Jungle diaries

[Been in draft for quite long. Not sure how to improve it further, hence publishing]

Having had thought through the idea of penning my jungle diaries umpteen times, I am not sure which way would sound best without unnecessary details. I now think I should try the narration style rather than the diary style.

The tale begins with me leaving for Mysore a day ahead of the scheduled date. I recall to date, how I forced myself to sleep extra as rest of my room mates left for their respective offices. I checked and rechecked my To-Do list and mentally made calculations for acquisitions. I had still many items pending in the list, and my plans were rather loose in nature (as it usually is) .

With no one to discuss with or consult, I just went about with whatever came to mind, hoping it would suffice, and set out for Mysore. Reaching there by evening, by a friend's grace, I set out with my acquisition plan. It involved going half way around the city and meeting other friends who had agreed to lend their equipments. Thanks to my pals who were into wildlife and travel, I received a sleeping bag and a pair of binoculars. With it, I felt I had enough stuff in my arsenal to survive in the jungle without too much trouble. I slept peacefully at my friend's place that night, content with the acquisitions.

Early next morning, I caught a bus to Ooty. The route to Ooty runs through the Bandipur forest and the conductor informed me that I could get down at some certain point and walk rest of the way to the gates. In the bus, I noticed many others who were dressed and carrying equipments like me. So I kept my eyes and ears tuned to catch any mention of the census. I had begun to feel nervous and excited at the same time as I had no idea where I was headed to, and what I ought to be doing there. A bit of spying helped to quell that stress a bit :)

Outside the gates, I met a few guys who had come in from various parts of Karnataka to participate in the census. These guys were excited and loaded with information about the entire process. I was able to quell much of my nervousness just by chatting with these guys. My lack of experience, company and language barriers did annoy me a bit, but I was just enjoying the moment, anticipating the unknown.

Soon enough, the inauguration was underway and the officials came forward to explain various aspects of the procedure of the National Tiger census. Coupling that with the chit-chat we were having amongst ourselves, I was able to build a rather decent image of what lie ahead.

After lunch, we were to be allotted our respective ranges. These ranges would be where we would be stationed for the entire period of the census. There was a considerable amount of excitement and apprehensions among the volunteers, as it seems the nature of experience varied across ranges. There were supposedly some camps deep in the jungle which provided excellent chances of spotting tigers and/or other highly sought after animals. These camps were also mostly inaccessible, provided with only bare necessities and in practice meant a real hard life in the jungle, fraught with danger of wildlife. On the other extreme of the scale, lie ranges which were on the outskirts, buffer areas and near the offices of the department, offering fewer or no wildlife, but overall a more comfortable stay. Needless to say, no one preferred the latter.

With the excitement rising, and many groups already talking about using their contacts and influence to get desired camps, I felt completely stranded. I had never even considered such a situation, and with no knowledge of which camps are good or whom to ask, I just sat quietly. Soon, the names of people allocated to various camps were called out, followed by varied responses and frantic requests for exchanges and adjustments. I could see that not all such requests were granted.

In the next one hour, I was allocated to some camp's name which I couldn't make out, and after following several instructions to change camps based on someone else's requests, I was finally asked to board a jeep. I silently did that, and found 5 others for company. We quickly got introduced to each other by the time the jeep reached our destination camp. Having completely lost sense of whatever was going on, I slowly recovered now and listened carefully to one of the fellows who seemed to know certain things. It was heart wrenching to realize from his words that we had been sent to probably one of the worst camps. Even worse than the fact that I was completely clueless was that I couldn't react to what was gonna happen next..

The four legged fur ball of love

Anjana was the princess of the Anga kingdom. Her father, Chitrasena was very fond of hunting. It was after one such hunting expedition, four years ago that she saw Chatur for the first time. Chatur was a Royal Bengal cub whose mother was killed in the hunt. The king had no heart to kill the cub and had brought it to his palace.

