Remember the "jungle, jungle hawa chali hai" jingle? Yes, I am referring to "Mowgli". Most Indians thus got to know Shere Khan, the truly wild, wicked tiger from Kipling's "Jungle Book".
He was not vastly different from our other childhood read's, be it Aesop's "Fables" or Vishnu Sharma's "Panchtantra." A cruel, wicked, fierce animal always on the prowl! The folk wisdom of the wily cat as its aunt added to its notoriety. No wonder, the teenage read's of the Manohar Malgaonkar kinda of colonial romances made us appreciate the Jim Corbett's of the 'hunter of the man-eater' variety.
The happily growing numbers of this truly majestically handsome animal in the numerous tiger sanctuaries make me feel, however, that unlike the popular perceptions, a tiger is actually a shy and a reserved animal, rather sleek, quite efficient at fulfilling its natural needs, resting otherwise 'cool-ly' in a shade, blending with the background that matches its unique stripes.
Just as locating various shapes in the fleeting clouds can be great fun, much better is the excitement of assigning psychological profiles to animals. The rabbit, for example, would be the classic case of a passive-aggressive personality. The rhino with its huge body and its skin would literally be the thick-skinned baddie who is not easy to bash up either.
A lion in this scheme would be extroversion incarnate, given the 'pride'. The tiger would, however, be the ultimate introvert, lost literally within its stripes. An absolute loner, hence with a unique mystique! A tiger always reminds me of the mafia masters, rarely sited which is rather good as the sight would be quite a terror.
I suppose, it is such type-casting that made the poaching of the tiger rather legit. Luckily, however, the glamour of the tiger safaris amidst susurrating forests has saved this wondrous animal from its almost near extinction. May his tribe grow, flourish fast and forever!
Pratima@In the recent most "Man ki baat", the P.M. listed the successful attempts of tiger species specific conservation. He talked of how the man-tiger clashes are avoided by the human(e) co-existence. Truly essential for the natural cycle, may it live quietly happy in the interior parts of the forest. Happy world tiger day!.
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