3rd Year Special Annual Double Issue Vol 4 Issue 1 & 2 Jan - Apr 2 3rd Year Special Annual Double Issue Vol 4 Issue | Page 41

I visited Ranthambore during the summers of 2018 and during one of my game drives in a zone that is seldom visited by the tourists, I sighted a young Tiger and only the head was popping out of a small watch tower. I was overwhelmed to see a Tiger in an ancient structure like that and was truly a dream sighting. That moment was very joyful and I was hoping to get the sight of the full Tiger. I waited very patiently for a while and I could see the Tiger coming out of the abandoned watch tower. What I saw was very disappointing as the Tiger, a 3-4 month old cub was barely able to stand due to weakness and hunger. Our guide who had accompanied us on the drive was also equally surprised to see a cub in that state. I was hoping to see the mother, T-13 close by, but there were no signs of her and it looked very evident that the cub was abandoned for a long time without food. A forest officer who happened to come there as a part of his daily beat, told us about the mother. It seems the mother, T13 was nursing a very serious injury and was not to be seen for almost 3 weeks. This got us worried and I lost all hopes of this cub’s survival. She later went into a water hole to beat the summer heat and to drink Vol 4 | Issue 1 |Jan - Feb 2019 water which was the only source of nourishment. Time was up and we had to exit with a very heavy heart. Though I prayed that some magic would happen and this Cub would survive, I knew heart in heart that its next to impossible. But something told me that the cub would fight it out, after all she has the lineage of the great Machali... the queen of Ranthambore who had ruled for almost 17 years. Machali is T13’s Aunt and that’s how this Cub is connected to her....With this hope I returned to Ranthambore 6 months later. The first drive was to the same zone where I had last seen the cub. I went to the same abandoned watch tower and searched around the entire place hoping to see the cub, but in vain. We got information that a different jeep had sighted a Tiger in a different place and we quickly drove to that place. I was thrilled with what I sighted and my guide confirmed that its the same cub. A cub once who had knocked on the heaven’s door was right in front of me Hale 41