Travel Diaries

When turning over the pages of my Travel Dairy, I came across this page. The story and narration by my guide is still fresh in my mind.

Our country is full of stories, one such story comes from Kumaon. I was traveling from Rishikesh to Auli. We came to a place called Rudra Prayag. Prayag is nothing but when two or more rivers meet. When Alaknanda and Bhagirathi meet they call it Ganga.

I and my guide Bikram were traveling on the road which was frequented with landslides and now and then ITBP (Indo Tibetian Border Police) trucks slowed the speed of our vehicle.

Bikram causally asked me, " Do you know the story of Jim Corbett sir?"

"I have read about the jungle adventures of Jim Corbett", I said casually.

"Sir this is the place where Jim finally killed that beast which took 125 lives", Bikram said with a fearful face.

"What else you know about it?", I asked curiously.

The narration that Bikram gave would put even the TED speakers to shy. 

With the voice of suspense and whisper he started, "Sir, the evil spirit as it was rightly called, haunted/hunted the hills of Kumaon. As if hunting was an art for it, it would disappear into the hills, without leaving much of the trace. 

All of its 125 kills ( 1918-1926) was nothing less than great artistry.

Panditji from Rudraprayag, who used to give shelter to the pilgrims, was one of the two lucky survivors who went on to tell the tale.

After the British and the Ghurka soldiers who were assigned the task of hunting the beast failed, the famous hunter of his times Jim Corbett took the challenge on himself. He traced the beast for ten weeks, each time waiting for him to make a new kill."

Now with a frim and motivating voice, Bikram continued, "Finally, after pinpointing his location close to Rudraprayag, he set a bait.He kept a goat to lure the beast. As the beast would not appear in light, he sat on a mango tree, in pitch darkness hoping the beast to make a mistake. 

When the goat made a mysterious sound, it alerted Jim. Jim quickly turned on the torch attached to his 0.245 caliber rifle and fired a shot. The shot missed the beast jumped on the tree and tried to kill him. Jim fired one more round, this time supposedly on target, but Jim was very afraid to confirm. He sat on the tree until the early hours of the morning, to find the leopard lying dead."

Finally, with a victory sign, Bikram quoted, " Sir and this way the mission was accomplished".

I and my driver both were mesmerized by this narration.

I asked him "Do you know Bikram, why the leopards become Man-eaters?"

Bikram looked at me and answered, "Sir, The main reason for the leopards of Kumaon to become man-eaters is attributed to, widespread Influenza in India at that time. Owing to a large number of casualties, the corpse was dumped into riverine's. This easy meal for predators. After a while the disease vanished, causalities diminished, but their taste for human blood remained"

"Ohh that's the reason!"

Biram further said, "To commemorate his success there has been a stone erected at the place where Jim shot the leopard. But very few people now know the legacy. "

Our driver traveling on the road for 17 years did not know this. Even the locals are not much aware. 

Bikram took me to the stone where the leopard was killed 

Now since the urban development has taken place, this area has hidden amidst cement jungles. I stood there looking at the tree 20 feet away, a form which Jim had taken in the shot. 

On top of the hillock, I tried to locate Panditji's home. I could not trace it, perhaps it may have been replaced by places of commercial interest.

A few years later even today when I think of Bikram and his story narration it gives me a chill. I request the readers to visit this place once. It's an experience of a lifetime.