The Walk of a Tiger !

This forest never seizes to mesmerize my imagination and thrill that it brings in so unexpectedly every time. A perfectly sized group travelled to Bison Manor at Kutta in Coorg, a relatively new home stay with a 30 acre coffee plantation to support the family. Hugh and Vivienne, the masterminds behind this piece from heaven, were extremely engaging with every guest, making us felt like we were part of their family. The food, well I just cannot stop talking about it… Madhu and his entourage made us some of the best food we couldn’t even dream of in a star hotel at Bangalore. In short, a must visit place for anyone wanting time by themselves, but still feeling a part of the house you visit.

We just had two things to focus on in our entire trip. If we were not shamelessly gaining the pounds after gorging on some of the exotic food and deserts at Bison Manor, we were on the road, searching for any sightings of wild life that we could get. And boy, were we in for surprises through the entire trip.

After reaching our place of stay and stuffing ourselves with food, we rested for a bit and hit the road towards Wayanad Reserve Forests. One can cover multiple ranges by scanning outside the reserve limits on this route. With our jeep ready, 8 of us hit the road for some wildlife sightings. As we entered and drove nearly 30 kms on the winding hilly roads our eyes never took a blink in anticipation of getting that “perfect” story. While some of us were dreaming of capturing the exotic birds of Nilgiris, others had their eyes pierced on the bush line to find a hidden creature. I personally was scanning the trees to find a leopard stealthily hiding himself in the branches.

We had done nearly 40 kms and were reaching the last water hole on this stretch, towards the Kabini side of the forest, near Bavali. Our hopes were on the brink of being shattered and some of us had taken our forty-winks in all the silence that the forest has to offer over the last 2 hours. The evening light was fading and being a cloudy day, the light dropped drastically. We turned our vehicle to get back as it was getting late and this is Elephant territory, you’re definitely not welcome after nightfall. With a change of driver and the renewed hope of some luck, we started our drive back. The dark night in the wild keeps most of us awake for many reasons, fear of the unknown being on top of the list. With beaming eyes, we were trying to see into the dark and identify screeching nocturnal life. Eight of us, hanging from all sides of our open jeep with a 360 degree view and the night that was getting nippy by the moment, it was not one of the best things to do in the wild. Most of us started to feel the hearts pound as the silence and sudden bursts of twigs breaking made us more than uncomfortable. I was sitting in the last bench of the jeep and had my eyes directed at the back of our vehicle. We were driving slowly, since elephants could come out of nowhere and charge at us. The dark was getting eerie and the forest silent. None of us were talking and then, we heard our co-driver say… “Tiger”…

…The next 20 minutes were the most chaotic, noisy, confusing yet memorable…

Within a couple of seconds and in the dim evening light, all of us were scanning the bush and spot-on, the Tiger was comfortably sitting and staring at us. A heart beat skipped for everyone as this for the first sighting for all but one. As reality started to sink in, immediate chaos ensued… a barrage of clicks were thrown at the Tiger. The predator was a sub-adult, maybe 2-3 years old with a small head, suggesting that this was a young female that we were spotting. She was ignorant about our presence and pretended to be in total ignorance of our existence. After all, she is at the apex of the food chain and can be as cool as a cucumber in our presence. We were literally wailing at each other to get a better shot of the cat with various angles that were to offer. Just as we were getting a few shaky shots but good ones to be called record-shots, there was an oncoming bus, which we had to give way for. With the bus gone in a jiffy, we doubled-up to our spot and rejoice our “find”. She was gone…

…With the entire nuisance, we so called naturalist with immense collective knowledge of the do’s and don’ts of the forest, had created, she was bound to disappear just as mystically she had appeared. We started to drive slowly ahead and take as much light from the remainder of the evening and peek into the bush line. She was gone and our greedy human nature was crying for more, as though we had, not spent the last 20 min doing nothing. I sat back at my last bench and the corner of my eye caught a vivid detail in the dark-crimson hazy lights of the brake light. The outline of the Tiger, and I said, she is behind us…

Photo Coutesy: Fellow Photographer Karthik SM

She had silently crossed the road from where we were watching her all this while and was majestically walking by the road side, not even bothered of our presence. We, humans, were a mere mockery in her land. She walked for a while and stepped into the bushes, to continue her nocturnal adventures into the night. This was the most silent part of the 25 minutes that we had seen the tiger. Whether it was in awe of the majestic creature we had sighted, or the emotions that was gone with the Tiger, it is unclear, but the silence was loud!

I don’t think I can remember too much of the Tiger struggling to hide herself from the prying eyes of the un-invited guests for my life, but the one thing I will clearly take to the grave is the silhouette of her in the dark-crimson lighting. This image is painted in my mind for life… The walk of a Tiger!

Kabini... Again... !

7am... Saturday morning... hit the road to Kabini. Driving along with my camera, for company, and the hope to see a Tiger. The best part about the drive was that I stopped nowhere. 236km drive, non-stop, 3hrs & 45 min (The last 12km took over 30min).

Reached Kabini Jungle resorts and I must say, they are extremely courteous and an ever-smiling face takes away even the slightest discomfort from the drive. Checked in to the Maharaja Bungalow and boy was I impressed with the 100 year old building and its upkeep. Took a shower and hit the "Golghar" for lunch. The spread was extremely good and I truly enjoyed the food with a bottle of beer. Hit the bed for an hour and was ready for an evening safari.

