Chapter 1 A white cat comes knocking
"Sahbhoj (Group Feast) is ours to get" was the last thing Yash heard before his mind closed for another bout of sleep and dreams. That was his room-mate Sanjay talking about the final rounds of football tournament in which his hostel-set was the favorite.
When getting up, he would again wonder how he is able to experience such long dreams in 7-8 hours that he gets to sleep. He also wondered whether what he saw in the dreams made them seem so long.
Last few nights had been especially hard. The images from dreams stayed with him, long after he was awake. And the sequence of this particular dream where he saw tigers was so frequent; he went to sleep every night dreading it to recur.
It was no fun sharing it with friends; they would certainly have a good laugh about a boy who is scared of dreams.
Thinking of friends, Yash thought of all the help Suniel gave him, with his drawing homework. He was sound asleep the next moment, assured of another round of help the next time he needed it, which was tomorrow, in the geography test, in the maps.
Yash had tried to share the peculiarity of this particular recurring dream of tigers, where he was face to face with a tiger. It was hopeless. Next thing, the whole hostel was talking of how a picture of tiger is all you need to scare Yash to do anything. Sometimes he felt his friends were more accommodating if he had such discussions in one to one chat, and not when there is a whole group of them. If only they listened he could explain that he was not worried of dreams, but of ‘this’ particular recurring one.
The sleep-bell at 9.30PM had long been rung across all hostels in the valley. It was around 1 AM and all the day’s gossip, shared in whispers from their respective beds in each of the five rooms of the hostel had long died. Tomorrow will bring another wonderful day, with the same routine; the gossip will be entirely fresh.
Yash slept, and was in his dream again – he was in the courtyard of this house, a particular house he often saw with varying clarity in his dreams. And next, there was this huge tiger coming right towards him, from across the fence. Yash wished himself to run but in the dream he kept still. He was still while the tiger approached him, their eyes locked with each other. In his dream he could clearly ‘see’ the faces – of the tiger and of himself. And it was a strange look, the tiger didn’t seem in any hurry to get him, and he didn’t seem to be worried that he was going to be attacked and killed by this beast.
With sweat pouring on his forehead, and a pain in his heart for not going any farther, Yash violently woke up and opened his eyes. It was complete silence in his room and indeed the hostel, only sounds were of crickets coming from outside from the valley. And it was dark. Moonlight filtering through the glass windows provided some visibility in the room. His bed was next to one window, and he instinctively tried to look outside to see the moon, to guess what time it may have been in the night. As he looked towards the window, he froze.
It was deja-vu; Yash wasn’t sure whether he was still in his dreams or awake. He remained frozen – his eyes locked with another pair of eyes from other side of window glass, staring right back at him intently. It was the face of a tiger.
The face of the tiger at the window was looking at him, and it was nothing he would have imagined. It looked as if it was looking ‘for’ him - ‘Yash’; it kept staring at his face.
After what seemed like eternity, Yash started to think – what could he do? Jump and run, shout, pretend it is not there, what, what – his mind raced through the options. Run he could not, he was frozen in his posture. He could shout for help, but then, not many would wake up, and even if they did what really could they do? Five nine-year boys in his room against a tiger was no match.
The tiger was outside, with no way of getting into the room (and then he remembered - the grill on his window was removed as it had come loose and was yet to be replaced). Ok, so it could break the glass and come in, but had shown no intention of doing so far in what seemed like many minutes it was there.
Can he then just wait, while ‘it’ decided to do something more than staring at a frozen nine-year old and hopefully retreats to the jungle? That is what Yash could best decide on; aided in no small measure by the freeze he felt cast over him, all the while wondering if anyone else in the room would wake up and witness what he was seeing.
Unable to move, Yash kept looking back at the tiger, and didn’t know whether it was still all happening in the dream, or, for real. He felt an awkward anticipation building up, of finally going farther than what he could in the dreams. He subconsciously wished it to continue so he would know what happened next, forgetting the mortal danger he was in.
The tiger kept staring intently at him for a long time, as if marking his face, and then it made a move. There was a rustle of leaves outside his window, and with a final look at him with those large piercing eyes, it slowly disappeared from the window.
This was all Yash could remember afterwards. That is, when he was able to remember it, which was when asked about it by his warden teacher nine hours later at the school hospital.
What he could gather from what he heard and saw in the morning after ‘waking up’ at 5 AM, not in his bed, but in the north jungle a mile down from his hostel, was confusing at best. And it didn’t make any sense.
Yash's first memory after waking up were of a lot of strange sounds coming from all around him, and someone trying to wake him up. He was wrapped in a blanket, surrounded by people some of whom he didn't recognize. The one waking him up was Sridhar, his teacher and house warden. He was sitting on bare ground, and he was hurt somewhere. There were a number of scratches on his shoulder and right side of his face, blood had long dried and a strong pain was building up in his chest and shoulders.
His warden and 'mataJi' (warden's wife) were there, sports teacher Shravan were too and so were Vishnu, the literature teacher. And then he noticed Mr. Vasudev, the school principal. It suddenly started to worry him a lot, the principal was never expected unless it was an extreme situation. Yash wondered if he was in further trouble almost forgetting all the pain in his shoulders.
