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On the tiger trail, quietly

P. Devarajan

ON Thursday, G. Viswanatha Reddy suggested a morning trip into the Ranthambhore forest and we were in by 7.30 on Route 7. Till 10.30 we went round the jheels and water bodies but could not sight a tiger.

Paul and myself decided to try our luck in the afternoon when the Gypsy takes one on a three-hour run from 2:30 pm till 5.30 pm. The driver took Route No. 6 and we climbed the Aravallis to have a top of the hat view of the forest and it was immense.

On the climb, the parakeets screeched high in the air, peacocks `peoed' and the Common Indian langurs broke branches leaping from tree to tree. Nilgais, sambhars, spotted deer and the chitals preferred to watch us go by. At the top it was still and windl ess. The dhok trees were all over the place as our Gypsy skipped along the mountain path with huge tails of dust turning back into us.

``In the quiet one can spot the sloth bear,'' said the driver but none turned up. On our first trip on Wednesday to the Jungle, as the public here calls Ranthambhore, we were not obsessed with the Tiger. Paul clicked while I watched any and everything in cluding a bushy mongoose snaking its way up stone blocks.

The chestnut bittern, a lonely snake bird near Padam Talao, a few tufted pochards dipping into the waters, a barn owl sitting stiff in the insides of a banyan tree, a hoopoe, kingfishers (small and big) were some of the birds we identified before the fac e-to-face with Rani and her two cubs.

If you go into the jungle and not sight a tiger, it is like dropping a catch in cricket or missing a major news story. The one question hurtled at the visitors as they wind out of Ranthambhore forests is, ``Kya, Tiger sighting hua? (Did you sight a Tiger ).'' If you say yes, there is a loud sabash.

On Wednesday, Paul and myself were the heroes of Hotel Regency as we had seen a tigress and two cubs. ``That's given to Gods,'' said the hotel clerk. Faces turn away if you say no and that happened to us on Thursday. When the hotel clerk queried, ``Kya s ab, zero mein out? (Out for zero),'' one was hurt. You have not the heart to lie as at the end of the trip, Forest Department officials hand one a form to write down details of any sighting. Even the Gypsy drivers prefer to stick to facts.

Our driver Rajiv is young and seems to have some interest in wild animals. ``Yadi jungle aur Tiger nahin hai, tho ham bhi nahin hain (We are not there if there are no Forest and Tigers),'' he told us as we drove along various routes.

He could make out pug marks on the loose, brown soil while driving. Rajiv was the one who spotted a barn owl from some 20 feet while we tried hard to locate the bird. After our forest visits, Rajiv used to sit with us for a hot cup of tea and spend some time telling us forest tales.

It was the Thursday when a common langur had picked my cloth cap. The brown dust and heat had turned us a bit dull and Rajiv knew it. Rajiv sipped the tea and came up with an amusing reason for our not sighting tigers on Thursday. In a flat tone, Rajiv t old us of an old, curious custom of the Ranthambhore forest. You may even call it superstition. But it is there.

Only those who watch and respect all the animals, birds and trees in the Forest can alone sight a tiger. In turn, the tiger refuses to come into the open, respecting the Jungle Law. It happened to us. Maybe, Viswanatha Reddy and Fateh Singh Rathore are t he exceptions.