Kingdom of Love

Jill had been moving around the jungle for some hours and in no time her face just changed from one of utter disappointment to sheer joy. She finally found them…there they were, playing near a small pond.  Jill jumped up in delight and moved with great speed towards the two little tiger cubs. The moment the cubs saw a strange creature advancing towards them, they remembered their mother’s advice- never trust a human being and never ever trust another tiger, and they scampered to hide behind a big boulder. Jill kept approaching the place but she slowed down her pace and made some kissing sounds puckering up her lips. She reached within ten feet of the boulder and the two cubs peeped from behind to check if the stranger had left. Jill realised that she needed to get friendly with the cubs and so she took out a bar of chocolate from her backpack, broke it into two and threw them behind the boulder. She waited but did not have to wait for long. The two babies emerged from their hiding with chocolate dripping from their mouths.

Picture Courtesy Internet

Jill broke two more bars and this time threw them at a distance between the boulder and herself. The cubs stood still; then slowly started moving towards the food they had tasted for the first time. They also kept an eye on Jill who did not move any closer. The cubs suddenly ran and each picked up a portion and ran behind the boulder again. Once more, they came out looking greedily at Jill with chocolate dripping even more this time. Jill knew the opium for kids had worked even on tiger cubs. This time she broke another bar and held one in each of her palms and made her kissing sound as if asking the babies to come and take the delicious food from her. The two had by now forgotten their mother’s advice and slowly approached the good stranger and after taking the cubes in their mouths stayed there eating while Jill gently stroked their soft skin. She saw the two lick the chocolate cubes with great speed and then started wagging their tails and pulled at Jill’s socks as if saying… give me more.

Jill sat down there on the mud and took out the remaining chocolate and offered the cubs a few cubes at a time while playing with them and also picking them up at times. As the chocolate bars got finished, Jill heard a big commotion of the birds who suddenly took to their wings from all the trees in the vicinity. While Jill was distracted by the sudden flight of birds, the cubs ran away in the direction to which her back was turned. Jill quickly got up and moved around and saw, not more than twenty feet from her, a huge, stripped, ferocious creature looking at her with big solemn eyes. Jill knew that this was the Queen of Taru. Her dad had told her about this majestic animal who held sway in the jungles of Tadoba.

Jill did not panic but stood still. The two cubs now started playing with their mother who instead of charging at the strange creature standing, lay down on her side. The cubs went straight to where they got their meals from every day since their birth. But today was different. They suckled for some time and then ran back towards Jill and gestured in their own way asking for more of the sweet nourishment they had been having before Big Momma’s arrival. The Queen lay their looking at Jill with the kids playing with her. After a while, the cubs, realizing there were no more chocolates, ran back to their mother. By now it was dusk and the jungle was a dangerous place to be in unless the Queen was on your side. Next morning, Jill woke on something that seemed a furry pillow with a strong odour around the place. She got up to see that she had been lying on the belly of the tigress with the two cubs curled up near her. She could not remember how she slept there but her fear was slowly giving way to a strange kinship.

In some time, the two cubs woke up and started suckling and Jill named them Billu and Babloo and the tiny balls of fur began responding to her. They ran towards the pond once more with Jill, the Queen following them at a distance. The babies jumped into the water and then came rushing back to their Momma drawing her attention to a strange sight of a black rope like thing jutting out of the water. Jill could make out that it was the tail of a baby elephant who had possibly gone head down and was stuck in the mud below. Jill knew that elephants and tigers are mortal enemies in the jungle of Tadoba and do not see eye to eye but this was an innocent baby and had nothing to do with the enmity of the elders. She took courage and pointed out the situation to the Queen who turned around and walked away. She remembered how one of her babies from an earlier litter had been crushed under the feet of a rogue elephant not too long ago. This according to the Queen was the creator’s way of settling the accounts. Now Billu and Babloo joined Jill in pushing and frolicking around the Queen who relented soon and rushed into the knee-deep water, pushed the baby elephant out of the mud, took the calf’s trunk in her mouth and pulled him out of the muddy waters throwing him on clear ground.

The Queen then walked away from the site leaving Jill with Billu and Babloo and the new addition…the baby pachyderm who was now christened Bishu. The kids were playing and Jill joined in and created a game of their own. Jill first ran to touch each one of the three babies who tried hard to stay out of her outstretched hands. Then they understood the game and now they repeated with their paws and trunk just as Jill had shown them. It was real fun for the kids especially when Bishu tried to touch the Billu and Babloo who were definitely faster and smarter and were easily evading the baby elephant’s trunk. After a while, they felt tired and drank some water and walked towards a tree and lay down under it trying to get back their energy. All this was happening under the watchful guard of the Queen of Taru who put her head on her front legs, enjoying the sight of the playful kids.