Why were all these people here, and why is he here and where exactly is he? He tried to remember, but was distracted by a number of conversations happening around him.
"The tiger would have killed him, had it wanted to" - this was VishnuJi. He always had his own theories about almost everything.
Mention of a tiger suddenly brought back the memories of last night. He remembered he had opened the window and tried to look where the tiger had gone. Did he get out through the window, and followed the tiger?
VasudevJi had apparently reached just now; he was being briefed on what happened.
MataJi had seen someone jump out of the window. She was fixing her old piano late in the night in her room, and gone out to check who it might be. She saw Yash walking into north jungle, and followed him. She didn't shout for the fear of waking up others. Yash was moving fast, seemingly trying to follow something, and then..
MataJi saw a tiger, it seemed it was about to attack him when she shrieked. It must have woken up half the valley, for Shravan was there in less than a minute (his house was closest to the jungle) with a flashlight and a knife. But before that happened, the tiger had vanished into the jungle. They found Yash hurt and unconscious; there was blood on his face and clothes.
Shravan had stayed with Yash, still unconscious, while MataJi went back to the hostel to get Sridhar who in turn got the doctor and others and informed the principal and others. This was the story in brief that the principal heard.
"There are marks of a struggle here" - this was the stranger, in a leather jacket and a muffler. Yash would later know he was Shivayan Shah - forest officer in-charge of this valley and surrounding jungles. He would have to do all the follow-up on this incident. He seemed unsure as if he hadn't heard everything that was to be heard.
"You see, there are multiple footmarks, and of at least two animals. It is strange indeed." - the officer was still looking at the marks around the area, talking to everyone in general. "Anyway, please take my jeep to get the kid to the hospital now that he is awake. I will talk to him later when he is in better shape.". He said this to VasudevJi. "It might be that one footmark is of an earlier visit by another animal" - the officer continued - thinking aloud.
Yash looked at mataJi, she was still in shock it seemed. She wasn't listening to anything the officer said, and was staring at Yash's face. Was she crying - Yash wondered. It seemed so.
Yash, Sridhar, VasudevJi, Vishnuji and Mataji got into the jeep and started towards the hospital.
"This is first incidence of a man-eater in this region in last eight years" - VishnuJi was again outthinking others - Yash thought exasperatedly. He wanted to be left alone so he could recollect what all happened last night. And his face and shoulder hurt more, before he relapsed into unconsciousness.
Chapter 2 Aunt's Visit
Lake Karuna was completely still, surrounded by the southern hills of the Lapoh valley, with not a trace of human existence around.
The beast was apparently there to quench its thirst; it was standing still, as if trying to pry open the lake with its piercing eyes and see what lied beneath. It was easy to see it was agitated. The pristine view all around, its own reflection in the still lake water all bathed in golden sunlight couldn't conceal it; it was unsure how to make the next move, if at all. That made it agitated, and dangerous.
There were many things it didn’t understand. But it had the animal instinct to feel that the time was running out, that it must do what it had set out to. It took quite a few years to get here, and now it may not have many left, to accomplish what it had to.
..
A number of things happened while Yash was sleeping under the influence of drugs administered at the hospital.
- His sole guardian, Aunt Varsha was informed that Yash had a minor incident and was injured slightly, and she decided to come visit him. Aunt Varsha lived at Minipal, about eight hours bus journey from the valley. She would be at the school next morning.
- Senior forest officers were informed of the tiger sighting and the attack, and a high-level meeting of District Forest Officer and School principal was to be held next afternoon, at the principal's office.
- MataJi visited the hospital four times even when assured, somewhat sternly the last time, by nurse Sunita Di that he is not going to wake up till well into the afternoon, and with another dose of drugs will be good for nothing till late in the evening.
..
It was around noon that Yash woke briefly. He was on a bed, had his shoulder strapped, and some form of medicine applied on his face. It hurt much less now, but he was dizzy.
Sridhar, his housemaster teacher, was by his bedside. He had been asked by the principal to monitor his progress and find what the facts of the incident were. It was a major incident, and VasudevJi wanted to make sure it is prevented from ever happening again.
"Son, are you feeling better?" Shridhar was asking him. Yash replied in the affirmative, he was certainly feeling better than the morning. Shridhar pulled a stool near his bed, and sat. "So, can you recall everything that happened last night?"
Yash could recall nothing. He thought for a moment about the tiger at the window but thought against mentioning it. It was not very clear to him and he was not sure what all had really happened. He said he heard some sound and probably saw something move outside his window, and opened it to see what it was. This was all as he could not remember anything that happened afterwards. This last bit was completely true.
"Do you have any habit of sleepwalking?" The next question took Yash by surprise. He relaxed a bit and answered in the negative.
Shridhar stayed for a little while more, asking Yash to let him know if he needed anything else.
"When am I going to be released from here?" Yash asked. "Not sure but not till tomorrow at least" was the best Shridhar could tell. Yash wanted to ask how MataJi was but didn't. Shridhar left promising to come by in the evening again.
