Guwahati: In 2009, a baby civet cat tumbled from a coconut tree in Assam's Nagaon district. A village family took him in, and a young mother nursed him alongside her infant son. Years later, this unlikely tale quietly made its way from Assam's countryside into an NCERT Class X textbook.
For Dharani Saikia and his wife Anjali, the discovery came from an unexpected source. Their younger son, Gibbon Saikia, returned home from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya carrying a surprise: an NCERT English workbook featuring Bhakat, the orphaned civet the family rescued and raised.
Neither parent knew their brush with wildlife folklore had found a place in classrooms across India. "There cannot be anything more satisfactory. It's bigger than any award," Dharani said. "We never thought that our little Bhakat would get such recognition."
The Rescue of Bhakat
Bhakat was found near Tetelisara village in central Assam's Nagaon district when he was barely 15 days old. Too young to fend for himself, villagers brought him to Dharani, known locally for his love of animals. A rescue centre told him that mother's milk offered Bhakat his best chance of survival.
"When my husband and elder son brought Bhakat home, my husband handed him to me saying that he perhaps wanted milk," Anjali recalled. At that time, Gibbon was about 6 months old. Anjali nursed both baby and cub together. "I started to breastfeed Bhakat due to compassion, and this continued for around 3 months," she said.
Life with the Family
Soon, wild instinct gave way to family routine. Bhakat slept between the two boys, tagged along with family members, and roamed freely. "We never confined him," Anjali said. "He used to eat biscuits and foods like humans."
The story might have vanished into the undergrowth had documentary filmmaker Rommel Shunmugam not spent 10 days in Tetelisara documenting Bhakat's journey. After filming, he left, and contact faded. Life moved on, and so did memory.
The Textbook Discovery
Then Gibbon returned home after his Class 10 board exams. Students at the residential school in nearby Dhing rarely interacted with parents and were not allowed mobile phones. While studying Unit 6 of Words and Expressions 2, the NCERT English workbook, Gibbon recognised a photograph of his father holding a civet cat.
The chapter tells the story from the civet's perspective: "If not for him, I would not be alive today!" it says, describing how villagers rescued the fallen cub and brought him to Dharani, spelled "Dharini" in the book.
Bhakat's Disappearance and Legacy
Bhakat's own trail eventually went cold. About 8 months after filming, he disappeared. Family members feared neighbours upset over poultry losses may have killed him. Around the same time, the Saikias moved from flood-prone Tetelisara to Kampur town.
Then came another twist. Dharani's elder brother reported that Bhakat had returned, this time with a mate. Civets still prowl the family's ancestral village, though no one can say with certainty whether Bhakat remains among them. His fate is unknown, but his legacy is not.
