Even the seasoned veterans of the Forest Department and the locals could not believe their eyes that we could have such a close encounter with the tiger for such a long time on that day! I had initially assumed that running into a tiger in the Nagarahole National Forest (Karnataka, India) was a fairly routine occurrence. But, based on the super exuberant salivating reactions of the Forest veterans, who kept clicking away to record this majestic beast during it’s most regal stroll, I realized how lucky we were to have a such a closeup darshan of this great Bengal Tiger!
Royal Bengal Sherni!
In addition to the tiger, we also saw : herds of Spotted deer (Chital), Sambar deer, packs of wild dogs, Gaur (bison), Mongoose and Langur (monkeys), Spotted owl, Serpent eagle and Wild Fowl
Just Another Day At The Jungle!
I did not have a camera that weighed 20 pounds to capture extreme closeups of the tiger’s nose hairs from a distance, but my Iphone8 did a fairly decent job… and there’s no way I could have called or texted the kids using the 20 pound Nikon!
King of The Nagarahole National Park
Here’s the rest of the wildlife that we encountered that day…
Wildlife of Nagarahole National Park
Later that day…
Me (calling my kids excitedly): Guess what? We had three sightings of a tiger today in the Nagarahole National Park! It was marking it’s territory and we followed it for almost an hour!!
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Elsewhere…
Tiger (to its cubs):Guess what?? Today, I had 3 sightings of a Jeep full of dinner! Lucky for them that I was not in the mood for Indian today. Next time I will stick my tongue out and wink at them!! It will definitely go viral on YouTube/Facebook/Twitter!!
Tiger’s partner :Did you make sure to pee on the trees like I asked you to? They do seem to lose their sh*t when you do that, don’t they? Also, did you try roaring? That impresses them too! Although, the other animals don’t seem to care anymore!
Tiger (trying it’s best Rodney impression) :That’s right! No respect.. I get no respect at all.. I tell yeah! This sucks! We really should get the “King of the Jungle” title back from the Lions! BTW, all this whispering of the tourists is driving me crazy! I have a feeling that they are talking about me behind my back...
Tiger’s Partner :We should tell Forest department that we will not do these tourist appearances anymore, till they start increasing our food ration and also stop recording our love making! I hate doing these “Wild” Life videos. We need some privacy back in our lives!
I immigrated to the US in 1983 from India. I feel that I have been here long enough to not be called FOB (Fresh-off-the-Boat) by my kids. But I guess they seem to have some other standards which involve pronouncing words like "Vote" ,"Vending" and "Video" properly - which I guess I will never achieve (because of my 21 years in India) - so, I am going to pass myself as that Indian with an "exotic" accent!!
My interests :
WRITING - Just realized that most of my work so far has been Nostalgia-centric. I enjoy this genre and feel it's an un-ending well that I can draw from. As a matter of fact, this right here is fresh nostalgia for 10 years down the road!! (-:
GOLF - I am terrible at it and it's a damn frustrating game, but I still love it ("painful pleasure"). One of these days I will actually take lessons so that I won't embarrass myself too much on the golf course. As long as there are golf courses around here (with low standards) that would allow me to play - I will play and enjoy golf!!
STAND-UP - I have started dabbling (performing) in stand-up comedy recently and am loving the feedback I have been getting! I am going to attribute this newfound hobby to mid-life crisis! :-) (as an alternative to a toupee or a red sports car or a girlfriend-on-the-side!!). Here's clip of my very first performance on April 14th 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScMLgRAGyNs&feature=youtu.be
MUSIC - I am a huge fan of Shakti (John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Vinayakram, L.Shankar) as well as their later avatar - "Remember Shakti" (John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Selva Ganesh, Mandolin Sreenivas, Shankar Mahadevan). Thoroughly enjoyed the two live concerts that I attended of this fusion group. I enjoy Hindustani and Carnatic classical instrumental music.
YOUTUBE - YouTube has an unbelievable amount of entertainment from which you can draw your specific narrow niche!! In my case - these areas happen to be - street foods from various parts of the world, Indian classical music, debates about religion & belief, Indian Classical Music played by non Indian (e.g. Ukrainians doing wonderful Bharatanatyam, a French lady performing amazingly in a Carnatic Concert, a Chinese lady teaching Bharatanatyam in China etc.)
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2 thoughts on “The Day Of The Tiger”
Great pictures !!!
Its amazing how much you were able to see in one day.
Great pictures !!!
Its amazing how much you were able to see in one day.
Thanks David. That was our lucky day.. it seems (based on what the locals said).