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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Kids
- Theme: Action & Adventure
- Subject: Nature & Wildlife
- Published: 03/06/2018
Royal Bengal Tiger!
Born 1978, M, from Kolkata/West Bengal, India“Sunderbans has derived its name from the Sundari Trees”, said Shyamal.
We had all gathered together in the afternoon and we were eagerly looking forward for some intellectual discussion. We meant, Joysankha, me, Shyamal, Atanu and Jayanta. On Sunday afternoon we would gather together and discuss about what’s up and the latest updates, be it news, or any other hot topics. Today would be Sunderbans.
Atanu interjected saying, “I thought it meant beautiful forest!”
Taking its literal meaning in Bengali.
“If you want to dissect the history of the Sunderbans, one has to say that it lies in the mouth of Ganga and Brahmaputra, the two biggest rivers in India and Bangladesh.”, said Shyamal.
“It is basically a delta and an estuarine land where the water is partially saline. Some of the most ecologically fragile systems thrive here. The entire load of the two rivers have been deposited here and they have churned out pockets of islands of Sundari trees.”, said Joysankha.
“Well, you will find migratory birds, the water monitor, snakes as well spotted deer and dolphins in the water”, continued he.
“Yeah! Most of the land gets submerged in the high tides and the terrain is hostile since out of the mud shoots up pneumatopores, the protruding roots of the trees. The livelihood of the people who reside here comes from fishing, collecting crabs, collecting honey from the mahua trees as well as collecting wood. It is a place where we find the crocodiles in the water and the tiger in the land!” said Shyamal.
Shyamal continued “Legend has it, that the reclusive Royal Bengal Tiger can choose anyone as its prey. I had heard of a story that in the olden days when the fishermen would go out to fish in the estuarine creeks of the Sunderbans, then they would go on the trip for a couple of days at a stretch. And at night when the fishermen would sleep or doze off, the tiger may just step in to collect his prey from the boat, even though they may be sleeping side by side. And would have fled with its prey even before anyone was awake.”
Jayanta said, “I have heard that the tiger carefully chooses it prey. It never attacks from the front. It attacks from behind. So people who collect honey from the Mahua trees actually wear a mask behind their heads to confuse the tiger!”
“Sumanta Bera was a Forest Ranger in the Sunderbans.” paused Atanu.
“He is one guy who told me, how he survived an encounter with the Royal Bengal Tiger.” continued Atanu.
“To tell you the truth, if you hear the entire story it would send tremors down your spine!” he said.
It was late afternoon when one of the fisher men informed a patrol boat that there were some poachers with guns in one of the islands. The boat in which Sumanta was stationed was close to the area. So he received a message by the radio about this. Along with Sumanta there was Bimal and Ratan. Sumanta had a double barred gun, Bimal had a pistol and Ratan had choppers, when it came to firearms.” paused Atanu. “It was winter, so by the time they reached the spot, the sun had disappeared. The mist and the fog was creeping in and the bland sky was cloudy, so it was a tense situation. It was a small creek and the trees were just two to three yards away from the boat. They were dark, dense and deep.” said he.
“Suddenly the motorized wooden boat came to a halt since it was low tide. Sumanta, who was standing at the tip of the bow of the boat, holding the wooden oar with an iron butt, signaled to Ratan to put the engine to sleep. But before he would turn he realized that a tiger was running towards him. He couldn’t move and all he did was to jam the iron butt into the jaws of the pouncing tiger. Fortunately he was saved due to this as the iron butt was rammed into the jaws of the tiger due to the reflex action of Sumanta. Both Sumanta and the tiger fell off the boat and by then Ratan was yelling and Bimal had a shot at the tiger. Fortunately the yelling and the sound of the shot scared away the injured tiger, but not before Sumanta had a split shoulder, as one of the claws of the tiger had ripped open his shoulder.
Sumanta’s double barred gun was broken into two. However, there were no signs of the poachers. Fortunately other boats had also arrived by then, and Sumanta lived to tell the tale of his encounter with the tiger.”, said Atanu.
“I will tell you another story that too of the Sunderbans.”, said Joy.
“Well this is the first recorded sighting of a fight to death between the Gharial and the tiger”, he continued. “A fight to death, between the crocodile and the tiger!”
"That’s interesting" said I.
Joy said “Well, I heard it from Mr. Pronobesh Sanyal the IFS officer who was stationed in the Sunderbans for quite some time! According to him, once there are was fight to death between a large gharial and the royal Bengal tiger! Well, the tiger was crossing a creek and the crocodile was very hungry, so it started to chase the tiger in the water. The tiger kept on swimming and even sank in the water for an interval but didn’t retaliate, even though it was being constantly pursued by the crocodile. But once it reached the land, it stepped out with its paws on the ground and then just turned around in a jiffy to face the crocodile. The crocodile stepped up the pace and tried to grab the tiger’s face with its open jaws, but the tiger swiftly swung its paws and hit the underneath of the soft skin of the open jaws. As the gharial was rushing it missed the tiger and slid on its back. That was it, the tiger just ripped open the soft skin of the underbelly of the gharial and killed it in no time.
Mr. Pronobesh Sanyal, the IFS officer, actually watched this and this is no joke!” he paused.
“Do you still want to visit the Sunderbans?” I asked everyone.