The Queen got up in a startled manner when she heard the baboons and birds making a noise that she knew was one of danger. She turned around and saw what she was most afraid of… Badshah Khan and his band of renegade tigers. One-eyed Badshah had once ruled the Tadoba jungle but he would eat up all the tiger cubs. This included his own cubs. He knew if the cubs grew into adulthood, one day he would have to relinquish his kingdom to the new younger Tiger King. Jill had heard her father telling her the story of the jungle and knew that after the loss of her first two cubs to Badshah Khan, the Queen of Taru tried to save her next litter and fought the King. Even though Badshah was much bigger than the tigress, she fought for the lives of her cubs and fought ferociously. Badshah lost one of his eyes in the fight and had to flee the territory but before going he took with him his dozen followers who were as evil as him. Now the jungle belonged to the majestic tigress which got her the title Queen of Taru.

Today, the situation was the same with Badshah coming to devour the cubs but the fight equation was different. Instead of one on one fight of the past, here the Queen saw that she was up against not one but thirteen dangerous tigers and tigresses who had made a semi-circle around her and the cubs. She knew that this was the end game for her as there was no chance of survival or escape.  She turned to take one last look at her babies before making her last-ditch battle of survival. She saw Jill holding her babies tight in her arms. The cubs looked completely terrified. Bishu on the other hand started making a strange noise. The Queen thought, as did Jill, the baby elephant was so afraid that it was crying aloud.

Picture Courtesy Internet

The Queen now turned towards the enemy and started taking small and slow steps. The dirty army of Badshah had smirks on their faces as if to say this would be an easy kill. While they would get to devour the Queen, the leader would taste the cubs and then take back his kingdom. They now stood and kicked the dirt from their back legs as if waiting for the signal from the Boss to charge. Badshah growled, “Leave the kids to me and I shall spare you. You can still be my queen and we can rule the jungle together.”

The Queen gave out a large roar as if saying… “No, never! Leave my cubs alone.”

Badshah now responded with a spine-chilling roar and a sense of over confidence, “Then prepare to die!”

He was about to give the signal to his blood thirsty army when the jungle floor started shaking. The quake was really intense and seemed to be accompanied by drum beats. The drum roll was louder than anyone had ever heard. The warring factions stopped in their steps and looked around in awe as to what was happening. What the Dirty Dozen and the leader of the pack saw was a huge herd of elephants who had made a bigger semi-circle around them and were banging their feet in unison in a perfect beat. Just then Bishu stopped making his crying noise and ran towards his family. He ran past the dangerous tigers and not one of them dared to stop or attack him. The tigers knew that a herd of angry elephants could be the most dangerous creatures imaginable.

Instinctively, Bishu went straight to a huge elephant who was his mother and stood in safety under her belly between the four giant pillars. These elephants who, possibly, numbered anywhere between thirty to fifty stomped the earth under their feet in unison and then raised their trunks trumpeting loudly enough to damage the ear drums of all other animals. It was apparent that these otherwise gentle creatures were indeed very angry. Jill now understood that Bishu was not actually crying earlier but was calling out to his mother and family for help.

Badshah and his gang understood that it was time to make a hasty retreat. Today was not the day for madness and combat. The chances of survival were simply non-existent. The gang got together as a pack with the leader hiding in the centre and started running towards the water hole. They ran past the Queen, Jill and the two cubs as fast as they could for now the elephants were on their tails. The huge elephants could run fast when it was required and now they were angry at Badshah and his pack who had threatened one of their calves, so they upped their pace by a gear. The elephants kept running hard till the tigers were driven out of Tadoba.

Bishu and his mother came close to the place where the Queen and the cubs stood. The mother stretched her large trunk and patted Billu and Babloo gently on their backs. Bishu went close to the Queen of Taru who licked the baby elephant’s face and ears a number of times. Jill felt happy she knew that going forward the two warring families would put behind past bad blood and live in mutual friendship and peace. Just then she felt a big shaking movement…someone was rocking her repeatedly.

Darling, wake up. Since how long have I been trying to get up. You have to go to the school today.

Jill opened her eyes and kissed her father…. Ok Daddy, but promise me that tonight you will tell me the story of the Black Panther of Kabini .

Sure, I will. You’re just six now and who knows someday you may become part of NatGeo’s crew filming animals in the wild or join Ruskin Bond’s club of story tellers.

SS.