Original story by @Meera Chitrakoot
Translated from Hindi by me! Do read!
Featured in Issue 11 of Gulmohar Quarterly, read here : A day and night in Jokhimpur

An excerpt:

Kuu-Kuu-Kuu-Kuuu

A call rang out from somewhere deep within the Sansani forest. A distant twitter. Mohini looked up from her perch on the chidchida tree. That is what the tendu tree was called in Jokhimpur, because it was so bristly. The harsh summer sun shone softly through the dark, twisty boughs of the tendu. It was not noon yet.

Coooo-Cooo-Coooo
There was the call again. Louder and shriller.

COO-COO-COOOOO

It was growing more frequent now…coo-coo-coo! Mohini slid down the tree quickly. There was no time to collect the heap of firewood she had made over the morning. She flung her axe down and ran towards the call, coo-ing back like a koel in her thin, high voice…coo-coo-coo…I’m coming…a flash of red saree moving swiftly through a green-brown jungle. By now, there was a chorus of cooing and twittering, so many more voices had joined hers to reply to the original coo-er. Someone was in trouble...

"I was fifteen years of age at the time of this incident. I was standing at the foot of a tendu tree, with my back to the forest, when I felt two hands creep up on my shoulders. The palms of their hands were soft, almost velvety. But I could feel their sharp nails. When I slowly turned around, I felt as if the ground beneath my feet had disappeared. I was face to face with a giant black bear. I screamed but no sound came out of my mouth. Somehow, the bear and I were locked, hand to hand, pushing each other. I was no match for the bhalu but I held on to its hands for all I was worth. Suddenly my voice came back to me.”

KU KU KUUUUUKU KU KUUUUU

Enraged, the bear sunk its claws in my forehead and tore through it. My forehead burst into three bloody gashes and I fainted.”