A tigress & a lonely Sadhu

Author : Kapil Kumar
Venue: Bhawali, Uttrakhand

Those were harsh winter days. At 9 pm in the night we left Delhi for Kodiyala, a place 40 kms up hill from Rishikesh. At around 1 pm in the night we were stopped at a police barricade in Rishikesh. The policeman politely told us not to travel in the night as it is not safe. He was worried about elephants crossing the road at the barrage. We waited for half an hour and he received a wireless that the herd has entered the jungle. He allowed us to pass through.  I think I never felt so cold - we were literally shivering in the jeep.

Before reaching Kodiyala my friend Naveen received a call from his ex army commander that when you reach Kodiyala don't directly come to the camp as there is a tigress. And he was right. The tigress was eyeing his goats and was looking for a spot from where she could ambush the prey. We were at kodiyala at around 2 pm in the night and the dogs were barking continuously. They made it nearly impossible for us to get down. So the fear of wild dogs, a tigress and stiff cold was nearly killing us like a Nazi concentration camp in our own jeep. 

We did a mistake that we did not carry any quilt so as to get any relief inside the car. So, finally we had to give up. And we thought that it is better to try die in the hands of the tiger than to die of cold.