SHORT STORY BY INDIAN WRITER- THE ENCOUNTER WITH THE TIGER
It was Diwali time when I visited that place. I must say, Nainital is a really amazing place to visit. Surrounded by beautiful mountains, lush green trees, and a beautiful lake in the center, that place can steal your heart and you won’t even know.
I stayed there for almost a week but still felt I couldn’t get enough of that place. I made a new friend there, met new people, explored a lot more spots, and felt incredible how easily that city can embrace you. It was calm…serene…mesmerizing… To be honest, words are not enough.
Beauty lies in simplicity and Nainital is a true example of that. Everything is so real and so simple that you will definitely want to visit that place again and again.
It was the third day of my visit when we planned to reach a place called ‘Tiffin Top’, one of the highest points of Nainital. I was told that the view of the city from that place was amazing and so there was no reason for me to say no.
My friends already gave me a warning that I had to walk a lot because only horses could take us to that place, and they trusted their legs more than the horse ride. Also, they had a very bad experience with horses before so they didn’t want to take another chance.
I love walking so I didn’t find anything intimidating there and accepted without even thinking. It was around 2:30 pm when we started our journey. We were three people together. Pooh, my new friend ‘Panki’ and of course me. Yes, we were a little late, because we had a lot more to cover in the short period of time.
It took almost a 45-minute walk to get to the point where our actual journey was about to start. People were hiring horses from there. Few people offered us to take the ride because the point was high and we would die walking according to them.
But they didn’t see how scared we were seeing the giant horses walking on the uneven path having huge Khai on the other side. It was a total no from my side.
So leaving the horses behind we started our great journey. The path was broad enough for three of us to walk. We were walking in an upward direction with a decent slope and I will admit, no matter how much you love walking, if you are not into the habit of walking on slopes, your heart will try to kill you.
It was not easy for me and soon I was breathing from my mouth leaving behind the normal respiration process. We hadn’t covered a lot and my whole passion disappeared and the only question I had to ask was, “Abe aur kitna chlna h… natural death krwana chahti kya….” My friend laughed, showing me the highest point, ” abhi bahut chalna hai beta, abhi to kuch bhi nahi chla hai.”She sniggered.
We were walking and walking on the uneven pathway, in an upward direction under huge trees with birds chirping all around. That was relaxing and I felt myself very close to nature.
Hadn’t I been exhausted and more keen to reach to the destined spot, I would have sat there for some time to enjoy the scene. But we were late and so we kept on moving. There were some shortcuts in the form of steps in the upward direction that we followed. But those were covered by dense creepers and bushes and there were chances of reptiles playing hide and seek there.
SHORT STORY-THE ENCOUNTER WITH THE TIGER
Earlier we had already seen a snake strolling on the pathway showing its moves and undoubtedly that scared me. I was the only one who was scared. I don’t understand why it wasn’t a big deal for both of them.
We were really tired and found a spot where we could sit and relax for some time. We sat there for almost ten minutes meanwhile our friend ‘Panki’ moved forward and got stuck at one point. He suddenly turned around and gave a look to ‘Pooh’. They had a conversation in sign language that was beyond my understanding ability.
She asked where, and he pointed a point saying there. I was alarmed and confused at the same time and asked them what were they discussing. They ignored my question and asked me to move forward fast. “Why fast? What you guys are trying to hide from me?” I showed my anger.
“Nothing dear. Panki ne shayad waha ek Tiger dekha tha.” Pooh replied in a normal tone as if she was talking about a cow. “What…!!” My heart came out of my body, haunted and begging me for relief but I was not having anything to console her at that time.
“What are you talking about? Tiger..!! Here…!! Are you mad….!! Don’t try to scare me. You know it very well, I don’t like these kinds of jokes.” I was mad at Pooh.
“Relax dear, this is a jungle, they live here…” Pooh was still normal but I was freaking out. ‘Pooh’ had spent most of her life in the mountains and so did ‘Panki’, but I was the new one. I was horrified thinking that the man-eating giant ‘Tiger’ was near us.
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She told me that the Tiger had also entered the city once or twice so it was not uncommon to see him in the jungle. She was telling me the story and the ground was slipping away from my feet. I was scared.
“Don’t think a lot and move forward, you are not alone so don’t worry.” Pooh tried to calm me down. Then I looked around and saw a few people going and returning on their horses. That was a bit of relief and I moved forward because now there was no returning back. I had to reach the spot.
People who were returning from their horses looked happy and relaxed unlike us. We were worn out and still had a lot more to cover and our face totally reflected our state. We saw a few people smiling seeing our condition and we didn’t like that.
We made a plan to laugh whenever we saw someone going or returning, just to show them that walking was more enjoyable than strolling on horses. Whenever we saw someone near us, we started laughing without any purpose saying, ‘Bhai zor se hasne ka time a gya hai… haso…..’ and soon our fake laugh became the real one.
That was fun. Only we were walking and the rest of the people were on their horses. We were making fun saying, ‘Horses can slip anytime….this path is not suitable for horses… just imagine if the horse goes mad…. we were making pranks on horses and literally enjoying the moment. The thought of a man-eating giant slipped my mind and now I was enjoying my walk towards ‘Tiffin Top’.
After 1.30 hours of hectic walk, we reached the spot which was our desired destination. It was breathtaking. We were awed seeing the beauty of the city from one of the highest points. View of the snow-covered Himalayan ranges, view of the beautiful city with a huge lake at the center, chilled air… everything was incredible. We clicked many photos and secured some more memories.
There was a food stall, from where we enjoyed Maggie and hot tea enjoying the scene. We sat there for almost one hour. It was late and now nobody was coming there. There was only one family left and their horses were waiting for them. We decided to leave because we had a lot more to cover and the sun was about to sleep.
It was a jungle, there was barely any sunlight in the daytime, so you can imagine how the scene could be in the nighttime. We didn’t want to create our own horror story in the jungle so we quickly left for our destination.
Short Story-The Encounter with the Tiger
I was walking at the front and commanding my friends to be quick because darkness was about to sprawl and within no time there would be no light and we would face difficulty in returning to our places.
‘Pooh’ tried to calm me down and told me to relax as there wouldn’t be any problem. I have seen a lot of Hollywood movies, where one who tries to be smart and chill becomes the prey first… lol… So I scolded her and asked them to move quickly.
She calls me ‘Darpok’, and I accept it. If being alert and taking precautionary methods not to face any unwanted problem is a sign of a timid person, I am timid.
Fortunately, we saw two girls on two horses, with a person guiding the horse towards the starting point. He was carrying a lamp. Seeing them was a relief for all of us. And we followed them.
Soon we reached the point from where our actual journey started. We were happy that we made it. It took us almost 45 minutes to walk down to the starting point. That journey became one of the most interesting journeys of my life and I loved it because all is well if the end is well.
In the end, I want to say Nainital is a beautiful city in India and it deserves to be visited once.
Enjoy traveling 🙂
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