Except Shyamal everyone said “Yes! Why not?”
Would you dare to visit the Sunderbans?
Royal Bengal Tiger!(Shamik Dhar)
“Sunderbans has derived its name from the Sundari Trees”, said Shyamal.
We had all gathered together in the afternoon and we were eagerly looking forward for some intellectual discussion. We meant, Joysankha, me, Shyamal, Atanu and Jayanta. On Sunday afternoon we would gather together and discuss about what’s up and the latest updates, be it news, or any other hot topics. Today would be Sunderbans.
Atanu interjected saying, “I thought it meant beautiful forest!”
Taking its literal meaning in Bengali.
“If you want to dissect the history of the Sunderbans, one has to say that it lies in the mouth of Ganga and Brahmaputra, the two biggest rivers in India and Bangladesh.”, said Shyamal.
“It is basically a delta and an estuarine land where the water is partially saline. Some of the most ecologically fragile systems thrive here. The entire load of the two rivers have been deposited here and they have churned out pockets of islands of Sundari trees.”, said Joysankha.
“Well, you will find migratory birds, the water monitor, snakes as well spotted deer and dolphins in the water”, continued he.
“Yeah! Most of the land gets submerged in the high tides and the terrain is hostile since out of the mud shoots up pneumatopores, the protruding roots of the trees. The livelihood of the people who reside here comes from fishing, collecting crabs, collecting honey from the mahua trees as well as collecting wood. It is a place where we find the crocodiles in the water and the tiger in the land!” said Shyamal.
Shyamal continued “Legend has it, that the reclusive Royal Bengal Tiger can choose anyone as its prey. I had heard of a story that in the olden days when the fishermen would go out to fish in the estuarine creeks of the Sunderbans, then they would go on the trip for a couple of days at a stretch. And at night when the fishermen would sleep or doze off, the tiger may just step in to collect his prey from the boat, even though they may be sleeping side by side. And would have fled with its prey even before anyone was awake.”
Jayanta said, “I have heard that the tiger carefully chooses it prey. It never attacks from the front. It attacks from behind. So people who collect honey from the Mahua trees actually wear a mask behind their heads to confuse the tiger!”
“Sumanta Bera was a Forest Ranger in the Sunderbans.” paused Atanu.
“He is one guy who told me, how he survived an encounter with the Royal Bengal Tiger.” continued Atanu.
“To tell you the truth, if you hear the entire story it would send tremors down your spine!” he said.
It was late afternoon when one of the fisher men informed a patrol boat that there were some poachers with guns in one of the islands. The boat in which Sumanta was stationed was close to the area. So he received a message by the radio about this. Along with Sumanta there was Bimal and Ratan. Sumanta had a double barred gun, Bimal had a pistol and Ratan had choppers, when it came to firearms.” paused Atanu. “It was winter, so by the time they reached the spot, the sun had disappeared. The mist and the fog was creeping in and the bland sky was cloudy, so it was a tense situation. It was a small creek and the trees were just two to three yards away from the boat. They were dark, dense and deep.” said he.
“Suddenly the motorized wooden boat came to a halt since it was low tide. Sumanta, who was standing at the tip of the bow of the boat, holding the wooden oar with an iron butt, signaled to Ratan to put the engine to sleep. But before he would turn he realized that a tiger was running towards him. He couldn’t move and all he did was to jam the iron butt into the jaws of the pouncing tiger. Fortunately he was saved due to this as the iron butt was rammed into the jaws of the tiger due to the reflex action of Sumanta. Both Sumanta and the tiger fell off the boat and by then Ratan was yelling and Bimal had a shot at the tiger. Fortunately the yelling and the sound of the shot scared away the injured tiger, but not before Sumanta had a split shoulder, as one of the claws of the tiger had ripped open his shoulder.
Sumanta’s double barred gun was broken into two. However, there were no signs of the poachers. Fortunately other boats had also arrived by then, and Sumanta lived to tell the tale of his encounter with the tiger.”, said Atanu.
“I will tell you another story that too of the Sunderbans.”, said Joy.
“Well this is the first recorded sighting of a fight to death between the Gharial and the tiger”, he continued. “A fight to death, between the crocodile and the tiger!”
"That’s interesting" said I.
Joy said “Well, I heard it from Mr. Pronobesh Sanyal the IFS officer who was stationed in the Sunderbans for quite some time! According to him, once there are was fight to death between a large gharial and the royal Bengal tiger! Well, the tiger was crossing a creek and the crocodile was very hungry, so it started to chase the tiger in the water. The tiger kept on swimming and even sank in the water for an interval but didn’t retaliate, even though it was being constantly pursued by the crocodile. But once it reached the land, it stepped out with its paws on the ground and then just turned around in a jiffy to face the crocodile. The crocodile stepped up the pace and tried to grab the tiger’s face with its open jaws, but the tiger swiftly swung its paws and hit the underneath of the soft skin of the open jaws. As the gharial was rushing it missed the tiger and slid on its back. That was it, the tiger just ripped open the soft skin of the underbelly of the gharial and killed it in no time.
Mr. Pronobesh Sanyal, the IFS officer, actually watched this and this is no joke!” he paused.
“Do you still want to visit the Sunderbans?” I asked everyone.
Except Shyamal everyone said “Yes! Why not?”
Would you dare to visit the Sunderbans?
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