Anjana took an instant liking to the ball of fur that kept winking at her now and then. She used to erupt into laughter when he did that. She took up the task of feeding him and taking care of him. Soon he started following her wherever she went and she never went anywhere without him. She named him 'Chatur' which means intelligent by the way he conducted himself. He seldom made a sound in the presence of strangers,but constantly kept purring and playing around when in the presence of the princess or the family.

As the princess grew up, so did Chatur. But he seemed to be growing at a faster pace. There wasn't enough space in the palanquin anymore for Chatur to accompany the princess. So he stopped accompanying her outside the palace. Her tutors too complained to the king secretly that they couldn't teach in peace with the beast lying so close. Soon he was kept restricted to his exercise yard and the princess' bedroom at night. The only time he could roam freely with her was during her free time. They walked around the huge palace gardens and sometimes went for camping near the jungle palace. Even in the vicinity of the forest, he never seemed interested in anything related to the wilderness. He still preferred the meat that the royal steward prepared and looked forward to the princess' poetry session, which he seemed to enjoy. He lay listening to the long lines of poetry with closed eyes and whenever the princess slips up a bit, he cocks his ears and made an expression which seemed like a smile.

Years rolled in this manner and marriage proposals started arriving for the princess from various young princes, kings and noblemen. The princess didn't show much enthusiasm in this, but girls seldom had much say in such matters. Everyday the court astrologer would line up a list of suitable princes and a messenger would read up volumes of heroic acts and virtues of the men. Everyday the princess waves them all off and retires to bed, tired and lost. Only Chatur would cuddle up to her and listen to her sad sighs, purring in rhythm until she slept.

One fine day, a young man with dazzling looks walked into the court and asks for the hand of the princess to the king. He doesn't talk anything about his virtues or titles. He just introduces himself as the king of some kingdom she never heard of. The king seemed impressed and looks at Anjana for her approval. That is when she realizes that she was gaping at the young prince.

the charming prince

Embarrassed, she suddenly gets up to leave, but stumbles. The young man rushes to catch her. Before any one could react, a yellow mass flashes through the corridor with a deafening roar and the entire court jumps up to see the prince on the floor with Chatur pressing him down on his chest. It takes the entire royal guard supported by desperate requests by the princess to make Chatur to leave the prince alone and walk back to the yard, while the doctors tend to the badly injured prince.

Immediately Chatur is put under captivity and banned from entering the court premises. An emergency court session is called to discuss the consequences of the mishap on the diplomatic ties with the prince's kingdom and also their own future safety. The king is advised to kill the beast, which is the standard practice as per traditional rules. On hearing this the princess cries inconsolably and doesn't eat for days together. Her father, weakened by his love for his daughter decides to leave Chatur alive, but orders to banish him forever to the jungle. The queen consoles her daughter and makes her understand why it is a better decision for Chatur to return to where he belongs. The princess gives in finally and but obtains permission to accompany the team that would take Chatur to the border of the jungle.

At the border, when the cage is opened, Chatur walks out. But he doesn't know what he is supposed to do and stands there meekly staring at Anjana. She too stands helplessly and sobs. The captain in charge becomes nervous as night was approaching and he looks up at the princess with pleading eyes. She understood the gesture and walks to Chatur. She undoes her platinum necklace and ties it around Chatur's neck,kissing him on his head with tears rolling down her cheeks onto his eyes.

She remembers her fathers words when he had gifted her the necklace- "This is made of a very rare and precious metal, and its value is not just in its beauty, but the fact that it stays forever. It is a symbol of my eternal love for you". Nothing less would suit Chatur, the piece of her heart, who at the very moment was walking away from her. She watched him walk into the bushes, with eyes blurred by the tears and thoughts muddled in sorrow. Suddenly he turned and shot her a glance before jumping into the bushes.

She couldn't believe if what she saw real or imagined. On the slow return back to the capital, the soldiers carrying the palanquin thought they could hear raucous rounds of laughter from within..

The post was written as an entry for the "Platinum day of Love" contest in Indiblogger which requires one to write about how platinum was used to make a very special  day for your love.