No Room For A Tiger

We set off in the silence of early morning. Mom and Dad bid us goodbye. I, accompanied with my uncle Rajesh and my friend Sai, were going on a trekking adventure to Kaal Mountains, out of the city. We had to leave early, as we were supposed to set up a camp on the mountains. We reached the campsite at around 9 O’clock. It took around 4 hours to set up the camp, and arrange the woods and fuels, as it is the most important asset to survive in the woods. We planned on resting for the day, and explore the nearby places to the campsite. As it was winter, around the dusk we started feeling a bit cold. We unpacked our packing inside our respective tents.

Rajesh Uncle brought out the food, and we all ate. We went to sleep around 8:30 P.M. After about half-an-hour, I unzipped the tent to peep out. I saw a person standing near Sai’s tent. As soon as I grabbed the flashlight, and was about to switch it on, the person was nowhere to be seen. I quickly came out of my tent, and called uncle and Sai. They hurried out of their tents. I told them about what I saw. Rajesh uncle, equipped with a torch and a stick, searched the place, but didn’t find anyone. I and Sai also went arounf searching for the guy, but returned empty-handed, as well. We all went to sleep.

Net morning I woke up to see Uncle Rajesh walking around the camp, and drinking coffee. He greeted me and offered me a cup of coffee. While we were sipping the coffee, and pondering over the incident last night, a jeep came an stopped near us. A forest officer came out of the jeep, and ordered us to leave then and there. Upon asking him for the reason behind such an order, he said that last night a group of hunters killed a tiger. When Sai woke up hearing our conversations, and we informed him about the incident, he said that he heard someone near his tent whispering, “They are asleep”. He thought it to be a dream as we didn’t find anyone there.

We packed and left the spot. On the way the thoughts of how cruel mankind has turned into kept haunting me, and reminding me about the story “No Room for a Leopard” by Ruskin Bond.