The jungle, one place where there is little application of mind needed (for the tourists, of course, the guides, drivers, and seasoned wildlife experts have a different story altogether).
You don't have any control in the jungle and that's what makes it so very special.
Coming to think of it, this part applies to life as well.
In a jungle, you have a restricted area that you stick to throughout the 4 hours of your safari time. But more than that, you don't choose what you get to see, the jungle decides what it wants to show you- tiger, no tiger, sleeping tiger, fleeting tiger, leopard, no leopard,- you don't make the decision. The only decision you make is whether or not you stay. There have been multiple times when we have stayed for an hour, 90 minutes, or more in a place because of an estimation based on animal behavior. Sometimes there are multiple possibilities of where the tiger could be sited, and now that call is yours. The call is risky no doubt. You leave, but it may come out from the patch of grass where you were standing, and you may miss it, or you may stay but it may come out from the parallel opening, or a few meters on either side of the bend, and you may miss it again, but at the same time luck may be with you and it may appear from where you were patiently waiting. Similarly, you don't choose which people you meet, sometimes you are forced to meet someone, but you do choose whether or not you stay.
It is again risky, the risk of breaking a friendship, hurting someone, and getting your heart broken but that is the limited control you have.
We had been sitting near this deep grassland where ever so often we could see the movement of orange and white striped bodies- Veera and her 3 cubs, with signs of coming out of the grass, but no idea from which side. We went back and forth between the places about 3 times before we decided to leave and go about 7/8 kilometers further to try and find this other tiger called Xylo. There were fresh pug marks but no sign of the beautiful beast. We decided to go back and try our luck with Veera again. On our way back to Veera, our driver got a call, and lo and behold, Veera had been sighted crossing across. The speed that he drove would have put a smile on Max Verstappen’s face.
By the time we reached she had once again disappeared into the grass. We were able to track minimal movement. Finally, our patience was awarded and we saw her walk out. We drove alongside her, saw her sit in a small stream for about five minutes and then she got up again and resumed her walk. What a royal beauty! There was even a point where was practically leading us! She was walking followed by 3 other gypsies including ours. And once again she walked back into the grasslands. We decided to stay because of an estimation based on her past behavior. She walked out again and walked straight towards us. A perfect head-on shot.
And that's it, with a lovely, royal, majestic goodbye, she bid us farewell, as she vanished in the grasslands once again.
And that was only the beginning. The same afternoon we spent the first 2.5-3 hours roaming around aimlessly but in the end, we came back to the same spot that we started from. And then when we were about to give up and even possibly leave the jungle early, there was a loud crunch, a log cracking? And within the next ten seconds, a tiger cub crossed over. Junnabai's cubs. And once again we tracked the movement of the 2 cubs and were hot on their trail for about fifteen minutes. Back and forth, drivers and guides yelling warnings and instructions to each other, driving through god knows what trees, ducking and dodging branches as though were playing laser tag- the entire experience was a vibe.
There was more to come though, while we waited for them to emerge, the Jeep next to us pointed to a flat tire on our vehicle. Imagine waiting for 2 tigers to come out of the grasslands, and then being left there in fading light (It was dusk), and having to change the punctured tire of the vehicle. The driver and guide did tell us to keep an eye on all our surroundings, as they changed the tire. An experience to remember, and a memory that will never get old!
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