The villagers of the Sundarban are extremely poor. Poverty, however, is not the biggest of their worries. Human settlements border the marshy forests of the Sundarban. The swamps are home to poisonous snakes and man-eating tigers on land and crocodiles in water. Often, the villagers cross creeks, canals, and rivers to move into the villages on the cultivated side of the Sundarban. For decades, the locals have learned to live with these afflictions.
Hiranmoypur is one such village, about fifteen kilometers away from the swampy forests of the Sundarban.
It was early morning. Phani and Basanta, two poor farmers, were on their way to the paddy fields. They walked along the pathway that wound through the cluster of trees and shrubs. Basanta stopped suddenly when he spotted the fleeting shadow of a big animal at the far end of the vast paddy fields. The shadow disappeared behind the bamboo and banana belts to the left of the village.
Basanta pursed his lips and stood still. He told Phani what he had seen. What could it have been?
They were brave young men. Armed with lathis, they advanced toward the bamboo grave.
Both of them were aghast when they spotted something black and yellow. A striped animal, very much like a tiger.
‘My God,’ cried Basanta, horror and fear writ large on his face. ‘I think it’s a tiger!’
The animal lurked behind the bamboo shoots and was barely visible. The two men couldn’t resist the temptation to get a clear view of the predator. They hurled a couple of stones at the animal. Suddenly, a thunderous roar echoed in the air, numbing both of them. Before they could even gather their wits, a six-foot tiger leaped out of the grove and pounced on Phani, throwing him to the ground. Phani was badly mauled and soaked in blood.
Basanta was paralyzed. He stood speechless, gaping at the beast. The tiger hurried back and took refuge in the bamboo grove once again. Meanwhile, Basanta ran toward the settlement, shouting for help.
‘Help! There’s a tiger!’ he was screaming at the top of his voice.
A number of villagers ran up to him, hardly believing their ears. They were terror-stricken. The very thought of a tiger in the village sent a chill down the villagers’ spines.
‘Rggh! What did you say? A tiger? How can a tiger stray into our village? The forest is very far from our village,’ they gasped.
Basanta pointed to the rows of bamboos. ‘There it is,’ he said, lowering his voice. ‘It’s still there!’
Some people believed him, some didn’t. In fact, everyone glanced furtively at the bamboo grove. Fear was palpable on every face. However, they didn’t have to wait for long before their fears stood confirmed.
Suddenly, they heard the angry growl of an animal. The bamboo stalks moved ever so slightly as a pair of yellow-green eyes glared at the group.
‘Yes,’ said old Yasin, stroking his beard. ‘It is indeed a tiger, the Sundarban Bengal tiger!’
An enthusiastic young man bravely advanced toward the grove and hurled a stone at the tiger. As soon as he threw another stone at it, the beast roared and jumped out from behind the bamboos. In the blink of an eye, the tiger slapped the man on his shoulders and rushed back to the grove.
Pandemonium reigned. The terrified villagers fled in panic. Some of them scrambled up the trees, inciting their not-so-agile fellow villagers to throw a few more stones at the animal.
One of the more sensible villagers rushed to the local police station. Two hours had passed by now. The sun was high in the sky, which was only going to make matters worse for the poor villagers.
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The Sundarban Bengal tiger is, by nature, a nocturnal animal. If he strays out into broad daylight, he often keeps to the thickets to protect himself from being spotted. As a matter of fact, tigers rarely wander into human areas. When they do, they only hunt cattle and avoid human contact.
Meanwhile, quite a number of people had gathered by the bamboo grove after the news about the tiger spread like wildfire. As the crowd swelled, the tiger got panicky. He sought to hide himself from public view. As the crowd grew unruly, the tiger growled. Every time it growled, the crowd fell back and freaked out.
The arrival of the police didn’t help matters, either. In fact, the crowd rippled but didn’t disperse. Those who couldn’t get a view of the animal were pushing others, causing a commotion. To make matters worse, a man started throwing pebbles at the grove, urging others to follow his example. They wanted to force the tiger out into the open.
The tiger let out a terrible roar. An alarmed cop dropped his rifle and fled. Another police officer furrowed his brow. The nervous crowd also retreated, resulting in a stampede.
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Hours passed. More and more people were thronging to get a glimpse of the tiger. After all, tigers were their enemies, and they wanted this one to be stoned to death.
Sometimes, a stray tiger would fall victim to the villagers’ wrath. The officers would fail to control the mob. Even on this occasion, the police wasn’t having it any easier. For starters, they had showed up late. Thousands of people had gathered on the spot. The tiger had taken a few blows already. It spent the entire day hiding in the bamboo grove. The stones and lumps of mud hurled at him had driven him mad with terror.
The forest department officials had arrived by now. In the middle of the frenzied mob, the tiger was now growling aggressively.
The crowd was incessantly impelling the forest officials to kill the tiger. However, the officials obviously knew better. They were acting on orders from their field director, who wanted the animal to be tranquilized, captured and taken back to its natural habit in the woods.
This amused the villagers. After all, the fearsome Bengal tigers were their sworn enemies, who had to be bludgeoned to death. ‘Project Tiger’ and wildlife conservation was merely mumbo jumbo to them! They knew how to deal with these errant beasts.
Meanwhile, the police had barricaded the bamboo grove in an attempt at controlling the swelling crowd. Finally, they succeeded in shepherding the villagers to one side. It was already dark. It took the forest officials about half an hour to get their equipment ready. Warlike preparations were underway to capture the tiger. As the mob grew increasingly restless, the police had to wield their lathis to threaten them. However, word had got around Sundarban that the town sahibs wanted to shoot the Bengal tiger-not to kill it, but to sedate it.
The cops wheeled a huge flashlight into position, focusing it on the tiger. The officials assembled in a semicircle formation. One of the policemen had a sophisticated heavy-duty capture gun.
The crowd inched closer to watch the drama unfold. Meanwhile, the gunman took position. The flashlight gradually moved closer to the tiger. The dazzling light blinded the tiger as the gunman braced himself to pull the trigger. He aimed carefully and, as soon as he got the signal, he shot the tranquilizer into the tiger’s body.
There was a moment of stunned silence. The villagers craned their necks to see what had become of the tiger. Suddenly, the enormous beast leapt up, evoking a collective gasp, before crashing to the ground.
The policemen were quick to step in with their lathis, ‘If anyone dares to come near, we will give them the thrashing of their life.’
The crowd stood speechless as the forest officials shifted the huge Royal Bengal tiger onto the forest jeep and drove toward the forest. They felt like saluting the majestic beast that had terrorized them all day.
In fact, it had taken ten men to pick up the tiger and place him in the jeep. Meanwhile, the tiger was oblivious to all this as the jeep made its way to his home in the woods, the home of the dreaded Sundarban Bengal tiger.
As fond of writing a good story as he is of reading one, Pravin is one of the most promising writers at Ameya. He can be contacted at pravinkumar2788@gmail.com.