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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
