in the forest of the day
it was with a pretty groggy head that i fell out of bed at 5am this morning to go and wait out on the pitch black street for the jeep which was to take me to the panna nature reserve in the hope of getting a glimpse of a tiger. my unnervingly cheery driver jilal duly pulled up, oblivious to the ungodly hour, and we set off on the 30km road to the park. i was largely pessimistic about the chances of seeing a tiger; even the touts on the streets, so given to stretching the truth, had all continually noted that a sighting was 'luck dependent'. still in a forever bright corner of my slowly waking heart a thin sliver of optimism remained that luck would be on my side.this was arguably the most crucial ticket office to dupe and i was once more successful; obviously the bureaucrats of the madhya pradesh tourism council aren't as rigorous as their brethren in mumbai, where i remember having had particular trouble, and my reward for their disinterest was a ticket costing 600 rupees as opposed to a whopping 2,200 rupees.
put bluntly, i didn't get to see a tiger; there had been no sightings for the last couple of days, and none by the time we pulled back into the lodge. it was slightly frustrating because, as the sun rose, numerous deer came out to graze, even little baby ones which would have been easy pickings. but no tiger came; it was like walking into a mcdonalds in new york that had stacks of free burgers on the tables, only to find not one fat american in sight. to be fair, the speed with which the sun went from being totally absent to blazingly hot meant that the chances of seeing a tiger had always been slim at best. the simple reason that blake's tyger burnt so brightly in the forest of the night was that it would have been burning a little too uncomfortably once the day encroached. the tigers had apparently all bedded down well before day break, and i went home with my tail between my legs.
jilal did try and enliven the journey back by driving the final 10km back to khajuraho down the wrong side of the road for no discernible reason other than to antagonise motorcyclists but the morning was, in truth, a bit of a flush. it is hard to be too disappointed though because the chances of seeing a tiger had always been so low but for a few moments at least as we drove through the arid scrub i had subconsciously convinced myself that a big cat lay sunning itself around the corner; the hope, the knowledge that you are so close, should be enough with any actual sighting a bonus of pre credit crunch in the city extravagance.
off to see the final group of temples tomorrow before checking in for two days of luxury dossing and staying out of the sun. burnt face, big hair and nascent beard, a cacophony of auntly scoldings is surely close at hand.
posted by bicrom @ 2:59 pm
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