For company in my Jeep, I had four seasoned gentlemen with bazooka sized lenses and a strong Brit accent. Two Indians and two Brit's, later i got to know, where friends from Hull visit India for some serious bird photography. David had exceptional knowledge about birds while others joked about how rich they were before taking up photography as a hobby. Doctor Koshy was an extremely friendly person with a serious intent to capture some "Dhole", the wild dogs. Gordon and Amit were more engaged with their camera & surroundings and had occupied the first row. Our spotter for the evening was Kishore, an extremely good spotter with an eye of an eagle.

Upon Entering Nagarhole, we were greeted by the vibrant hues of a Peacock trying to charm the hens with his shrill and frequent voice. Further into the jungle and closer to the banks for Kabini, we noticed a very large gathering of Storks. David tells me that this is a rare sight since one normally does not find the "Wolly-necked Stork" in such large groups. There were 100's of them, all taking gentle strides towards the bank of the river. To the right of our view, was a large Gaur. He arrogantly looked towards us with his head held way above his shoulders. Although a bit on the leaner side, the Gaur was still all muscle and looked extremely strong. We also found a group of Wild Boar and a lonely tusker while waiting at the same spot. I was thinking to myself, just one place with so many strong and wild animals, yet so much harmony.

After a near half hour gaze, we decided to move further into the jungle. We saw a family of elephants with the head of the pack not being comfortable of our presence. Without irritating the big girls, we decided to silently pass by. This time we headed to the banks again to a place known as sunset point. From here we could see a large gathering of deer and a lone tusker walking towards the bank on the opposite side. He must have been pretty thirsty since he drank for 10 minutes nonstop. We were hoping he would bathe to get some good snap, but the guy had his drink and walked away into the forests.

On our way back, we found this amazing Malabar giant squirrel running up the tree. With a better lens, I could have managed better shots, but it was an amazing sight to see the speed and agility they have.

With luck running out on cat sightings and darkness falling on us, we decided to head back to camp. A nice hot cup of tea and a shower and I was off to the bar. A couple of drinks into the evening and a nice conversation with the Barman and the manager of the resort and the evening was looking good. Later that evening met up with my doctor friends and some other guests. All were very candid about their life and why they were there. It was as though the jungle brings out your feelings, emotions and takes you into a different zone in itself. It was nice to be with complete strangers, of such different age groups, and still be able to connect with them so much. An extremely eventful day, I must say!

We started off well the next day morning with a dancing peacock as soon as we entered the forest. A sambar deer walking by our jeep, many hoopoe wandering in search of some worms, a little scally-bellied woodpecker tapping on the bark of a dead tree, grazing herd of Wild Boar and a serpent eagle couple basking in the sun. Speaking of Serpent eagles, while we were heading towards Tiger tank (a water hole), we noticed this serpent with a fresh catch of a green Barbet. What a lovely sight of bird predation it was! Spectacular I must...

With time running out and no sighting of the cat, I was getting impatient and going farther into the seat of the jeep. A shrill call of a sambar dear 50 meters to my left shook me of the seat and back on my legs. With our engine switched off, we moved slowly down the slope. As we neared the tiger tank, we saw some movement behind us. There it was, a large male Leopard crossing the road. Magnificent strides and watchful eyes... that’s all I can say. He crossed and went into the bushes as though we were not around at all. Didn't even stop to look at who is invading his privacy.

As we moved closer to Tiger tank, we noticed nothing. Then another Leopard to our right. Carefully scanning the water hole and walking around the south side towards the eastern tower side. The boys with the bazooka lens would have got some lovely pics and I had to do with the limited equipment I carried. So I decided not to shoot and just gaze at the beautiful predator. He was amazing... marking his territory, smelling the scent on the trunk of the tree and taking gentle steps around the water hole. The best part of the entire thing was when he walked; there was not one clip of a twig or rustle of dead leaves. Pin drop silence... I would have missed all this if I was focusing on getting a shot of the cat. It was a wonderful experience.

They say it is easier to see a Tiger as they are less afraid and difficult to see a leopard as they are the most elusive of the cats. Well, the Tiger can wait for now and I will get them some other day. For today and always, the Leopard will continue to be my favorite cat.

"The Interview" - The Dark Side

Not knowing the history and reviews of the play that I almost missed watching, added to the drama that unfolded in the Theatre. "The Interview" - well the name said nothing more than what it meant, until you watch the unparalleled twists and turns that yarn the fine play together. IN a nutshell, left me breathless more than once!

The satirical comedy unfolds the deepest and devious ways of the corporate world, we call our second life. The play unfolds the chaos in the life and minds of the characters in one hour and the swift transformation of characters when put in complex situations of personal desires that play at work. A very interesting plot, with fine dialogues that you can relate to under pressure. The cast more than just delivered them with finese, but was able to add character to the role. Put the characters in a tense situation and their fingers wobbled, shoulders drooped and all this with intense dialogues - Boy did they pull it off like a breeze. You could laugh and feel the nerve wracking emotions that each character would be going through, in the entire length of the play.



I did find a few bits of the play, very minimal I must say, that were a drag. But by the time they started making you uncomfortable in the chair, a sudden and dramatic change in the sequence brings you back to full attention.

Very well written script along with a simple but composed setting, will take you through "The Interview" with many a things that we would not have come across in a routine. Decisions that we take in life, perceptions of people in situations and how drastically our personal needs effects our professional decorum, are all out into this one thunderous hour.


I thoroughly came back a slightly different person, for the good, after the play. Well done you Guys!