Photo: Supplied.
By Aslam Warsi
NEW DELHI,29 March 2020: Bamera Male. The name itself would send a shiver down my spine.
Shiver not of fright, but of anticipation- borne first of an intense desire
to meet him (from a safe distance) and then of a few electrifying
encounters I had with him . After all, at one point of time, he was
among the most sought after tigers of Bandhavgarh by wildlife
photographers!
Like humans, tigers too go through various stages in their journey to
stardom. In both cases, the young heroes and heroines push the elder
ones to the path of oblivion. This is the law of the jungle as well as of
the cities.
But for some reason, a few tigers continue to have a grip on our mind
and imagination long after other tigers of the same period fade into the
ever-receding tunnel of memory. Bamera male is one such tiger. He
refuses to fade away.
What was so special about Bamera male? I am talking about 2009-11
period. This was the “golden period’’ of Bandhavgarh- for wildlife
photographers, at least, who had suddenly discovered its magical
tigers. B2, Jhurhjura tigress, Kalua, Sukhee Patia female- these were the
famous tigers of Bandhavgarh.
Bamera Male, though he didn’t figure in the list because of his very low
sightings, was most sought after for precisely the same reason. He was
a huge tiger, undoubtedly, but size did not contributed to his allure. It
was his propensity to remain in the shadows, away from the preying
human eyes, which made him the star tiger of Bandhavgarh.
Oh yes, there was another specialty of Bamera male which made him
the darling of the masses- I mean the tourists and photographers of
Bandhavgarh. As the name suggests, his primary territory was the
Bamera region, the forest which shared its boundary with the Tala zone
of Bandhavgarh. Since this particular forest was out of bounds for
visitors, there was no way to explore his turf. The only way to
encounter him was to wait for him in the Tala zone- where he would
appear about once in eight to 10 days to mark his territory.
Now this little secret was shared by almost all the guides and Gypsy
drivers of Bandhavgarh. And somehow I feel, the forest of Tala zone
itself would announce the exact day and timing of Bamera Male’s
arrival.
It was one such morning in the resort where I was putting up with Ajay
Suri and Asif Khan. Suddenly we saw a Gypsy stopping in front of us.
The ever-smiling Salim Khan, our driver, was on the wheel, along with
Sanjay, one of the best guides of Bandhavgarh. “Chalie, Tala ki taraf
Chalie. Bamera male ke aane ka waqt ho gaya hai (let us move towards
Tala. It’s time for Bamera male to show itself,’’ Salim told us, his eyes
twinkling with excitement.
Twenty minutes later, we were parked in the lust Tala zone- waiting for
Bamera Male. We were not alone. Some dozen-odd Gypsies were lined
up ahead of us. The gurgling Charanganga river flowing near us, the
rustling of grass in the morning wind and chirping of birds around us
added to the suspense- but none of these gave the whereabouts of that
elusive tiger. Bandhavgarh’s legendary Mahaout Kuttapan too was in
the vicinity, piloting his elephant with a tourist sitting next to him.
Kuttapan too spotted nothing.
No alarm call, no sound, no signal of any kind came from anywhere to
suggest the presence of a tiger. But both Salim and Sanjay remained
unperturbed; they kept on throwing regular glances towards `Bari Gufa’
(the big cave).
And then, without any warning, Bamera appeared in the grassland.
Sure and straight as an arrow, he started walking towards us. I
scratched my forearm in disbelief, but soon got on to the all-important
work of fine-tuning the settings on my DSLR. And then, an anti-climax!
Some 20 yards away from us, the tiger whom I had been waiting for
weeks reversed his direction and started walking away from us.
None of us was prepared for this sudden reversal of fortune. “Lets
overtake the parked vehicles and follow him,’’ we uged Salim, but
Sanjay stopped us with a smile. “Just wait, he will again reverse and
come back towards us,’’ he said. “Yeh hamesha aise hi karta hai (this is
what he always do,’’ Salim added.
We had no option but to believe our guide and driver. By now Bamera
male had disappeared into a thicket ahead. I had given up hope when
lo and behold, he appeared once again. This time he came all the way
near our Gyspsy, turned right to cross the rivulet and walked straight
into the patch of grass where a grinning Kuttapan was waiting for him.
This was my first encounter with Bamera male. Unforgettable? Yes, of
course. A few pics which I clicked that day:
