Men have their own odd ways and ever since they came to live on earth with us we`ve had to go along with them to survive. Sometimes we lash out,like my old uncle sher khan who turned maneater in his old age. His teeth always gave him trouble after that and his skin began smelling awful.But he was a rare case. For thousands of years we have hunted our four legged prey in the grassy meadows and never looked man as our next meal.
He was frightened of us even when he lived in a cave and hunted with sharp edged stones.They say he drew pictures of my ancestors on his cave walls so that he could trap their spirits to enable him to haunt them easily in real life. He loved our skin even then and wore our teeth around his neck.
SILLY FOOL.
Later when he grew a little wiser , he started worshipping us and wrote many songs about our great strength and cunning. He stamped our heads on seals and even carved our figures in clay. Later when he built temples he made us stand like guards at the gate and then we all felt so proud when the goddess Durga chose one of us as her 'vahan'. Even to this day,you can see her fierce and beautiful form riding a tiger as she slays the Buffalo-demon.Though sometimes I see our cousin the Lion with her and then I feel quite upset.We have always been the rulers of the forest and every animal fears us,except the elephant .
Men have written many clever stories about our valour in the Jataka and Panchtantra tales though some of them mock us and make the tiny mouse braver than the mighty tiger. I never let that bother me and always teach my cubs that men have a weird sense of humour and fun. They are the only people on earth that kill other animals not for food but for their amusement.
At first we hunted quite openly since man was not running on wheels and hunting with a gun but later we had to learn to stay hidden in the shadows of the tall grass.Our fur with its cleverly designed black uneven stripes merged in the landscape and we could not be seen even when man came quite close to us.We could smell him but had to stay very still because he now had many clever gadgets with which he could track us down and shoot us.Why he hates us so much I have never understood.
It was not always so.There was a great ruler called Asoka many centuries ago and he wrote on stone that we should not be harmed. People obeyed his rules and left us alone to live happily in our forests. The forests those days were rich and dense , filled with food for not only us but every other living creature.The tribal people who lived here sang many wonderful songs about us and painted our forms on their mud huts.
“Men were born innocent but got more and more clever for their own good,”my great grand mother used to say every time she saw one of our clan shot dead. She remembered her grandfather being hunted by an emperor who came on an elephant all decked up with golden headgear and a huge velvet umbrella.There were a hundred men with him carrying spears and what a great noise they made with their bugles and drums.They tied a poor deer to a tree and waited . My ancestor was warned not to go near the deer but he was hungry and could not resist. They said that he was not the only one they killed that day. The emperor`s elephants carried home more than hundred dead tigers as they marched through the forest. The palace floor was soon lined with my ancestors skins.Later they made many beautiful paintings of this great hunt ; though they say my late ancestors looked very handsome as he fought to death ,i do not want to see these paintings.
When my cubs ask me why do men like our skin so much I really have no answer . I would never drape a dead man`s hide in my den. It would give me nightmares.
Man continued to kill us but now he did not paint our handsome figures. He just came in large groups and shot us all down from a 'machan'. His skin was white in color and he wore a strange looking hat. Now for the first time even the female of the species began to shoot us and then posed for a photograph with her feet on our dead body. Did she never have cubs of her own?
Gradually the songs about us became less as we grew fewer in number .I think we would have all died out like our cousin the Cheetah who once hunted not very far from us. But then a miracle happened . Man decided we should live. He now considered us important not only for the forest but for his own survival .
Hah!!That is a poor joke. But I told you , man has a strange mind. Imagine hunting us down for hundreds of years and then suddenly turning around and saying “we must stop all this killing . Not Good. Not Good for us at all.” But do not think for a moment that I am complaining. This is indeed a miracle. The gods of forests have smiled on us once again after so many centuries. The paintings on the caves , the songs , may have all vanished but now we have some sort of protection once again. Man has made rules that we should live.Gods are no more now and our lives our governed by man,he decides whom to save,when and why. It doesnot work all the time since man`s greed for our skin and bones has not changed but I do believe my cubs have a fair chance to live.
I lie here in the forest waiting for the men to shoot me.No ,they are not going to kill me.They just want to take a photograph of me and my cubs. I do not like them coming too near my cubs and give a low growl,baring my teeth. How it thrills them! I told you,they have a wierd sense of fun.So I stretch , give them a big yawn , showing all my teeth , even the broken one at the back , and send them home happy.
