As Bandhavgarh reopens to tourists for a brand-new season, I offer a quick refresher of some of my favourite terms from its unique phraseology.
Category: Favourites
Remembering Munna
In the second part of the Remembering Tigers series, a tiger who has the word ‘CAT’ on his forehead and loves to walk in public.
Remembering B2
In this first of a series remembering tigers, presenting the only tiger I’ve ever seen who was a sage. B2.
Aloneness
A chat in a tent leads to a startling realisation about aloneness.
Enlightenment under a Banyan
As Arrowhead sat meditating under a banyan tree, it was quite someone else who was enlightened.
How does it feel to see a wild tiger?
So how does it feel to see a wild tiger? I could tell you that waiting for a tiger to emerge feels like watching raindrops trickle off a roofline while awaiting your beloved – a wistful longing fanned by sweet anticipation. But that wouldn’t let you know what it’s like to melt in your own…
The Apples of My Eyes: All the Bandhavgarh Tigers I’ve Seen
Since I discovered the immensely pleasurable activity of watching tigers in 2006, I’ve had the privilege of visiting 17 tiger reserves, and each of these has been special, but none towers over my consciousness as a certain park, in an overwhelming sort of way. Bandhavgarh. That name occupies so much space in my heart, that…
Lines on Water
There was a veneer of grass on the forest canvas, and it was ruffled now by the hot wind, as though tousled by a dragon’s breath. The earth heaved as the sun drank from the lake, like a giant sucking honeydew off a dying man’s plate. A mirage had centre stage. I sat watching the…
Watcher on the Wall
Between the banks of night and day, she stands gazing at the undual, still in the flow. Seasons come and phases lapse, but her vigil flies aloft. It reaches beyond man, beast and plant, and touches the source of all.But she’s not a hoarder of beliefs, collector of memories or weaver of dreams. She’s…
Revelations in the Dark
I’m the water for which you thirst, the fire in which you burn, and the air that fans it. I’m the quiver of your lips, the throb in your belly, the blood in your cheeks and the stutter on your tongue.I’m your frown of frustration and squeal of delight.I’m the spring in your step, the…
Top Eight Antelopes of Kenya
They’re colourful, come in a variety of sizes and show true diversity and imagination with their head gear. Scan any piece of a Kenyan wilderness expanse, and chances are you’ll spot one of them in the frame. Mostly busy feeding, they dot the savannah with their northward horns and bony legs as sitting ducks…
The Intrepid Athena
The morning was young and the sun gentle when we hit the cheekily nicknamed Aloo Bonda Road. The track is known by this curious moniker for it takes you to Hardia, where you can throw in the towel mid-safari, and having relieved at once your bursting bladder, devour an assortment of toothsome revivers, chief amongst…
A Feeling Called Tiger
I’ve felt it far more often than I’ve seen it. In the rustle of the leaves it’s resident, and the thunder over the distant hills brings its euphony. The inchoate buds issue its fragrance, and the sway of the windswept grass talks of its silent jaunt. The frenetic calls of alarm evoke its presence, and…
The Golden Lining
The Golden Lining The head hangs down, shoulders droop. The tail’s closer to the thighs than to the grass flowers that sway in the changed wind. It once carried your fragrance afar but now brings to you the reek of peril. You’re on the back foot staring at doom through a pall of gloom. The…
TIGGA TALES 