Previous Page  11 / 64 Next Page
Information
Show Menu
Previous Page 11 / 64 Next Page
Page Background

One animal which has a permanent home at Bargang

however, is the octogenarian elephant, Bijli Prasad. Bijli

was bought in 1968 by Mr John Leitch to help in

uprooting old tea bushes and for other heavy work.

Mr Leitch put him on a salary from which his food,

medicine and the mahout’s wages were paid for.The rest

was put into a pension scheme for the pachyderm.

Mr Anand Saxena (Manager 1991–2000) remembers an

occasion when Bijli Prasad gave him and his team at

Bargang a sleepless night back in November 1996. A day

before Mrs Julia Magor and her daughter, Mrs Jennifer

Garwood, were due to visit Bargang the pachyderm

decided to go missing! He failed to return from his

routine grazing trip to the local forest. His distressed

mahout informed Mr Saxena that Bijli had walked deep

into the forest with a few wild elephants. Bijli’s safe return

was a top priority not only because the Magor family

doted on him but also because he was beloved by all on

the estate. Five teams consisting of Assistant Managers,

forest officials and the estate’s workforce searched the

forest for hours.

“Fortunately, one of the teams

spotted Bijli and brought him

back home safely. Mrs Magor

and Mrs Garwood arrived an

hour later and spent a

delightful afternoon with Bijli

(whom they fondly called

‘Shiam’) completely unaware

of what had kept Bargang's

team on its toes for the past 24

hours!” says Mr Saxena.

Two well-equipped central

crèches and several mobile

ones, each with responsible

attendants, are provided for the

care of infants with working

mothers. Older children are

educated in the estate’s three

L.P. Schools – one in each

Division.

JULY 2015 11

Bijli Prasad in Full Regalia

Crèche