The Jungle Belle

It was ,My first and thus far, solitary visit to a real Jungle. It is In Madhaya Pardesh, a few hours drive from Nagpur. My kids were with me and we loved the trip……….I met her there….read about it in her own words….
Published: women era oct2008 first issue
The Jungle Belle

Far, far above me, the sky was breaking out of the night’s passionate embrace. With every passing heartbeat, it was shedding a layer of its inky cloak. In almost perfect synchronization, the sky’s new bride, a shining, somewhat crimson faced, dawn, was moving in, shyly but surely.

My own chosen mate too had not waited for a moment too long; his task done, he had dismounted and disappeared in the thick foliage, without as much as another glance at me. But before leaving, my paramour had had proved to be exceptionally strong and virile, surpassing all my expectations, quenching my thirst, fully.

Just a few, deliciously torrid minuets ago, our brief courtship had culminated in an explosive climax. And to admit the truth, I had demanded nothing less. For days at end, my urge to procreate had been driving me berserk.

I wished my lover had stayed. But there can be no hoarders in the jungle. Life itself is ruthlessly transitory here. One learns to celebrate each moment, as it comes…. if it comes. I was satiated. I was thankful. I was full; my belly with his seed and the earlier shared dinner; my heart with his love and hope. I was going to be a mother soon, I was sure. Even the usually sultry pre-monsoon, Central-India, daybreak felt pleasantly cool to me. I sucked in a lungful of its vibrant, spanking clean air. It promised rain, but not just as yet.

Thus sated, I turned and fairly pranced towards my favourite grove.

It is a large, fresh water pond, skirted on all sides by huge trees that always stand so proudly erect, that they remind one of alert sentinels guarding a palace. Which it actually was, my very own. It was the perfect place to lie down and snooze for a while, and give his sperms time to fertilize my eggs. That is if they had not done their job already. Actually I was being plain lazy.

All around me the jungle was waking up, but so noiselessly that one could be forgiven if one thought that there was no one else around, except the hungry birds. Their intermittent, shrill twittering seemed even more strident due to the all-pervading quiet. A lot of them were gliding over the water, looking for any fish that may have woken up too early; flying so close to the surface that occasionally their eager, outstretched claws, would tickle its calm visage, and set off a series of smiles. The fluid, widening ripples, in turn, let out loud gurgling sounds, which were hauntingly musical to my ears.

I stretched by the lake, enjoying the tranquil solitude. A cool, invigorating breeze had begun flirting with the innumerable leaves of the trees, rustling them, and teasing them into an ungainly yet soothing rhythm. In order to welcome me, they shooed the wind on to me. It caressed and tickled me, playing with my hair, making me feel even better.

My eyelids began to droop. Above me, the sky and dawn had mated too and their newborn, the as yet mellow, amber ball of fire had emerged to play, from the gates of heavens. I blinked, as it peeked bashfully at me, from behind the top-most branches of the trees. I made up my mind to luxuriate in a long bath, later in the day, when the same baby orb would grow young, hot and fierce, like my lover had been. A sigh of contentment escaped me as I closed my heavy eyes. All was well with my little world!

But ecstasy cannot last for long, not when humans have something to do with it. In just a short while, their Gypsy was there. On their part, they had taken care to drive in as quietly as possible, yet the rancid fumes belched by their vehicle, the low guttural growl of its engine, and the whimpering screech of its tyers on the gravel, were enough to wake the dead. Slowly I lifted my head, just a wee bit, hoping that they would miss me. But they had already sighted me. The binoculars were out.

There was at least two hundred yards of water between us. But I felt invaded. Oh! Was I bugged! I wanted to kick my self for lying down in the open. It really took an effort to restrain myself from rushing at them and giving them a piece of my mind. Instead, I just glared at them, my eyes flashing. They stared insolently back, gaping at my beauty. Gawd! Where does a lady go if she wants to hide for a while from the world?

I gave up, resigned to the fact of them being there. I knew they would have continued their shameless, voyeuristic vigil endlessly. All my plans towards a lazy afternoon were dashed. Instead, I decided to go home.

My mood, however, was still intoxicated by the delectable recent tryst. I decided to give them a blast, a view they would never forget. Yawing, I got up and stretched, letting them have a look at my wares. Even from the distance I could sense the current of excitement that ran through them. You would think that it was the first time that the poor sods had ever seen a female. It may well have been the truth; well at least, I am sure, that they had not seen one as beautiful as I am. My kind is getting increasingly rare. I may not have much of a bust, but an enchanting ass I do possess, and I may be a jungle belle but none of their so-called supermodels can ever hope to match my sexy catwalk. After all, my body is svelte, long and lithe and there is not an ounce of excess fat anywhere on me, despite my strictly non-vegetarian diet.

Languorously, ever so casually, pretending I had not seen them, I started moving towards them, deliberately taking a long, circuitous route. I was fully aware of effect I was having on them, as I swayed and swerved. I knew without seeing, that their jaws had dropped and their breathing had sharpened as they watched me close in.

It was only when I was almost within
eyeball-to-eyeball distance that I turned my majestic head to look at them. They were gawking at me, transfixed. Our eyes met, and I easily held their collective gaze. They were mesmerized. My mood swung again. What riled me the most was that there was a female amongst them. At least she should have been more sensitive to another of her sex! Blood rushed to my head, as I made up my mind to teach them a lesson. Slowly, ever so deliberately, I took a couple of steps towards them. Already, I could smell the odour of their nervous sweat, as it broke allover their excited, trembling bodies. I stopped, coiling my self, enjoying their fear, and was about to pounce, when a small child, nestling next to the quivering bosom of his mother, began to wail.

Here I was longing for a baby myself! I could not attack one, even though its parents may well have interfered in creation of my own. Slowly, I turned and moved on, into grass that was tall enough to immediately hide me. But not before I half squatted on my haunches and defecated in front of their Gypsy, to tell them exactly what I thought of them. I then swished my long tail to brush away the flies. Let no one say that the tigresses of Pench, Karamajheri Reserve, in Madhya Pradesh are heartless like their so-called keepers!

As I walked, I could hear them, now chattering away like excited monkeys. Looking up at the sky I mooned for the rains. At least for some months the gates of the Reserve will be closed and we will be rid of these pesky, nosey, interfering humans who had no business to be there, in my jungle. At least these had come armed only with cameras, unlike some of their brethren, who smuggle in snares, guns and what not. In a few years all of us magnificent beasts would be gone from this planet due to them. But do they care? They would easily recreate us on their computers and make movies about us.