A Jungle Story

Why escape to forest. Devdutt Pattanaik explains in his book Hope,

          “A forest is a place where nobody is there for you. You have to take care of yourself. You are in a place where you never know who will attack you, where there is no legislative or judicial body, no police or army. You can’t complain to anyone if a snake bites you or a scorpion stings you or a bird shits on you. Remember, there is no one trying to hurt you or spite you deliberately. Each is trying to survive in the forest. Violence is simply the consequence of the quest to survive.”

These lines indicate why the forests have so much to teach you. They force you to think independently. What will happen if I fall off this safari jeep while looking at a tiger in the vicinity. Will my husband make it in time to reach out to me safely? Will the ranger/driver drive away leaving me behind? Will I be able to run to and climb on to the closest tree? Will there be snakes? Can tigers climb trees? Will the tiger catch me or show disinterest cloaked mercy? I think I know the answer to the last one. Yikes. Ofcourse I am not doing anything that I should fall of the jeep. Just overdosing on the overthinking pill in the post covid existential world. [1]

At times I wondered, what did my writing had to offer. In the older times naturalists/hunters like Corbett had slept on the tree-tops to rightfully tell us stories that were truly adventure. Even recently, there are naturalists who do this full time and have pursued birds, tigers or jungles or all three fervently. What chance does my amateur writing have when people have the option of reading others. I don’t know as of now. Sure, I can say I have a unique perspective to offer. Afterall everyone is unique. But that’s not why I wrote this. I wrote it because this book wrote itself. There was an urge to put everything down on paper. An urge to share and preserve experiences.

There’s one more thing actually. In my family if I’ve seen a true passion for travelling. It’s in my Dadi (Lt. Smt. Mridula Sinha). She took me on beautiful travels down South of India for my birthday. In classes 6^th, 7^th and 8^th we went to different parts of South India. It was on one of these trips that we had visited the Periyar National Park and a snake park. Just Dadi and me accompanying her on her official trips. In 2022, I too went for my birthday to Ranthambore, where we saw tiger(s) in every safari. I wonder if it was another of her curated birthday trips for me. So special, so perfect and so grand. It was she who used to egg me to write about what I saw, who I met and what I did whenever I travelled. She never asked me to make it pretty, verbose etc. I just had to write what I saw and as I saw. She just told me that years later when I look back at it I will feel immensely happy. I never wrote about our trips. After she has passed on, I often feel that she’s near me and will not let me get away before I share my story. I feel it to be so urgent. To me the experiences are extraordinary, refreshing and life changing for me and therefore I am writing as I feel and see. To tell a story. To tell my dadi a story. Stories of my travel, which she will cherish the most, I know. It’s an assignment given by her and I am just completing that assignment with all the love. I hope I get a star. You’re invited to sit with us with a cup of tea and some light refreshments and be enchanted with nature.

[1] For eg the Desperately seeking Shahrukh book is about economics as well as Bollywood. Similarly, Jungle diaries can be about my safari diaries as well as conservation, education by ig account, kids like gurveer and my safari trips with my husband and family. There should be some educational snippets for eg how are tigers counted etc. A list of references can be given at the end.