Monday 22 June 2015

THE BEAR NECESSITIES!

 The bear necessity!
The train was moving at blistering speed. In it my best friend Surya and I bunkered one below the other. His countenance was painted with euphoria as he was on the cusp of experiencing his first ever wildlife journey. A sign of despondency reflected as I looked into the mirror. Being a wildlife aficionado has got me fame for having been able to photograph Tigers, Lions and Snow Leopards but then I had no pressure to see any of these creatures. My arcane peregrinations into the forests had enabled me to respect it without having to make any demands. I was satisfied even if I didn’t see any creature. Just breathing the fresh air surrounded by thick umbrageous vegetation was all my mental cognition required for some much required R&R. But this time it wasn’t going to be that simple. I had to show my crony something by which he could cherish his virgin trip into the wild.
We reached Satpura Tiger Reserve at a time when the sun was directly over our heads. This meant that we had time for some lunch and a short nap before our evening safari could begin. It was titillating at first, when the gates to the park were opened. Normally I would have enjoyed such a drive but I was exasperated when the gates were finally closed as we saw nothing and heard nothing!
Three days into our trip and we had nothing substantial to take back. I was beginning to think that my vile of liquid luck had finally run its course. It was our last drive into the forest. My heart began to throb violently. I felt as if the forest has ostracized me for veering away from my probity of not having expectations on the forest. My reputation of being the luckiest wildlife aficionado was pendulously resting on an early 5 ‘o’ clock start. And thus our story begins.

     Bear approaching the termite mound.
Three and a half hours into the drive had me trounced to the nadir of hopelessness. It’s hard to be chipper when you’re down and out. With a maelstrom brewing inside me and a conniption over the horizon I was able to maintain my equanimity by sticking to my Buddhist disposition of relishing the moment without having any sort of desires. As soon as such cauldrons of turpitude were voyaged, beyond the thin vale of fog stood a creature suited in its armor of hirsuteness. Like a tippler daggering his line of vision my eyes were transfixed to a point that I couldn’t even afford a blink. Such was my eagerness to provide my friend with a meritorious event of remembrance. We bounced right out of our seats and ran amok in the jeep with our heads careering to all corners; trying our best to consolidate our glimpse into an eidetic coherence.  As we slewed around in the vehicle, little did I realize that we made a shambolic mess which greatly incinerated the driver. All that was soon to be forgotten as the events that panned out were nothing short of a prismatic experience.

         The bear uses a branch to pry open the mound with perfunctory ease.
An adult bear trundled through the everglade and beleaguered a termite mound. With the help of a fallen branch the bear prised open the mound with perfunctory ease. The dexterity with which such a tool was used obfuscated all of us. A thunder like crack ripped through the serenity of the forest and our overawed expressions would complete an almost perfect picturesque moment in time. Rummaging through the mound the bear dug its dagger like claws to the bottom of the mound. Termites poured out of the hill like water being disgorged from a glass. Thousands of termites ran for cower while the bear feasted on them. As I leered into my camera to trigger some pictures something seemed to move in the foreground. I rubbed my eyes and peered through the thicket and to our incredulous luck we saw two bear cubs frolicking in a pool of water. The cubs were impervious to our presence and continued with their rambunctious play. Such overt displays confounded us to an unimaginable degree.

Bear cub on the tree.
We stumbled into a tizzy as our discombobulated minds were beginning to fathom the dose of reality. Steepling my fingers in nervous excitement the felicity on my face was ever glowing. Furtively I sunk into my camera and filmed the behavior of the cubs. While I was drawn between filming and taking pictures, the cubs began to climb a tree. A rare sight indeed; I was glad to be filming at that time as footage like this is hard to come by.

        A bear cub hitches a ride while the other saunters closely behind.
After a while the inquisitive bear cubs made their way down the tree and sauntered towards their mum. They rote their chores by looking at the mum tear down the ant hill and emulated the digging of the mound. With great difficulty the cubs were able to feed on the fleeting termites. The stolid mother watched as I photographed her cubs and by the end of which the mother signaled for the cubs to move on. As we observed the symbiotic bonhomie and romp between the cubs their highlighted enamor seemed palpable to us gazers.

    Bear cubs' version of a piggy-back ride.
One cub followed the mother while the other jumped on her back to hitch a piggy-back ride. We watched as the bears made their way in front of our jeep and into the forest. Our rapturous smiles said it all. What we experienced was nothing short of a hair rising exhilaration where the slightest attempt to describe our feelings would be traduced in a void. My sedulous work with the camera paid rich dividends as I’ve been able to capture videos and photographs that are priceless. The bears made their way for a well earned siesta. It was a fantabulous sighting indeed more so because I was no longer a harbinger of a fruitless trip. It soon dawned on me that what we had witnessed was the bear necessity of life!