JuNgLe LoRe

I clearly remember the date, it was 18th of December, 2007. As it was my birthday so I woke up early in the morning. Happiness was overflowing out of me when I realized that I was in the jungle. That was the most perfect day. I looked around, all others were sleeping. I quietly opened the creaky rest house door and stepped into the verandah. 

The time was around 6:00 am. I was elated to find out that it had rained the entire night. That had futher depressed the temperature. It was freezing cold and I only had a shawl with me. Going again into the room would had meant waking others up as the door made loud noise and I didn't want others to spoil my 'morining raga'. So I tried to pretend brave and wrapped the shawl tightly around me. 

The sunrise was yet to occur and a faint light clearly reveled the onset of the dawn. The fresh scent of wet earth lingered around. Coupled with the aroma of the jungle - it was the sweetest perfume. The silence was suddenly broken by the shrill cry of the brain fever bird and that brought back the life in the wilderness. It seemed as if suddenly the entire dormancy was lost and every single being became active. A group of curs which was sleeping in the verandah got up lazily and stretched up themselves. The puppies followed their mothers and I soon lost their sight as they vanished around the corner of the rest house. 

The rest house I am talking about is lined by Teak (Tecton grandis) and Sal (Shorea robusta) trees on all the sides. It was constructed in early 20's by the Britishers to relax in summers during the game season. The rest house has 2 big spacious rooms and a dining hall adorned by a fireplace. At the back of the rest house, is a kitchen, about 50 metres away. From the right of the kitchen, there is a narrow walkway which leads one to the lake. The lake has a diverse ecosystem with a variety of flora and fauna. Many varieties of fish reside there. It is a place where animals come mostly during the night to drink water.

I decided to visit the lake in the morning. As soon as I entered the walkway passage, a clan of monkeys started jumping frantically from one branch to another and making their typical - 'khack - khack' sound. To all of you who are not familiar with this, let me tell you that whenever monkeys or any other herbivores spot a big carnivore like a tiger or a leopard, they start making these characterestic noises which we call - 'alarming calls' to warn the rest of the jungle of the carnivore's presence. As soon as I heard the noise, I was confused in the first go. The reason being - it was early in the morning and it had rained the previous night. So, no carnivore would be in a mood to drink water from the lake as there would have been a plenty of puddles by then. Ignoring their call, I  continue to walk on that muddy path. Just a couple of minutes later, I spotted a herd of cheetal whom we call spotted deer. The herd was standing still with their tails erect and all of them were watching in a particular direction.

That was when I realized my mistake. There was actually a big carnivore present on the site of the lake and it was clearly a tiger. Because just the previous night when I was having a chat with the cook of the rest house, he had told me about the presence of a full grown tiger cub in the vicintiy since the past 13 days. It used to kill the village cattle and was enormous. It had also tried to attack the boy - cchhotu some 5 days back who was leading the herd to a jungle grassland. 

But inspite of my fear I continued to walk futher. The deer didn't seem to mind my presence and continued to stare. Suddenly a shrill bellow of the sambhar (a deer) to my immediate left left me aghast! It was then when I realized my mistake. I got many goose bumps when the entire herd started running in the opposite direction. The tiger was surely on a kill. But stupidity was ingrained in me that day and I walked down futher removing my shoes so as not to make even slightest possible noise. What I saw finally stopped my heart. It was the same tiger cub. He had killed a full grown male stag. The fresh red blood gushing out of his throat made me shiver.

But then, the tiger was majestic. I had always waited for such an opportunity. My fear had vanished by then and it was a sense of ultimate pleasure. I stood there for almost 5 minutes watching the beauty devour the flesh. I could hear the cracking of bones very clearly. Suddenly a sound to my right caught the tiger's attention. A hers of bisons were on the move. Even they came to a standstill when they noticed the tiger and quickly retraced their way back. I found it a good opportunity to run away quickly with them. I only stopped running when I was back in the compound of the rest house. 

Silence still prevailed in the vicinity. Except the cook all others were sleeping. I shared my experience with him and we both spiced it up. He then got up to make a cup of tea for me. I lay down on the charpai there and watched him perform his job. As he lighted the choolha (earthen stove), I saw the smoke rise high up in the air and vanish leaving behind its streaklines. In this process I don't remember when I dozed off but when I  woke up, my mother was standing beside me with a cup of tea in her hand. Surely, that birthday was the most cherished one <3  :-)