Reminiscence of looking at death in the face...The day my world stood still!!!

“Tiger! Tiger! burning bright

In the forests of the night

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”

William Blake

By now I had seen several Tigers at Tadoba, but the thrill of spotting another one, never wanes! We had spotted Sundari and her four cubs on the morning of 16th May. Not too often do you see 5 Tigers in one go, but good fortune, patience and a good sense of tracking does increase your odds at spotting one. Having had a very good morning, spotting the usual - a sloth bear, wild boar, deer, several birds, we spent more than an hour with the 5 Tigers, got a very close look at a cub who walked up to the gypsy and posed for a few pictures, and a pack of wild dogs who were out for a splash in the water, we had decided to track and spot the new big male, "Tedhi Poonch" (means twisted tail; and the name came, as last bone in the tail of this big male was twisted) in the evening safari.
 

 

We got into the jungle on the dot of 3 pm. I had agreed with Raju, my ever faithful and chosen guide that we were going to spot the big boy at any cost that day. After doing our groundwork for 30 minutes, we had decided to wait for him at waterhole # 3, on the mail road. This was an artificial water hole filled twice a day by the forest department. Tadoba in May, I can promise you, will give you the hottest experience you can ever probably get in most of India. Temperatures can rise to 50 centigrade and a little more. And it was probably upwards of 50 that day. Equipped with several bottles of cold water in a thermocol box, scarfs tied around our head and face, we braved the intense heat, for 3 hours. I can still remember all the gypsies were at the same spot, 19 behind me, and 20 on the opposite side of the road. Everyone wanted to sight "Tedhi Poonch" that day. I was taking refuge in the drivers’ seat. My gypsy had a hard top for the driver's cabin, and rest was open. Subir was standing on the seat in the last row, Vijay and his 6 year old son Ajay were seated behind me, and Raju was on the same seat to the left to where the "Tedhi Poonch" was resting inside the jungle, camouflaged by the elephant grass and bamboo shrubs. Time now close to 6-15 pm and the tell-tale signs of deer & jungle fowl calling started. We knew the big boy was on the move. And suddenly, we heard a huge roar, and instantly the vehicles behind & in front of me started their engines. I had a minute ago, climbed out of the driver’s seat and stood where Subir was. And given that no one was in the driver’s seat, we were completely taken by surprise as we saw "Tedhi Poonch" charging towards us. We froze, instantly. While the brain was working, the body remained numb. And in a flash, there were no vehicles around us.

(The pictures here are from the next day, when we sighted the big male again)

I remember Vijay telling me to take his son and make a run for it, in case the Tiger jumped into the gypsy. But there were no vehicles to even make a dash...everyone had gone away. Raju, my seasoned guide, remained frozen, as "Tedhi Poonch" came within a couple of feet of the gypsy and then dashed off towards the bush. I had come out of my frozen state, and picked up the handycam which Raju had dropped on the ground when the charge happened. For some reason, my brain didn’t comprehend the idea that we had just been scared out of our skin. And then the inevitable happened! As I was trying to get my camera on, the 2nd charge had happened, and "Tedhi Poonch" had mistimed his charge, and his body came crashing into our gypsy. A good friend of mine tells me that I was within "kissing distance" and I have no memory of ever being that close. I was probably brain dead for those few seconds. The Tiger then finally decided he had enough and wanted to grab a drink and head back to his lair. As he settled into the waterhole to cool himself off, we regained our senses! And to add more thrills into our already scary situation, Raju tells me that the gypsy had stalled; it wouldn’t start. And the only option was to open the bonnet, and check for a loose connection. A seasoned man like Raju refused to get down, and instructed me to do so. How and why I did what he said, I have no clue, but I got off, saw a loose wire; got it connected and then jumped back into the gypsy. It took only a few seconds I guess, but the situation at hand made it feel like hours!!!

The gypsy started, and we slowly drove past "Tedhi Poonch" looking at him as he sat calmly in the water, quenching his thirst. It was closing time, 6-45 pm and we had to get out of the park by 7. All the cameras stayed switched off and silent; rather we didn’t even get inkling to turn it on and get a few pictures before we headed out. None of us spoke at all, until we reached the resort and had lots of water to drink, and then ordered for tea.

I remember, smoking cigarette after cigarette, trying to convince myself that this wasn’t a dream; but actually true. Several tourists walked up to us and said how lucky we were. Why "Tedhi Poonch" didn’t jump in, kill us in one single swipe, only he knows. And that will remain a secret that he will keep!!!

One tourist walked up to us and said that we were brave and had the courage to stay back, whilst everyone else had taken off after the 1st charge. Little does he know, nor was I in a position to tell him, even the Gods weren't really on our side for that instant, and the gypsy had stalled which made it impossible to leave!

Only over dinner did we get to know why we were attacked. The Scorpio behind me, probably a complete idiot, kept dipping his lights at "Tedhi Poonch" as he came out for a much needed drink. This had aggravated him even more. As if the 50+ temperature wasn’t enough & the amounts of noise people were causing wasn’t enough.

All said and done, you don’t get to see a Tiger at less than arm's length ever so often. This was a once in a life time experience, well worth it, but I'd never want it to happen again!

We saw him again the next day, equally irritated with the intense heat, and got some very good photos.

Vijay's son, Ajay, who until then didn’t bother about the dark, the jungle, anything, wouldn’t sleep the next 2 nights without the light on, always wanted someone to come with him to the toilet, and wouldn’t leave our side even for a second. Understandable!!! No one knew the varied emotions of intense fear, excitement, exhilaration, thrill, joy etc...A complete mixed bag that Subir, Vijay, Raju and me had experienced! We ended up getting only one picture which Vijay had clicked accidentally, hence the low quality and poor capture. And this was Tedhi Poonch flying thru the air as he banged '' shoulder in' to the gypsy!!! The picture below was wahta was captured as Vijay accidentally hit the shutter. A masterpiece in our opinion, even though it's of poor quality!!!

Several more trips have happened since this incident! It was a one off, as it had never happened earlier or later! But a reminder that I'd like to share with people is that everyone needs to "respect" the jungle, and all its "rules"! You are in their space, not the other way around!!!

“The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans.” – Jim Fowler

“Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man.” – Stewart Udall

”The quicker we humans learn that saving open space and wildlife is critical to our welfare and quality of life, maybe we'll start thinking of doing something about it.” ~Jim Fowler