#yqbaba#ShortStory#YoSimWriMo#themonkandthetiger#chitstory
Yawn. 🥱 I open my eyes wide. What is this? Am I dreaming? I rub my eyes as if to clear it. I find trees all around me filtering the sun. Oh no! I'm bang in the middle of a forest. The haze in my mind begins to clear as I realize that this time I have seriously wandered into the jungle all alone after breaking away from my friends with whom I had come on a visit to Thekkady. I last remember trying to capture a bird on my camera.
I'm a wildlife enthusiast. Birds, insects, etc also fascinate me. Hadn't we all left in the wee hours of the morning for a walk? Maybe I had wandered too far and dozed off from exhaustion. 'Shucks! How do I find my way out?.' I sense some movement and hear a faint sound of rustling leaves. I move slowly, my camera all ready, hoping to catch a wild cat. Fear isn't in my dictionary. My eyes spot long matted hair covering the peaceful face of an ageing ascetic seated on a tiger skin who appears to be deep in meditation. He holds my attention. I am unable to take my eyes off him. The rustling sound again. I look in the direction of the sound. It seems not too far away. A thicket parts to reveal shiny eyes of a large, adult tiger staring straight at the ascetic. I focus my camera on the wild cat, eager to catch it in motion. I am highly impressed with the majestic looking animal. It is advancing slowly. My camera is gleefully absorbing it all in. I suddenly remember the ascetic who was the object of the tiger's attention. The monk seems to be peacefully unaware of all that is happening around him. 'Would the tiger devour him?' Hell. I need to save him. The tiger is closing in on him. It is just ten feet away, staring intently at the holy man who appears to be in communion with a higher power. 'Will God save him?' I ask myself. The cat abruptly stops, turns its head and seems to look straight at me. I stand absolutely still, but fail to still my quaking legs. I recollect some sanskrit shlokas and begin to silently mouth them. I am suddenly gripped by fear. I can feel the wetness of fear trickling down my legs. I dare not close my eyes. It seems like eons since the wild cat has locked its eyes with mine.
I don't know what happened but I hear the sound of a trigger being pulled and see the tiger slump down. The ascetic is still deep in meditation. I walk in a daze to the waiting vehicle assisted by a forest ranger. We drive away but not before I click several photos of that mysterious meditating monk in the forest. I wish I could go meet him. A lot of questions need answering. A strange phenomena being that he is nowhere in any of the photos I clicked. Only the forest is visible in them. Did I then dream it all? Nah. The trip, the forest, the tiger are all there, preserved in my clicks. I even received an international photography award for them. It is proudly displayed in my living room.
