Life Inspires

We visited Ranthambore in May 2014. Back then T-24, or Ustad, still roamed the jungle. Forest authorities were fiercely protective of the tiger even though he had already been blamed for the death of three people by then. "He is NOT a man-eater!" countered Mr. Yogendra Kumar Sahu (the Conservator of Forest & Field Director), when one of our fellow bloggers referred to T-24 as one. And from what we had heard from the people who work in the jungle, the safari guides and forest officers, everyone was in awe of this magnificent beast. "I saw T-24 today," someone who had chanced upon the tiger would proudly proclaim. The tone was that of pride and respect. There was no sign of any hatred or indifference anywhere. We felt reassured that tigers, including the ones that are more tigerly than the others, were safe in Ranthambore. During our entire trip, though we weren't fortunate enough to sight T-24, its presence loomed large on our breakfast discussions, our s...

T-16, the tigress mother of Ranthambore , gave birth to three female cubs during the monsoon months of 2006. With time, these little tigresses earned the names T-17, T-18, and T-19, or Satara , Athara , and Unnis. Born to a celebrity mother, the three cubs were under pressure to perform right from their cubhoods. And in spite of constant paparazzi presence, very soon all of them started demonstrating the Dabang traits their mother was famous for. And one cub, T-17, was more adventurous than the other two. Brave and enterprising, this future queen of the jungle started exploring her own territory by the end of 2007, and was completely independent by the summer of 2008, while her sisters were still with their mother. But her curiosity and ambition wasn't satiated yet and she continued exploring and expanding her territory and slowly managed to force her own mother, T-16, out of her territory, after which T-16 retreated to the Lakkarda region. And somewhere down the line, Satara ...

A Lifetime Achievement Award! A Facebook Fan Page! And no! We aren't talking about a veteran Bollywood actor. It is none other than the "Lady of the Lake", or T-16, the undisputed matriarch, the proud grandmother of most of the cubs now learning to take their first steps in the rugged forests of Ranthambore. Also known as "Machali", a name she has inherited from her mother, she is mostly sighted cooling herself in one of the many water bodies in her territory. And even though her once glossy coat is now losing its shine and she has lost most of her canines, few would guess that the graceful tigress has now been on the prowl for the past 18 years, much longer than the average lifespan of Royal Bengal Tigers. Machali lounging in one of the many waterbodies Photo courtesy Komal Desai The tigress has led an eventful life and one wonders what memories haunt her as she lazes around in water enjoying her semi-retirement, "semi-" because a tiger in a ...