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For the next three hours she would not leave that cage. She gave him
tea, lemonade, cakes, ice cream and what not. Then „closing time‟ came
and we had to leave. My wife cried bitterly; Baba cried bitterly; even the
hardened curator and the keepers felt depressed. As for me, I had
reconciled myself to what I knew was going to happen next.

She remained there for three hours. She fed Baba different things which
were his favourites. As the zoo had to close, they had to leave. The
narrator’s wife did not want to leave Baba and both of them cried bitterly.
Even the zoo in-charge was sad. The narrator was fine because he
knew that the next step would be to take Baba back along to Bengaluru.

“Oh please, sir,” she asked the curator, “may I have my Baba back”?
Hesitantly, he answered, “Madam, he belongs to the zoo and is
Government property now. I cannot give away Government property. But
if my boss, the superintendent at Bangalore agrees, certainly you may
have him back.”

The wife requested the in-charge that she wanted to take Baba back. He
replied that the bear was Government property and that she needed
permission from the Superintendent in Bengaluru.

There followed the return journey to Bangalore and a visit to the
superintendent‟s bungalow. A tearful pleading: “Baba and I are both
fretting for each other. Will you please give him back to me?” He was a