Mid- Summer night's adventure by Urvi Shivalkar

First off, I would like to assure you that I’m not at all crazy. Weird start for a story, isn’t it?? Well that's how the story is… mysterious and bizarre… 

My parents and I have never had a normal relaxing holiday where we would wake up at 8.00 or 9.00 in the morning and just go and play on the beach. Since a ripe young age of 5, I've been subjected to all the privileges nature has to offer. Whenever on a vacation, we are always up at 4am and just keep going around in circles to get a photo… no… a lovely clear photograph of a rare bird.

One such time, we had been to Nagzira Tiger Reserve during the summer break. We were planning to stay at my mother's good friend Amit's place . He was a forest guide and interestingly belonged to the local Gond tribe. Since I was young, my perception of a tribal man was the typical Red Indian who doesn't quite understand how to dress. Imagine my surprise when a kind-looking boy wearing regular jeans and a T-shirt, a little taller than I was back then, stepped out and greeted us warmly. He then led us to our rooms. That got my attention as I already knew what they looked like. You see, everytime my parents and I plan a trip, I have the habit of  googling pictures of our accommodation. I was ecstatic as we had a mini bungalow all to ourselves! There was a large lake right in front of it. But there was only one problem, our bungalow was  farther away from the main guides’ quarters and as a matter of fact, from the other bungalows as well. It was quite isolated but I didn't mind. This was my happy place. As my parents and grandparents unpacked everything, I decided to take a stroll outside.

I've always been the one for adventure and I started exploring. There was a Kanchan tree right outside our bungalow. As I peered closely at it, I stopped dead in my tracks. There were claw marks, three ghastly slashes across the tree were clearly visible. I looked around, half-expecting the creature who created this masterpiece to pounce on me any second. I ran to our rooms and asked the guide what that was. He said that a leopard had preyed on a deer, had dragged it up the tree and kept the carcass hanging from the branches to protect it from other predators. My parents were awestruck but I stared at the marks. They stared back and whispered, ‘Beware’. We took an evening safari around the forest of Nagzira and came back to find a simple but sumptuous meal waiting for us. We ambled back to our bungalow bone-tired, in dire need of sleep.

We assumed that we would be able to sleep soundly since there was no city racket, but we couldn't have been more wrong. We had completely forgotten that the summer heat there was absolutely atrocious and the room had only one solar-operated pedestal fan. We were tossing and turning all night long. The mosquitoes were humming their favourite songs near our ears and then biting us when we tried slapping them away. The cicadas outside sounded like they were surely having a blast and before we knew it the common hawk cuckoo or as it's nickname says 'brainfever bird' had joined them in their mission to deprive us all of sweet, sweet slumber and make us look like dead zombies by the morning. Eventually, my parents fell asleep and I needed some fresh air.

My father had locked the main gate from inside for security reasons. I could feel the warm air against my skin through the metal grille. As I looked around, I felt as if the chaos had suddenly fallen silent and a strange calm took over. I felt bewildered and tried to examine my surroundings. I suddenly saw a dark figure on the other side of the lake, which was glistening in the moonlight. I rubbed my eyes to check if I was dreaming, but no! There was indeed someone standing there looking right at me! I felt myself glued to the ground. I wanted to go inside but my body wouldn't cooperate. It was surely a man, about 6 feet tall. But what was it I saw?  Long hair and something on his head?? Realization hit me, it was a very tall woman. She had her hands on her hips.

I was startled and jumped when I heard my mom calling out my name. I took one last glance at the standing woman. Huh?? Where did she go? Was I hallucinating this entire time??  For some reason I thought I wouldn't get a shut eye while thinking about the woman but I did and that too very soundly. The next few days, we spent our time birding and even spotted a leopard drinking water and scavenging on a dead sambar deer!! But the vision of the lady constantly lingered at the back of my mind. As I narrated rhe incident to my parents, they reasoned that heat was getting to me.  But I highly doubted that!

On our penultimate day there, I finally got my answer. That night my father forgot to lock the gate and I found the perfect chance to sneak out. Strangely, the night was very silent. But oh, how magnificent it looked! The lake appeared as if it was filled with thousands of diamonds sparkling in the moonlight. Gentle pink flowers lay below the Kanchan tree. I went to collect them and, lo! I looked up to see at least a dozen pairs of eyes staring at me. Then, one pair bent down and started chewing on something. It took me a second and then I grinned as I realised that they were spotted deer or chital. I picked up some more flowers when I saw a little creature walking jauntily towards the lake. It was a tiny wild boar. It started slurping water so loudly that I tried to stifle a giggle. I watched as it stopped and looked at me and then at something behind me. My eyes widened in fear when I heard the rusting of leaves and then a grunt. 'I shouldn't have come out here… ' I thought to myself. I looked around to see another wild boar but much bigger. And then it hit me, the one drinking water was a baby and the one behind me who looked at me as if she was going to eat me alive was the mother. I shuddered. She locked her eyes with mine and I could feel her emanating anger and aggression towards me and a mother's fear of losing her child. As I stood up, she assumed an attack pose. I felt all the blood drain from my face. Out of nowhere, a wooden arrow came flying and fell a few inches away from the boar just as she was about to charge at me. She yelped and with her piglet, scuttled away like a frightened rabbit. That's when I saw the tall lady in the distance holding a majestic bow. I stood in my place like a dummy for a second and then snapped back into reality. I dropped all the flowers I was clutching and fled back to the bungalow, running for dear life. Thankfully, no one heard me come in and I spent the night terrified and reminiscing about the events that took place during my little escapade.

The following day, we packed up our bags and were checking out when I told our guide, Amit, about the tall lady, hoping to get some answers about her identity. He offered a lopsided smile and replied, "It is a phenomenon not many people experience. My ancestors told me that every village had a guardian to protect them from all the evil spirits. The Gond tribals also believe that there are pure-hearted spirits which look after the people. You are very lucky if you've encountered her, little one. No one's ever seen her face though, never! I assume you haven't either? "  he spoke in his Gondi Marathi dialect. I shook my head in response. I sat in the car mulling over what he had just told me. Was it the Guardian of the village which was located here centuries ago that I saw? Or was it the spirit of the forest looking after me?? As the car started moving, I stuck my head out to enjoy the wind in my face. I saw something in the distance. I gasped in utter shock and amazement. It was the tall lady and I could see her face clearly!!! My eyes literally popped out of their sockets. She had luminous dark skin and enchanting doe-shaped eyes. She was wearing a dress made up of leaves and some ragged cloth. She looked stunning. Her beauty was anything but fragile. She had an aura around her which made her appear strong, commanding, like a leader. She smiled softly and held up her hand.

I then realised that she was wearing a tiara made up of the flowers which I had dropped in fright the night before!! She was a queen, no doubt. I lowered my head in respect and closed my eyes. When I looked up, she was gone. 

(This is a fictional story woven together with the memories of our trip to Nagzira Tiger Reserve.) 

 Urvi Shivalkar