From "Mind" to "Matter"

Three roars to the Royal Bengal Tiger!!

Next time before you venture out on a wildlife safari to spot some scarce species, don’t forget to bribe "Luck". It doesn’t matter whether you go off-season or on-season, if "Luck" does not favour you; you will most likely end up on the wrong path. This is a key take-away from the trips that I took to the Ranthambore and the Sundarbans.

In the declining winters of March 2013, I visited the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve through an office offsite. We were excited and eager that we would spot a few tigers, assuming they would be sauntering around freely across the forest. We took two canter rides through different zones, in the morning and at noon, but the luck cupid didn’t strike us with its ‘Good luck arrow’. We did not even spot the pug marks of the Tiger. Disappointment and dejection momentarily resided in my heart for the few days following my trip, every time that I kept re-iterating my experience to others.

This year in September another chance to spot the wild cat came knocking at my door. What was special this time? I was visiting the kingdom of the Royal Bengal Tiger, and unlike normal safaris this was not on land but four continuous days on the boat.

I set out for this much-awaited escapade with diminished hopes of spotting a tiger as I was warned by friends that I was going in the Off – season. Off-season! No concrete land! I wondered what were my odds to get a glimpse of the endangered beast. I silently said my prayers and re-iterated affirmative statements to shift the odds in my favour. I wanted to be lucky this time.

In life’s larger picture, time and luck are partners; the more time you invest in doing something the luckier or more successful you get. We invested our next four days on the boat wading through narrow channels and vast expanse of waters, in our quest for the wild. Once amidst nature time doesn’t run, it crawls, and it was matching up with the slow pace of our boat. Infact, you have no option but to be more patient, calm, observant, alert, focused and acceptable, there is no short-cut to success unlike in the city. Hence, we waited patiently, embraced solitude, immersed in the serenity and became one with nature.

After two days of hard luck, third day the conditions seemed conducive to catch some activity in the jungle. It was appropriate for the animals to venture out of their abodes. The climate was pleasant, the sun played hide and seek, making the heat tolerable. The rains had also decided to stay away. We sailed through narrower channels unlike on the previous two days. We had set our cameras, binoculars and eyes on high alert vigilantly scanning through both the sides. Nature did bestow us with some visual and auditory pleasures like the elongated water monitors in action, tiny mud skippers’ fight, variety of birds and their melodious chirrups, colorful crabs and variety of trees.

One sight that caught our attention was the fresh pug marks of a tiger at the edge of one of the islands. We hovered around the small island like detectives trying to catch a hidden criminal. On realizing there was no hope, leaving the narrow channels we reached the vast segment of the river. It was a rare spot to find the tiger in this area, hence we decided to rest our focused minds and feed our hungry selves.

Suddenly while we were preparing for lunch, our attentive local guide spotted a buoy like object floating in the water. He quickly saw through his binoculars, and lo and behold, it was the ‘Royal Bengal tiger’. Excitement oozed out of our patient heart as it finally saw victory after long hours of waiting. Our joy knew no bounds, spotting the ferocious cat unaware and in the wild was an experience of a life time. The pictures speak a thousand words:

First the head in the water

Head of the tiger swimming in the water

Fright on the face of the fright-inducing creature, on seeing our boat rush towards his side

Swimming as fast as possible

Reached the land in a jiffy

Splish splash

Wet brown body glistening in the sun, and the orange head remains dry

Leaping on to land

Darting to the bushes

Making its way to safety

Just 14 seconds from the silent water to the dense bushes

Image credits: The credit for all these magnificient images goes to my co-tourist Lynden Zuzarte

My attempt at drawing the tiger based purely on my imagination and memory: