Nothing out of the ordinary: just one of those days when a miracle occurs and a ghost is seen!
Tag: TALES
Enlightenment under a Banyan
As Arrowhead sat meditating under a banyan tree, it was quite someone else who was enlightened.
Dates with a Star
When I draw under starless skies memories of midday mimes, on sunlit days and a fairy land, the fondly kept tell vivid tales of a deathless date. For the present is so vast that in it even the past resides. There was an untanned patch of hallow ground, from which there sprang grass green and…
Morning Blessing
The bounty of some days makes up for the drought of others, and on this day, another page of the Kinarwah chronicles was to be turned over for our reading pleasure. Just as we saw the Banbehi female off on the Banbehi Nallah Road, Vikas turned back to drive to Mirchani and then complete our…
Survivors at Sunrise
It was the last safari of the trip, an intentionally truncated affair, since we had a date to keep with an annoyingly punctual flight at the end of an 11-hour drive. 25 safaris, including 19 from the previous trip, had passed that year without a glimpse of Kankati’s cubs. Back in May, the first-time mother…
A ‘Boaring’ Digression
One late morning at Sukha Talab, the Pateeha female, having watered herself and her two girls, had risen to a stately squat, ready for departure, when one of the cubs’ attention was diverted by a sound. On the firm conviction that it behoved him to investigate, the cub walked away from the water and positioned…
A Tiger’s Way
The wheels rolled into Rajbehra one searing afternoon, and we learned that one of the Jhurjhura cubs had taken throne on a rocky outcrop behind the dam. As I sat in brief contemplation, the following advisement from an eminent photographer cracked the silence at its seams: “Kaunsa lens hai tere paas, bhai? 300 hai, na?…
Portrait of a Lass
A rejuvenating shower reduced the summer blaze to a simmer. When the sky had run dry of cold tears, a freshness had flowered. A grey francolin, drinking its nectar, stood on a log calling oft, as though, through a broadcast of the pleasant status quo, inviting all parties concerned to partake of the toast. A…
A Tale of Two Stars
It was late afternoon when Star assumed a seat by the lakeside, and despite the fire in the sky, it seemed to get brighter by his presence, and the howling dry wind, just a little warmer. The day was longer because of his lingering, yet time verily shorter. Light had slowed to the speed of…
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…
A Midsummer Day’s Work
A cloud veiled the harsh sun and a breeze abducted the gentle heat radiating from the earth. Watched on by the swaying trees, fallen leaves rallied around drifting in the slow wind. No rain hung in the dry air; just a low-pitched swoosh of the wandering zephyr. It was spring elsewhere in India but midsummer…
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…
From History to Eternity
I sometimes wonder if history can repeat itself. But I realise it doesn’t have to, when it lingers forever. 19 May was the fourth death anniversary of the Jhurjhura tigress (left) I fondly called ‘Auntie’. She wasn’t the prettiest tigress I’ve known; that is clearly a position concretely held by her smashing sister, the Chorbehra…
The Death Walk
He was so big that he had his own gravitational field. And the moment when he pressed purposefully forward with a quarry in his sights and the smell of a kill doing the death dance in his nostrils was a rear-loosening one. There are times when tigers look cuddly. This is the majority of times….
TIGGA TALES 