A Striped Tale

A Fiction about my love for tigers and the crazy imagination I can get into.

All those who know me closely, are acquainted with my fascination for tigers. If law here would have permitted, I would have petted one long ago. Sadly enough, it is not permissible.

However, as they say, if you want something and wish for it desperately, entire universe will conspire to make it happen. So this time the Universe conspired to make my modest wish to come true. The sudden turn of events left me flabbergasted. I had never thought that these positive thinking, self inspiring theories are so real.

Professions, jobs these days are a big cause of concern for the degrading family system in India. The once proudly bragged about, joint family system has decayed to a great extent and has been brought down to a nuclear family by this virus. We, too, are a victim of this virus. While my husband and I have nested up our small world in one city, my father-in-law, who is just a couple of years away from his retirement, serves in another city, with my mother-in-law in tow. As and when our work permits, we make it a point to visit each other and spend some quality time.

It was the month of December. My husband was burdened up with work, while I was on a verge of crashing down due to my own work pressure, which prompted me to take a break. I decided to visit my in-laws alone.

Although a metropolitan city, the locality where my in-laws stay is a very hushed and tranquil place, adjacent to a National Park. Even a short visit to the place is enough to cheer my senses and give that much needed rejuvenation. In spite of the humid weather conditions, early morning walks in the National Park can, at times, be shivery but refreshing, setting up a right mood for the day.

On one such chilly December morning, I went for a walk along with my mother-in-law. As we were engrossed in walking briskly, a sudden ruffling of leaves caught my attention. The moment I rotated my neck to catch the direction of the noise, a heftily built, immaculately striped and ferociously agile tiger was ready to pounce on an unknown morning walk enthusiast. Out of an immediate and intuitive nudge from within, my heroism was aroused and I came in the way of the man-eater to protect that stranger.

As the tiger pounced on me, I hit the ground due to its force and weight. I wounded myself on the forehead and little streams of blood started trickling. The carnivore, as if its ego was hurt, started howling on me violently. It scratched me with its sharp nails and had almost bitten me, when a sudden wave of exhilaration gushed in me. I was just a few inches away from my long standing dream. Although, I could not own it, I was dramatically close to the feline. This was sufficient to make me go berserk. Within a flash of moment, I decided that I wanted to feel its presence and; as if fondling an adorable puppy, I was caressing the tiger. This unexpected reaction of its victim confused the tiger, which in turn, changed its stance. It posed as if ready to be snuggled. The stranger, who would have been the actual victim of the beast, my mother in law and all the other morning walkers who had stopped in their tracks, quite literally, were dumbstruck by this spectacle. There was a commotion among them for they had never seen such a sight. Seeing the magnanimity of the striped animal, no one dared to come forward for giving a helping hand and were watching everything with their mouths agape.

A streak of contentment was glowing on my face as the tiger was cuddling up with me. It was so much satisfying that I was completely unaware about the blood flowing from my wounds and the minor scratches caused by the paws of this animal, who seemed to me like a new found friend.

The crowd that had by now looped the invader and the invaded, started giving way to a group of people marching in frantically. They were the National Park authorities who had come to catch the beast that had managed to escape its captivity due to its caretaker’s negligence. The short-lived festivity was over and it was time for the tiger to bid me farewell. I, on the other hand, was still struggling to take in the fact that I had such a close and beautiful encounter with the ‘beast of my dreams’.

With a contended and smiling face, I closed my eyes to relish the chain of events, when I felt as if the tiger’s tail was lightly tapping my left cheek. As I opened my eyes, I saw my husband was tapping my cheek to wake me up. “Wake up, or you would be late for the office”, was what he said. Crash....came down the dream. Not being able to accept the reality, I woke up with a heavy heart, got ready and left for office.