Mr. Woods & The Other Bear Child.



Pankaj, What an intriguing morning that was. I honestly didn’t know what to expect from Mr Norman Woods but it has made me all the more curious and I want to dig a little deeper. It’s still all quite unreal to me, but let me try to put all that we heard into perspective.



So it was 1971, a good 24 years after the Bear girl was found. A young, vibrant Mr Norman woods, was scouting across a jungle when he came across a strange little child of his own. A boy who was wild and violent. He spoke a strange tongue and fought off Norman and the men who tried to bring him down. While I was surprised that they brought back the wild boy back to the Kadamane estate, I was even more surprised that they took him back to the same place and left him there. ‘A little devil’ was the term used by Papa Maestri, the leader of the tribal elders, from a tribe who Norman called ‘The most docile men and women on the planet’.





Now here’s the interesting part for me, there was only the slightest reference to the original bear girl at the time of the boy’s capture. It seems to have been enough time for traces of an incredible legend to disappear. Norman did not take any photographs, ‘I didn’t think it was unusual enough to take a photograph and I regret not doing it on hindsight,' Said Mr. Woods. And when he finally met Angus Hutton in 1991, the man who captured the bear girl, the two adventurers made three completely unique observations. One, Angus was convinced that Norman had seen a bear child of his own. Two, Norman was convinced that the boy he caught was not a bear child and three, norman was now sure that Angus had caught a bear child. Such was the detail that Angus expressed in their brief encounter.



Now here I am, taking a leap into your belief that this is true and I am curious to see if the shadows we are chasing comes into the scrutiny of all this yellow light.





So I will join you in Kadamane. For what struck me most about Mr Norman woods was his ability to pull out interesting little details from that encounter. ‘It was pouring that day’ he said. I can’t remember what the weather was like yesterday leave alone forty years ago. But then again, I can’t tell if I am being lured into poetry, for Sakleshpur is after all one of the rainiest places on earth.



There are too many words here my friend and too few footsteps to match. So, I will see you on the other side. Naveed.

A walk into the jungle,

with Mr. Hutton.

fascinated as you were in Coonoor, meeting good Mr. Woods and hearing his story, I know you are now only more curious. Where we are now, Kadamane - the home in the forest - holds all answers.

While you seek to quell your doubts about the Bear Girl and I look only to further my understanding of this enchanting mystery; one I have already, firmly placed my belief in, I must say our rendezvous could not have been more well suited. For we meet at the crossroads of doubt and unwavering belief.



Let us start walking now, back in time, until we arrive here in Kadamane on a warm afternoon in April. Here begins the story of the Bear Girl of Kadamane.