Twenty-five year old Tejpratap Jaiswal was looking after the tiger hide smuggling racket his father owned. Now you might be wondering, why would they have such a thing? Well, it's because they regularly hunted the tigers roaming the regions surrounding the famous Bandhavgarh fort, the fort believed to be gifted to Lakshman by Ram. Because of that brotherly affection, locals called it Bandhavgarh. For a great many years, this fort and the surrounding forests were the hunting grounds of the Maharajas of Rewa. A king from this dynasty once killed more than a hundred tigers in a single year to protect nearby villages from the man eaters' terror. Though this region has now been declared a national park by the government, the lack of authorities and poor security opened ways for poachers and smugglers to establish a smuggling ring, now owned by Trivikram Jaiswal, the richest man in Jamunara. And as for the remains of the fort? They became his base of operation.
Tejpratap was supervising the packing of a new batch of tiger teeth, nails and bones. Holding a bottle of Old Monk whiskey, he called for either a tooth or a nail, along with a rib to be gently rolled in dark blue silk cloth and sealed inside one of the specially designed light brown wooden boxes with a bright golden lotus in the center. The accountant, Kishan Lal, estimated the prices of each box to sell at a good $500(American) in the black market. Any remaining bones would be taken by local medicine makers who believed that it would fix male impotency. Though there was, of course, no real proof to this claim, people still bought them.
"Saab, could you lend me 5000 rupees? I will return it as soon as possible," said Shanta, a 40-year-old lady who had worked as a servant in the Jaiswal mansion for as long as Tejpratap could remember. He always called her 'Didi' for she was like an elder sister to him; Whenever he fought with his friends or fell off his bicycle, she was always there to tend to his wounds and console him.
"Take it, didi, return it whenever you can."
She bowed to him and walked past the stack of packed cartons of new hunting accessories brought from the God's own land, Kerala. She pushed aside the curtains made of leaves that covered the entrance to the base with her left hand and walked out. As soon as she stepped out, she was greeted by the bright noon sun. Too bright, actually. It was almost as if it was deliberately hurting her gentle eyes. She shaded her eyes with her hand and squinted. A few people rested below the neem trees in an attempt to escape the summer heat. Her eyes fell on a young boy that looked to be about 10 playing with a stick. She slowly walked towards him and gently ruffled his thick mat hair. The boy was so lost in his thoughts the he was oblivious to her presence. The boy brought to her mind back to the memories of her son, though she had long since suppressed them after the incident three years prior.
That's right. Three years ago, on a rainy day, her 9-year-old son Manoj went into the forest without telling anyone. He had snuck off with his father's hunting dagger right under his mother's nose. The next day, his headless body was found near the caves where 'Solo', the tiger queen lived. No one had seen her since she won the kingdom from her mother a few years past. She was known for brutal killings, and so the people concluded that this was her work. Enraged by his son's death, Shanta's husband, Ganga Ram, the lead hunter in the Trivikram's hunting party, took his pump action short gun to hunt Solo down.
Shanta came back to her senses and began walking back home. On her way, she saw her husband following a trail. She decided not to disturb him and continued past. She only occasionally met her husband, who did not want to come home without killing his son's killer.
"The day I kill Solo, I will come to eat the delicious food you always cook. But till then, do not force me to come to home," was his reply every time she asked him. People truly believed him. But the truth was far from what they believed. He had followed a blood trail from his son's body only to find a few month old dead cub, with a dagger - his own dagger - lodged in its chest. He understood that whatever killed his son was only protecting its cub. The act of killing his son was merely an act of self-defense on its part. The hunters had always followed the rules to never hurt a new mother and her cubs, but his own son had violated them. He understood that the tiger had no fault in this, and so he had no choice but to quell his thirst for revenge. So now he also had no choice but to pretend he was on some 'solo searching promise'.
Unable to bear the heat of the midday sun, even Tejpratap came down to find a tree to take a short nap under. He couldn't find a good place near the base, so he walked deeper into the jungle. But little did he know, he had entered the territory of Solo, the tiger queen of Bandhavgarh.
- To Be Continued.
Image Source:- Mike Marrah on Unsplash
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