Tuesday, May 11, 2010

A Tiger Visits a Farmer’s House Without taking anyone for its Dinner

In West Bangal village at midnight
A tiger visited a farmer’s house
While they were fast asleep.

Just imagine seeing a tiger
Sleeping by your side as a baby
When you wake up from bed
Early morning.

The very sight must have
Frozen us to death and destruction
Thank god! The farmer’s family
Had the balance and fortune
To get forest officer’s help
To dispatch the tiger safely
To its natural habitat.

What was it
That saved them from
Becoming dinner for the tiger?
Goddess Durga Devi?
Tiredness of the tiger? Or
Its benevolence towards the innocent?

In a ravine like environment of
Dense forest habitat, shakthi,
Foxes will roam around
Even at midnight
For chalking out a strategy
They’re continually hungry
For some prey
Beware of them.
You must have the balance and fortune
To keep them at bay
And not allow them to mess up your life.
Treating them as non-entities
To tame those foxes
And shut them into boxes
A better manager will come one day.
Even while that promised day
Becomes elusive,
Don’t lose your hope,
All of us can survive, with that hope only.

1 comment:

Paul R said...

Tigers attack for two reasons. A) If he is hungry b) If he believes that you are breaching his territory. In this case the farmer can thank his stars and at the same time check his livestock. There is a high chance that the tiger had an excellent meal and was too full to walk away. He also must have lost his fear of men. This is the advice my long dead grandfather an ardent shikari who later became a conservationist gave me. You can also see the same advice in any one of his close friend "Kenneth Andersons" books for eg., "The Black Panther of Sivanipalli and Other Adventures of the Indian Jungle".