Jim Corbett National Park and The Tiger Stories

     

Rituraj was more optimistic than his fiancé Divyani. His mobile camera was on selfie mode right from the time he jumped inside the Gypsy. Divyani, was slightly practical, she took her DSLR along. Statistics speaks presence of tigers   within 1 kilometer radius of the couple. They were sure to capture few never seen before pics, for their new year FB update.

Accompanying them is Palash and ten others. Palash, have always lived his dream, he even tattooed his right shoulder with the giant cat few months prior to the trip. His fiancé, Dhriti, who ultimately was credited for removing the decade old “most eligible bachelor” title from Palash, was silently enjoying the ambience. Shantanu, who was dressed like an 18 century hunter, became a self-proclaimed bio-scientist in the morning by certifying the age of an elephant dung through a newly invented smell-taste method. Beside him was his ever charming wife Janu. She became an asset for the resort and liability to Shantanu as she only eats 1/4^th of the full meal paid to the resort. Our 4 year’s old elder daughter Volley was sticked to her favourite Divyani didi like a fevicol. The last wild life enthusiast on the first vehicle was none other than Rituraj’s brother-In-Law, Anmol  who actually scarified to become the un-official candid photographer of the team.

On  the other Gypsy was Partha, who  carried along a naga knife in case he spot some red jungle fowl, he was more concerned of the dinner menu than spotting a tiger. Anant’s wife Priya, was holding his hand strong, after her frightening morning walk experience (to be elaborated later).  Rithvi, our younger daughter was sitting beside Partha with a pocket full of stone, to protect herself in case any wild animals attack her. Our Help Maromi  was honoured with the most unsought after seat on a jungle safari i.e the front seat of the Gypsy. Priyanka, my wife was standing in the jeep, throwing her eyes and ears on all direction, to make sure that she is the first to spot the tiger. I was sitting beside her, eagerly waiting to witness a million dollar scene, the caption of which would be none other than “When the tigress meet the tiger”.

The convoy of two Gypsy, loaded with part-time wild life enthusiast, was gearing up to enter the most protected area of Jim Corbett National Park. Already, the excitement was at an all-time high after spotting two peacocks dancing on the other side of the river. 

A week earlier, the team zeroed in on Corbett Holiday Resort, after much permutation and combination of availability, facilities, and budget. Every year on the eve of New Year this gang of twelve friends will be found, either in the hills, jungle or near a river of Uttrakhand. In the last few days preceding the D- day, the whatapp group was flooded with thousands of msg. I wondered  if any of the office boss, happen to check  these msg, he/she is sure to deduct five days salary. This time, addition of two brand new white Maruti Beleno car was adding to the excitement.

At 5.15am on 30^th Dec the Dwarka, family (Mr and Mrs Shantanu) posted the first msg announcing their departure. The Ghaziabad family was still fast asleep. The family from Faridabad was on their way to Lajpat nagar where four more families to meet at 6 am.  One hour later, it was a war between the late latifs and before timers. At 8.30am, the team finally met at a dhaba, after crossing the first toll on the Delhi -Moradabad highway. The fog played hide and seek till the team reached Moradabad. The break-fast was stuffed parathas, dal, dahi, butter, garam chai at a Dhaba. The witticisms and  mischief from all the group members  further  added to the taste of the parathas. 

After Moradabad, it was unanimous decision to follow the Google lady than to depend on our own expertise. Truly, Google took us through an amazing road giving us enough opportunity for photo shoot along the yellow mustard fields and green poplar trees. Every time the road takes a turn we expect a milepost directing us to Jim Corbett, but our wait continued. It was already 1pm, so we decided to call our resort people worrying about our paid lunch. They assured to wait till 3.30pm.

Finally, it was all forest and no houses, giving us the feeling of arrival. But, suddenly Palash Google, directed us to take a left turn with no road ahead. Once Palash Google failed, it was finally Priyanka’s Google which led us to our destination on the Nanital Highway.  As we took a left turn entering the narrow road  from the highway, it gave us a sensational feeling. The road took us along a farm full of peas and potato cultivation. There were hardly any houses. A forest was visible at a distance. We continued driving across a mango orchard. As we opened the car window we felt the pleasantness of the winter sun. At the dead end  of the road was the gate of Corbett Holiday Forest Resort. Next to the boundary wall of the resort was the jungle.

The resort opened up to our expectation, same like the picture perfect cottages on the website with the swimming pool and ample green area in the background. There was facilities for indoor sports like table Tennis, snookers, carom, chess, lodo, etc. We were 13 person but rooms were booked online only for 9. The resort manager( Mr Kamal ) took care of us, assuring a room for the first night and extra beds for the second night. A veg lunch was waiting for us and we did justice to it.

