'Milk-eaters' of Kumar's

Sunday mornings are dear to me as I can catch up with those extra hours of sleep. But that Sunday was a little different, a little peculiar. I woke up to a shrill cry from the neighbourhood. It was a female voice. So many emotions were bundled in that single cry. I could sense loss, pain, agony, astonishment, betrayal! Some lady was duped, cheated or had lost something very dear to her... something had been snatched away from her against her will or something evil had befallen...

Startled as I was, I scampered out of my bed. Fearing the worst, I rushed to the door. With apprehension, I pulled it a little & peeked thru' the gap. I could see a visibly shaken lady looking down and lamenting. It was Kumar-aunty, our neighbour. Her glass bangles looked intact & hence I assumed that her man was alright. So was it her kid?... God! A chill went down my spine at this thought as I stepped out to check what the matter was.

'Plop', sounded my foot as I stepped out. I realized that unexpectedly I had stepped into a pool of... er... milk. It took me seconds to realize what the situation was. A healthy pack of milk, that the milkman had left at their door-step, had been strangulated at it's neck. It had laid unattended in that devoured condition for quite sometime now & had no hope of survival. My first impulse was to draw a chalk border around the mutilated body of the milk-pack, but then I decided not to interfere with the crime-scene. The sharp canine marks all over it clearly indicated that it was the work of a seasoned ruthless murderer. A killer was on the prowl!

The Kumar kid had to go without milk that day. Three days later, the killer struck again! It was as though it was playing games with the Kumar family & was enjoying every bit of it. This time the Sharma's lent a consoling shoulder. They also claimed to have seen the beast earlier. It had looked old to them. Was that the reason for it to have turned into a 'milk-eater'; now that it could hunt no longer & was incapable of fending for itself? Whatever the reasons, every attempt to spot it so far has been futile. It's always been a step ahead.

Various attempts have been made to track it down but this perpetrator of crime is still at large. Kumar uncle had been glued for an hour to the eye-hole of their door for 4 consecutive mornings with a fat stick in his hand. It was on the 5th day that terror struck again... and Kumar uncle was branded a late-comer at his office. Cages with mice placed strategically at their door have been swept empty without a snap! Small white paw marks made by dried milk can be distinctly seen going down the staircase. There appears to be no fear in those pug marks but just a whiff of arrogant confidence from a sadist serial 'milk-eater'. Aunty claims to have glimpsed a shining green pair of eyes at the dawn of one fateful morning, but uncle is convinced that it was just an illusion. The Kumar's are a haunted lot!

We have no idea of how it looks. We don't even know if it's one or many... We just know that they strike with no warning. Mysterious is their modus operandi & fatal is their blow. Rarely has any pack of milk survived their attack. The kid in the Kumar family has thinned a little and a frantic search is on for the all elusive... 'milk-eaters' of Kumar's.


Acknowledgements -
Painting Illustration - "Utah raptor" ?