalo, but they walked away after watching for just a moment. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t leave them there, but they were large, potentially dangerous animals, that were trapped firmly.

I walked back down to see if there was anything I could do. All I could think was that, to get them out, I would need a rope, and several people. Which I wasn’t likely to get at that time of the night. Or anytime to be quite honest. I couldn’t leave them though. Each time the bigger one attempted to get loose, she struggled for less time, and stood there wheezing for a longer time after.

The obvious thing to do was to try to move the pipes that held them trapped. I tried, not thinking it would do very much. I guessed that the men had already tried that.

To my surprise, the pipes moved with my first attempt. And they moved a good distance. Then I realized what a bad place I was in. I was directly in the path that the rest of the herd had taken. Chances were, they would leap out of the trench, and run straight for me. As soon as I thought of this, I ran back down the path and jumped into a small niche in the wall. Just a small recessed area that I thought might give me enough protection from the buffalo if they came running.

Fortunately for me though, they decided to follow the waterway, and came out farther away, heading the other direction.

So that was my tale of the night. Not something I have experienced before, and I am honestly ok if I don’t do it again. I hope they learn from this and stay away from that huge hole. I’m just glad I was in the right place at the right time.