The cottages were super spacious, more like a suit with a drawing room and a bedroom with all facilities. Just when  I thought everyone would take a nap before coming out for tea, I saw Palash from the glass window. He was in  his track suite getting ready to play badminton. Before, I would come out, the badminton court was occupied, with one couple in wait list. The resort atmosphere was so appealing that no one felt like spending time inside the room. The next two hours till sunset was non-stop badminton, volleyball, and cricket. Even Priya, who hardly play games, was seen in the ground running after to catch the tennis ball like the way one catches a football. Volley and Rithvi were busy with the ducks at the backyard of the resort. Tea was served on the ground with delicious bakery biscuits, making us feel like Englishmen.

 

Partha was busy managing resources for the dinner. He was getting restless to explore the local market in search of some good raw non-veg stuff. Arrangement were made so that he can cook some item near the fire at night. Three of us went out to the local market, the demand list was huge from coke to local fish. We found everything except for Kinder Joy, demanded by the kids.

At 7.30pm, the night was still young. With no shortage of firewood, the party started around the fireplace. In the next 5 hours, all the frustration of the year gone by was kicked out, with only   kababs, fire and moonlight for our company. With overflow of homour pouring from all direction we felt like, that  the night should continue for ever. The jungle safari scheduled at 5am the next day was ruled out even before we retired for the day.

Next day, we woke up to sound of  birds. We had tea and went out on a walk through the jungle. Inside, the jungle we met a lady, who was collecting firewood. She narrated a story of how a leopard attacked her daughter and eventually how her husband had a fight with the leopard and rescue their daughter. After listening to her story, we kept walking deep inside the jungle in search of some excitement.

 As we took a turn, suddenly we heard a strange sound from  behind. We realized something was moving inside the bushes. We came close to each other holding our hands. As the movement increased, we started running. It was a run of our life .The fear was visible on everyone face. Divyani was about to faint. Only when she saw Rituraj coming out of the bushes, she found some relief. Rituraj succeeded in playing the biggest prank of his life, taking 12 adult and 2 kids  as hostage. During this episode, Anant was found running in the front, leaving Priya behind. This was the reason why  Priya was not leaving Anant’s hand during the entire jeep safari. But, later we got to know that Anant was a partner in crime with Rituraj.  

Returning back, we seat with the resort watchman, he too narrated a story of a tiger entering their house.  Before lunch we had an hour of spare time, which was gainfully utilized by diving into the freezing cool swimming pool. The newly crowned bio-scientist took the led, forcing others to ultimately take the plunge.  Over lunch the waiter  shared one more  tiger story with us. After listening to all these inspiring tiger stories Rituraj jumped into the gypsy confident of clicking a selfie with the king of jungle.

As we entered one of the gate of the national park, the Gypsy driver shared another story of how a tiger once chased his jeep and then run away upon hearing the loud sound of the horn. The biggest surprise was waiting for us inside the park. There was a huge traffic jam. For a moment I left like all the gypsy ever manufactured by Maruti were running inside the park. There was more vehicle than usually found in  Lajpat Nagar market ..! It was a weekend and that too on 31^st Dec 2016. There was a mad rush of tourist and if at all a tiger was witnessing this from a hill top, I am sure he won’t come down to that spot for the next six months. Apart from the vehicles the other thing that was in plenty was the high quality DSLR cameras. In every jeep it seems there was an award winning wild life photographer. While returning back, it was almost dark. We all were shivering in the open gypsy when we finally spot two deer and a wild elephant.  

The upset of not spotting a tiger was temporary because there was a 31^st Dec night to celebrate. That night we all shared our own tiger stories of happiness, bravery, triumph and accomplishment, welcoming the New Year with new hope. The night opened up to new experiences. We enjoyed every minute of the trip.

One thing we learned from the tiger stories of Jim Corbett is that, there is a story hidden in everyone’s life, whether we make it painful, interesting, happy or adventurous, the choice is ours 

Abhijit Bhattacharya

ongc.abhijit@gmail.com    

N:B: 1. Tips for all who took pain to read our story: Chances of spotting a Tiger is maximum only at Dhikala Zone, in Jim Corbett National Park. 

2. Contact Resort Manager Mr Kamal@ 8006788889/9012447954 directly  instead of going through agents if you wish to book Corbett Holiday Forest Resort ) 

The Bio-Scientist experimenting elephant dung