Destiny's Appetite

The Appetite

Naga aimed his rifle towards the foothill, occasionally taking out his binoculars and aiming at the hill to look for any vital signs of a Tiger. His position near the starting of bridge gave him strategic advantage as the sound of water flow masked the sounds he made with his rifle and some other things in his hunting kit. 

In a few minutes he saw through his binoculars again. This time... His eyes widened. His eyebrows straightened. He couldn't believe his eyes for the moment. A fully grown female tiger with her two one-year old cubs started to descend from the hill's tree line. What a jackpot for Naga. He aimed for one and now he got three. This was his lucky day ever. He can now easily demand the Chinese buyers for a straight twenty thousand dollars. Three tigers and a pangolin to the Chinese. Plus Anuja to the Rajasthani brothers. 2 Million Indian rupees on a single day!! This was too big. He cant think of a better day to celebrate such a huge hunt. What a day it was for him.. 

Naga tuned his rifle's scope towards the plain where the tigers descended from hill and were aiming to walk towards the water stream. He started to become nervous as he had to take his three shots in quick succession so that one animal does not panic on other's killing. He took aim at the mother. He was an experienced hunter, so he knew well that taking out the mother Tiger would make the cubs panic and they would stick to their mother's corpse which will provide him abundant time to shoot the cubs as well. He took the time and aimed his rifle at the trio.

Bodhi pedaled his cycle very fast towards the jungle. Soon in 30 minutes, he reached zone-4. A quick reach for his caliber. Fueled by desperation to find Anuja, he turned into the road which was all the way leading into the jungle. A very straight road stretching for many kilometers, both the sides of the road covered with lush green vegetation. Bodhi looked at that straight road and tried to search for some clue at the farthest point in that road. The light from the sun, was flashing on his face from the right side.

Bodhi took out his binoculars and aimed at the road. At the farthest reach of the binoculars he suddenly saw a twinkle of light. The sunlight once reflected from the side mirror of Naga's jeep and caught Bodhi's attention. He decided to go a little further down the jungle road. He kept his binoculars back into the backpack and peddled his cycle forward. Bodhi trusted his instincts more and moved ahead towards the place from where the reflection came. As he advanced towards the object, he was also careful to check the sides as that was not an ordinary area. It was Zone-4 where the apex predators of that jungle lived. It was a dangerous quest he was in. It could be fatal for him if he had misjudged anything at all. 

Bodhi moved ahead with all hopes in his heart and mind to find Anuja. His promise to Tara gave him the conviction he ever needed. After cycling for another kilometer down the road, the target appeared even closer. The red jeep was visible to his eyes even without the help of binoculars. Bodhi stopped his cycle and got down from it. He did not wanted his stealth to be detected by Naga. He again took out his binoculars and now clearly saw the scene more profoundly. 

He saw that Naga was resolute in his focus and was aiming with his big rifle very sharply to the right direction. In the passenger seat was the same black sheet. Bodhi too aimed with his binoculars to the right towards the hill across the stream. He too saw that magnificent sight of the three beautiful tigers, playing and walking down the plain filled with tall green grass. He at once understood the ill motive of Naga's aim. 

Bodhi kept his cycle to the left side behind a bush, without a sound. He kept the binoculars inside the bag and took out his sharp machete. He held the weapon firmly even though he knew that it was no match to the automatic rifle Naga was holding. He firmly moved forward with confidence. Naga's jeep was now in a closer distance of 500 meters. Any moment if Naga's attention turned backwards, it could be dangerous for Bodhi. Still he firmly proceeded to discover his destiny that day.

As he was proceeding towards Naga's jeep, he heard the sound of breaking twigs from the right side of the road. The bushes were so dense that it was impossible to identify the cause of that sound. He felt the intense low growling sound and a thick breathing sound. Bodhi was frozen with anxiety and stood still to discover what was about to come at him. From the bushes, out came that enormous beast! A fully grown male tiger with enormous muscular body and with fiercest eyes looking straight at him. Bodhi couldn't move a muscle. The tiger was just 6 feet away from Bodhi. He tried to hold the machete very strongly as he was totally unaware of what was about to happen the next second. The male tiger looked at Bodhi with utmost alertness. This tiger was probably the largest tiger Bodhi had ever seen in his life !

Then something happened which Bodhi never expected. The tiger turned towards the right direction and looked at Naga's jeep. Instead of pouncing on Bodhi, the tiger proceeded towards Naga's jeep with maximum stealth and silence. Naga had no clue of what was approaching him from behind. Naga had the female tiger and the cubs in his target and got ready to pull the trigger. 

The male tiger reached near the jeep and was just 10 feet away. The tiger took a firm grip on the ground with his hind legs. Then the tiger swiftly took two leaps with the support of those massive paws and made a big jump to the back of the jeep. Naga heard that huge thud at the back of the jeep and tried to turn around. Before he could turn, the male tiger pounced on his back and immersed its large canine teeth between Naga's neck and upper back. A bite with such brute force, Naga's head instantly dropped and his life ended in few seconds.

After sipping the hot blood from Naga's body, the tiger overthrew the body from the jeep to the ground and dragged the body into the bushes to the right side. It was all over in no time and Bodhi witnessed the entire happening with widened eyes, frozen at the same place where he saw the tiger.

Bodhi came to his senses. He immediately dropped his machete and ran towards the jeep with full speed. He rushed and uncovered the black sheet which had splatter of Naga's blood. Inside the sheet, it was Anuja. Sleeping in a sedated state innocently like a lotus. Bodhi smiled and touched Anuja's forehead like she was his own child. He felt so relieved and happy. He made a call to Kishan and urged him to come to the spot.. He then turned left to see the stream. His eyes looked at the helpless pangolin stranded in the patch of land surrounded by water. 

He covered Anuja with the same black sheet and got off the jeep. He rushed to the bank of the stream and stepped into the water. Slowly he made his progress towards the helpless pangolin. He lifted the animal with his bare hands and reached the bank of the stream. He left the animal on the ground. The pangolin quickly ran towards the jungle without having the need to thank Bodhi.

Bodhi reached back to the jeep and removed the black sheet off Anuja. He waited for sometime and he then saw Kishan's jeep proceeding towards him in a great speed. As Kishan's jeep stopped near Naga's jeep, Bodhi lifter Anuja and shifted her to Kishan's jeep. Kishan turned the jeep around. While the jeep was turning around, both Kishan and Bodhi saw those beautiful 3 tigers safely crossing the road and disappearing into the bushes. Anuja, the pangolin and three tigers, all lived while the evil Naga vanished from the face of earth.

On the way back, Kishan made a quick stop. Bodhi got down, picked his machete, kept in his backpack and boarded his cycle into Kishan's jeep. Anuja was still in sedated state. Bodhi explained the entire story to Kishan and in sometime they approached Tara's hut.

On seeing Kishan's jeep, Tara rushed out of the hut. Kishan stopped the jeep outside the fence. Tara ran to the jeep with tearful eyes and she saw Anuja sleeping safely wrapped in Bodhi's arms. Tara had no words to express her gratitude and relief. She cried aloud and hugged Bodhi and Anuja together with tears flowing out of happiness. 

Bodhi thanked Kishan, lifted Anuja and placed her on his shoulder. Kishan started his jeep with a fulfilled heart. Bodhi in his heart accepted Tara and her family as his own family. He decided to be the protector of the family by being a good husband and a great father. 

He now had an inspiring story to share with Shifu and a definition of the word "Man-eater".. !!

--Guruprasad--