The Jungle Safari 2018

Animals are curious creatures. Some are tame and cute. Others are ferocious and wild. Some make our hearts melt with their actions while others force us to retreat our steps in fear. I am not much of an animal lover. Sometimes I do play around with a puppy (from a distance) but that’s that. I do however love going to the Zoo. I know it sounds politically incorrect and a lot of PETA members would condemn this statement. Still, I really like to observe animals and their antics. There is a lot of learn from animals. Their playfulness, the survival instinct, the way they maintain their calm when people try to tease them and the way they attack when they have had enough.

Early this year we planned a vacay to the Jim Corbett Park in Uttarakhand. After months of researching, reading reviews and contacting friends who had been there – we finalized in on the plan. There are multiple gates to the access the park and each has its own specialty. We zeroed on the Dhikala gate as according to the reviews maximum tiger sightings happen there. We also pre-booked a decanter for the 7 of us visiting.

We reached Ramnagar, Uttarakhand from Delhi and explored the nearby places. Also drove in and around the Park to check our assembly point for the planned safari. Next day we were ready bright and early - eager to explore and spot tiger or tigers in their most natural routine. It was my first safari and I must say the experience was very different from visiting a Zoo. I was very aware of the fact that we do not belong here, this is their territory and we must be respectful to the surroundings. Also unlike a zoo here there were no animals to be spotted at regular intervals. We crossed at least 2 miles without spotting any fauna. But the surroundings were beautiful. We drove through Jungles with greenery everywhere, river kosi popping up every now and then, a bright winter day and freshest air around. As we went deep into the jungle, slowly animals started to show up.

Cutie

Brunching

Hellow, there

 Starting with a bewildered group of Sambal Deers. We were instructed to be extremely quiet around the animals and just let them be. No ooh, aahh’s. No name calling. No throwing stuff. Only quite photos and smart selfie’s . The family of deer was busy having their brunch but were very quickly aware of foreign presence. They kept being in attention till we left the spot. On further traverse we saw many other deers, pretty birds perched up in tree branches, naughty monkeys, haughty langoors, a herd of elephants crossing, some crocodiles sun-bathing lazily around the Kosi river. We were all eagerly waiting to spot the tiger however there was no sign of it anywhere. It was almost 5 pm when we started to come back towards the gate we started from. Although a little disappointed with no-tiger-siting of us were trying to be cheerful about spotting so many beautiful animals and nature. So what if we were not lucky to spot the tiger. But little did we know that our little exciting trip was far from getting over.

Enjoying the balcony seat

Vitamin D soaking

We were just some distance short from our exit gate when we spotted an elephant and a small baby elephant. The mommy elephant seemed to be very restless and kept her baby between her legs as she moved- just like a football player. The vehicle driver was of the opinion that the elephant is bothered by our decanter because in the past too, there have been incidents of elephants chasing out jeeps and other safari vehicles. So we immediately stopped our vehicle and keenly started to observe the mother/child duo. As they came closer we saw that the baby elephant was injured and had blood oozing from right side of his body. The mothers‘s restlessness suddenly became very clear. It was
now quickly concluded that the baby elephant had been attacked, mother was trying her best to protect him and in all possibility there should be a tiger nearby. Now far from being exciting about the prospect of seeing the tiger, all of us were worried about the cute little baby elephant and his poor mother. Somewhere amid this, right in front of us in a speed that would give the speed the light a huge competition a bright orange tiger jumped from a ravine, crossed the pathway and went up the mountain. All this in one quick leap. His long straight elongated tail remaining visible to us long after he vanished. It was literally a blink-and-you-shall-miss moment. This episode unfolded behind the elephant duo, both of them unaware of the predicament that was probably spying them from above and behind the trees.

Tense Mommy :(

Trying to keep him close

Off they go

Cute little elephant

The driver and the guide were particularly excited by the scenario that just unfolded. They told us to be quiet if we wanted to “enjoy” the action. Most of us were petrified by now. Few of us pleaded with them to inform forest authorities and help the elephants but they said this is between the animals and it’s the survival of the fittest . But not before scaring us with the fact that “tiger ab nhi chodega isko” “Tiger will not leave his prey”. It was getting dark and the chances seemed to be very bleak for the elephants. Even if the mother tried to fight the tiger, tiger would distract her and go after the baby. With really heavy hearts we went back once the elephants crossed by our vehicle.

The mother/child were on my mind the entire night that day and many other nights after that. I prayed with all my heart for the cute little baby.

This part of Kosi river was inside our resort. I remember i was shit scared while posing of this picture, thinking that tiger can come to attack any time! In my defence discovery channel always shows tigers attaching when the prey is near a water body!

Come to think of it, aren’t we too living in a jungle? An Urban Jungle?

Read me writing more about animals here.






Love:
Sepo

Of being inside a circle in a circus called love — or its subset called life.

The first thing that Rose did after getting news from Dionysus — of that-inebriated-fellow’s heart racing so fast that it stopped — was to open his cigarette box. The moment she took the cigarettes out of the box, one after another, and was staring at them, the moon too was gawking at her from the space in-between two curtains. On each cigarette, there was a cross.

Staring at the cross, Rose went back to reflect on the time gone by — a shadow that she thought had weakened over time. But, had it become faint or had it still the force to control her life? The reckless time of young and fresh love — the soft innocent kisses and the tender hugs. She distinctly rembered how foolishly were they in love with each other. This time-travel brought a little smile on her face — a smile with its etymology in an unknown void — a void with prickles of unanswered questions. Puffing one of his cigarettes, she got up to make some coffee. With the coffee and cigarette, she starting asking herself hurtful questions — the usual ‘what if’ ones.

One fine day, when they were not-so-together, they had a heart to heart with each other to realise they can’t be together. And Rose’s chain-of-thoughts had crash-landed her straight into this moment of abyss. On that day of realisation — there was first an eerie silence in the room followed by that-inebriated-fellow’s broken voice. The vividness with which this episode was coming alive in front of Rose, she was drowning deep and fast in the mess. With a hushed voice — he had pushed out these fragmented words — you know I’ll die waiting for you but I won’t trouble you, I shall seal the corners of my heart and lips. And in that fucking moment — Saturn had cracked and the moon was going to crush her anytime by the mass of love alone.

Love — is just a four-letter word — but how much weight does it have? After all calculations, what is the total sum of it? Nil or infinite — but what exactly are both of them — valued or not valued? Is it about sacrifices or empathy? When does empathy become sacrifice? Is it about what you read in books — spiritual connect, soulmate, longing etc etc — or do we find it in the music we hear? But you know, what Rose felt for him after he left abode was something beyond definitions — something unknown — something unanswerable. It couldn’t have contours. Those intense dreams were the questions themselves which she had to fall in love with. Did she have an other way — an answer — the answer — she wondered.