As Arrowhead sat meditating under a banyan tree, it was quite someone else who was enlightened.
Tag: Tigress
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…
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?…
Kinarwah Chronicles
In the pursuit of wildlife, fantasy is a constant companion. With ambition as its close ally, the mind goes about weaving dreams at every corner, and causes the heart to wistfully sigh when they don’t come true. One such long-nursed dream was to see a tiger at Kinarwah, the manmade waterhole at the fringe…
Contrasting Childhoods
Contrasting childhoods, but a common future? My itchy feet are yet to travel the world, but my imagination, added to the television footage I’ve seen of various extraordinary places on the planet, leads me to believe that the Rajbehra Dam in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve has to rank as one of the most magnificent natural sites…
Enter the Goddess
The Banbehi female, after descending a hill and crossing the road, walking as though on a mission without once pausing. Our conjecture was that she was out to fetch some breakfast for her tiny tots. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see them, but when she first appeared on the hill in the bushes, betraying her…
Sashaying to Immortality
With her sinuous gait, she will sashay down the ramp and ease herself into your heart’s precincts. You pinch your skin and rub your eyes in disbelief, for this is too wonderful to be true. But she is real, like the moon, beautiful, large and glowing. You try to explain her away as a…
/Home\
A female cub from the late Aunt Jujju’s first litter, photographed sleeping at Rajbehra on my first ever safari in Bandhavgarh. In those days the unsightly eyesore of the watch tower was not in existence and the water surface that season was flush with the top of the dam wall, making the already pretty…
The Magic of the Tiger
Tigers have been for millenia strongly associated with myth, religion and spirituality, particularly as the steed of Goddess Durga, the destroyer of evil. Ancient peoples of the Indian jungles believed tigers to possess supernatural powers, and revered them for the same as divine protectors against unforeseeable calamities. In fact the Bhagavad Gita professes such: “Do…
Boxed In?
The adorable Chorbehra female spends a moment to reflect on things amid a thorough cleaning session. One evening we witnessed her frenetically attempting to find a place to cross over to the other side of the highway that cuts through Tala, but was of course hindered in her endeavour by the fence that has been…
A Message from a Tigress
“O man of ineptitude, if you can’t see my beauty, look, at least, into my eyes, and you shall see your own pulchritude. Have the sagacity to save my abode, and you shall save your own world. Life but gives many chances; grasp one. Grasp not the axe to sever me into oblivion, for…
TIGGA TALES 