We were still wondering what to do when two of us were quickly pushed into facing one direction, while the other two faced the other. Initially I thought my heart was going to explode but I think once the mind kind of reconciled itself to death, everything seemed to calm down. Or so I thought! I could see we were being slowly edged towards the only tree in the surrounding area. Just as we got to around the middle of the clearing we were in, there was this earth-shattering roar from the direction of the tree. Following this roar, I remember the vision of a bush almost blowing apart to make way for this tiger coming straight at us, at a speed I didn’t think was possible except for jet planes!! It was a massive tiger, his muscles rippling, his teeth all bared, his eyes a brilliant bluish-grey, his body kept really low and his roar sounding like a million thunderbolts going off at the same time. I think my friend and I screamed at the top of our lungs out of horror and fright but his father and the forest guide very purposely raised their arms and let out very impressive "roars" of their own. The tiger came up to within 10 feet from us when this loud retaliation luckily had it’s desired effect and he changed direction all of a sudden. As quickly as he had come down on us, he disappeared into the jungle to our left. We all edged our way a little faster towards the tree. I knew that tigers were known to be able to sometimes climb trees but somehow at that time that tree was the only glimmer of hope I could see.
He stood there sizing us up. Not a single muscle of his moved. The snarl on his face had gone. His expression was almost passive. At that moment, he looked almost like a confused house pussy cat. Yeah!! Confused about which of the four mice should he eat first!!! During this status quo, I remember thinking to myself, "this adorable looking animal couldn’t kill us just like that!". All that thinking changed very suddenly when some movement seemed to catch his attention and he crouched down low and once again bared his teeth. This time there was no loud roar. It sounded like a deep rumble of drums from some distant village. Suddenly he pinned his ears back against his head and one could actually see that every ounce of confusion had disappeared from his mind. I was sure he was looking straight at me!! But I’m sure every one of the other three thought the same. Then he came at us for the third time !!! I think we had all reconciled to the thought that this was going to be his last charge. One of us was going to fall prey to those jaws and claws!!! I think the tension of this third charge was too much for our old forest guide to take any more because he let out this banshee like scream and brandishing a stick wildly over his head, charged at the charger!!!!
At that moment, I was sure we were going to be witness to a very disturbing human kill. Initially the sight of this crazy man seemed to anger the tiger even more and it almost instantly doubled it’s pace. I guess it was the amazing courage of the old man staring almost definite death straight in the face that made us do what we did next. Almost in unison and without any communication between us, which there was anyway no time for, we all followed the old man into the famous proverbial well. The tiger was just about to pounce on the old man from a distance of around 8 feet when the man flung his stick at him with all his might. The stick struck the tiger straight in his face just as he took off. The tiger seemed to deviate from his path almost in midair but could not do so enough to avoid the man totally. The tiger’s left thigh collided with the left shoulder of the old man. I remember seeing a human form flying past us as we continued the charge at the beast. The tiger darted off into the jungle to his right and disappeared from sight. None of us were mad enough yet, or high enough on adrenaline, to follow him in there! We turned around and ran back to the forest guide. Initially, all of us felt a sickening feeling in our stomachs as we saw his form lying motionless on the ground. What was even more worrying were the odd angles at which his body parts lay twisted. His left arm was obviously dislocated at the shoulder. His right leg too seemed to be twisted at a strange angle from the knee. My friend’s father bent down and put a finger under the nostrils. He had spent many years in these jungles roaming around with this old man and they were as much family to each other as anyone could be. There was a fraction of a smile that crossed his dark eyes as he felt the hint of some breathing. Then after laying the guide on his back and straightening his limbs, he turned his attention back in the direction of the spot from where the tiger had disappeared. He obviously heard some signs from the jungle that told him that the tiger had left the area and was moving away because he broke the silence with the first words spoken in a long…time.
all we heard was the chirping of birds on their way home for the night We’d been driving for half an hour when we arrived at the closest point on the path to the kill. From here on we would have to trek through very thick undergrowth to reach the spot. We had been visiting jungles quite often since childhood but never had my heart beaten so fast as it was doing when we pushed our way in through the first of those thorny bushes.My friend’s father signalled us all to be absolutely quiet for a while as he listened for any kind of a signal from the surrounding jungle about the whereabouts of the predator.
