The trip...an experience

The trip

“Our actions are governed by our expectation. Like the journey you took to Jim Corbett with expectation to sight an uncaged tiger in the wilderness.” Samaranand my alter ego told me smilingly by the bank of river Dat near Kyari Corbett resort. I was on a trek to the dried river where I located him serenely enjoying the sunrise. I sat by his side and was narrating him our previous day experience.

On the second day of our trip we took the safari trip to Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve and came back without sighting a tiger. The safari of 35 kms one way inside the forest was pretty exciting as the official spotter went on spotting enthusiastically dears, pheasants, wild boars etc. The canter in which we were travelling was a rattling contraption, appeared to be an army truck converted for the purpose of safari. The noise, dust and bumpy road sums up the journey. The 35 kms road was winding up through the forest of tall shaal,shagun trees. The ambience was cool, the aroma of moist forest wafting in with chirping birds flying above effected all of us. At times the loud sound of the canter would stop as the driver would have switched off the engine and spotter would be searchingly look for wild animals, we all would be craning our necks for the sight, thus we saw deer, pheasants, wild elephants, wild boars and reached the guest house for lunch. There we found other travelers like us either in canter or in jeeps taking lunch but could hardly hear any discussion about wild animals. To ginger up the mood I shouted at our group and said, “We were lucky to spot tiger!’ I don’t know whether others heard me or not but it was kind of self-satisfying statement of assurance may be in the return we could spot some of those illusive 200 plus rumored tigers. The return journey of 2 and half hours with same sudden stops near the streams to wait for a tiger to stroll out for water which really never happened. The driver went on telling us tiger tales to convince us that somehow that day of March,2018 they were not coming out.

Finally, we could see tiger in the museum near the gate. It was stuffed tiger.

I must be frank that I did not go for the tiger but the name of the park being Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve gave expectation to all of us. When I posted some pictures of our safari then almost all friends had only one question to ask “Did we see the tiger?” Surprisingly while interacting with others after our return it emerged no one has really seen any tiger in that park. I am sure tigers are there but the noise made by all vehicles, tourists kept them stay away from those waterholes by the sides of roads. They too don’t like noise, likewise to avoid noise and crowd we too chose to stay in Kyari Corbett resort which is so deep in a forest that one cannot find it till one looks down on boulders where the direction to the resort is written.

This experience of mine made me think about the village Gosaba in Sunderbans which is known as widow Village, there are 700 odd widows in that village whose husbands were killed by tigers. Recently I contributed some money to an organization which was distributing free sarees to those poor ladies. Here are those people who survive by staying away from tigers and in Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve the tigers stay away from humans for survival.

“I heard about Gosaba village and the widows, it is not only tigers but also crocodiles in those swamps have killed villagers.” Samaranand added.

“Have you ever thought about those wild life photographers who patiently wait for days to take snaps of new or rare species of birds. Patience is the key word. You came with a tight schedule and lot of expectations!”

“True! ‘I admitted.

“What you gained out of this trip is experience! The long arduous bus journey with all of your relatives did not tire you as you were heading for a new experience, the journey itself with the stop in between at Mama Yadav dhaba would have been a never experienced event. Then you reached Kyari Corbett resort which is in wilderness without any road sign but you did not feel bad because it was a kind of adventure journey in the wilds. The bonfire in the night with antakshri by those enthusiastic kids was a kind entertainment which you never expected. Think about those two treks by the side of rivers, wheat fields and forest , you might have felt as though you are a character in Discovery Channel. These experiences are bonus in addition to your safari trip in Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve!’’

Samaranandji’s this explanation made me see the trip from a different angle altogether other than a destination oriented satisfaction like as though sighting a tiger was the goal.