A dazzling date with tigers!

In all the cities I have stayed in, put together, there are only a handful of places I’d want to visit time and again. The Bannerghatta National Park (BNP), situated on the outskirts of Bangalore, is one of them. I wouldn’t call myself a wildlife buff, but I’ve been drawn towards certain animals since time immemorial, particularly those that drill into you the fear of life emphatically. Along with serpents and crocs, I find tigers endlessly fascinating.

Seju and I had originally planned for a slightly different encounter with nature (water falls), but we didn’t quite get up early enough for that plan to materialize. How elated were we about that, a few hours later! The BNP is very well connected to various parts of Bangalore by bus. We prefer to board it from the bus stop near Shoppers Stop (not far off Jayadeva hospital) on Bannerghatta Road. The place provides you safaris into the (human-dictated) territories of tigers, lions, bears, elephants and a few others, in addition to a decent zoo. I wonder if the so-called wild orbit is also a glorified zoo, because we once saw a bear and a dear a few feet from each other, with no signs of hostility whatsoever! This indicated to me that the animals were being fed, blunting their desire to hunt. Either that, or it was a freakish incident where the bear was too full to kill :). Another evidence to the former hypothesis is the delightful fact that every single of the 4 times I have been on these safaris, we have invariably spotted each and every animal we’d set out to! Either way, it promises an exhilarating experience.

Our last visit can be summed up by this single photograph. It’s not an every day occurrence to lay eyes on five uncaged tigers – of mixed breed (yellow & white) – a tad more than an arm’s length away. Seju could have literally stuck her hand out and patted one on the head! The way they were going about their majestic stroll – accompanied by the occasional roar – let us know in no uncertain terms that they own the place, and are totally unperturbed by the presence of our bus. The rarity of the spectacle made me marvel for a moment as though I was hallucinating, mistaking a bunch of dogs hovering about the front of my house as tigers! Gratefully, I wasn’t! The BNP may not have been providing a truly free habitat to its inmates, but the sights we saw would have enthralled anyone with the remotest of interests in wild life.

PS: This incident dates back to mid July. Since then, I have switched my job and moved to Noida. For the (presumably) many of you mystified about the choice to desert B’lore (and, the BNP, of course!), well, the reasons were manifold, including the handicap of an alien local language for community work, the (train) distance to home, and a leadership position with a lucrative pay hike (recession or otherwise). Even in hindsight, I am quite glad I opted for this offer ahead of the couple of others available at the time, in Pune and B’lore.