Nurse Sunita Di dropped in, with food tray and more pills to be taken afterwards.
The hospital, or the sickroom as it was called at the school, was at the far east end of the school campus. It was about a mile from the farthest hostel, and Yash thought Suniel and Ashok would not have enough time after last period to come visit him. It was already getting boring at the hospital.
Lunch comprised of liquid diet followed by pills, Yash was already longing to get back to hostel.
It was geography test day. Mr. Williams was not going to be happy with him missing it. Mr. Williams liked his students, but only if the they had an interest in geography. He was passionate about geography, talking of the hot and cold waves in the oceans caused distinct glow and sweat patterns on his face; on other hand on Yash it all made a very cloudy impression; it was a daily struggle to stay awake in the geography class.
He would be lucky if he gets the average of the other two tests for this one. At least he had a valid reason to miss this second test. With help he may just be able to clear the yearly.
With each passing minute, his hopes of being released out of the hospital by the evening were fading away. He tried to recollect what had happened last night.
He was suddenly transported back to his hospital bed - there was a visitor outside- coming with the nurse. It was the maths teacher – Arpit Dey.
Mr. Dey, as he was known and addressed, was a terror. No-one, not even the principal, dared talk to him much, much less confront him. He was generally angry at every one, and made sure to express it in many creative ways. He could be harmful even in best of moods, when in bad mood he was evil – is what everyone agreed on.
And now he had thought it necessary to pay Yash a visit and was about to enter the room – Yash was mortified. It could only be real bad news for him that Mr. Dey has come there. What could it be – he tried to think quickly. Was there a maths test as well today that he missed? Did he notice Yash last Saturday spending too much time looking at the guavas in Mr. Dey’s garden? Was it because he didn’t attend the football practice? – Yash was trying to get the substitute position for his hostel-set’s team, and Mr. Dey was the team’s teacher in-charge.
Before Yash could think of more things he had managed to do or not do that might have brought Mr. Dey to him, Mr. Dey marched into the room. Yash almost jumped out of the bed and somehow managed to greet him without falling.
When he looked up, Mr. Dey was already talking- ‘I heard of this incident and thought I will come to see you.’ (So that was it, Yash relaxed a bit). ‘Well, with you now in hospital, I am sorry that I can’t wait and am selecting Abhi as the substitute for Saturday’s game.’ (So, there was bad news for him after all – Yash corrected his thoughts, he had badly wanted to be in the team.)
Yash smiled and tried to say something appropriate. Mr. Dey was not finished though – ‘I see you are going to miss some maths classes in next few days. That is alright, take good care of yourself. You can always come to my place if you need extra time to catch up on missed chapters.’ This was impossible to imagine – someone visiting Mr. Dey voluntarily, and this brought a smile on Yash’s face.
Mr. Dey stopped for a while and smiled a little. He said – ‘Well, I must leave now.’ ‘Anyway, I brought something for you. I and my wife thought you may like these while you are on hospital food. Hope the nurse is kind enough to let you have them.’ Mr. Dey winked at Sunita Dee who was standing by, and who had a smile to answer in return.
It was a plastic bag, and it contained guavas. Big, ripe guavas freshly picked from the tree. It instantly occurred to Yash that his lazy walk around Mr. Dey’s guava garden last Saturday was not gone unnoticed – either Mr. or Mrs. Dey had noticed it, and, remembered it. Yash suddenly was overcome with gratefulness and joy.
He looked up to Mr. Dey, he was smiling. Yash too had a big smile on his face - ‘Thank you very much Mr. Dey’ he managed to say. And with that, Mr. Dey was gone.
Yash kept on thinking about this for some time. He was eager to tell his friends of this gesture from Mr. Dey, and just when he was again getting sorry for himself for being stuck at the hospital, Suniel and Ashok walked in. They had much to talk, and they wouldn’t listen to anything Yash said.
They talked about geography paper, and Ashok was eager to change the subject. Suniel wouldn’t let him. It appeared one of the question Mr. Williams asked in the test was ‘What is Titicaca?’, and found Ashok’s answer worthy of reading aloud in front of the whole classroom.
‘Titicaca is the easterly winds starting the tropical storm season in Mongolian deserts’ is what Ashok wrote. He couldn’t now think what on earth made him write that, at the time it seemed a pretty smart answer, at least to a question about which he had no clue anyway.
Titicaca was/is a lake in Peru/Bolivia. In the next half hour that followed in the class, Ashok was already being christened as ‘POET – Prince Of Easterly Titicaca’ amid much laughter and fanfare. Ofcourse Ashok didn’t want to discuss the geography test.
After this interesting bit, Suniel volunteered more information – ‘Abhi seems to get the nod for substitute position. He was getting the team kit issued this afternoon.’. Both Ashok and Suniel eyed Yash, they expected this news to be greeted with much disappointment.
Yash however knew this already. ‘Who told you that?’ Suniel asked.
Yash narrated Mr. Dey’s visit to them. It was now their turn to be surprised, and, in shock, they, together with Yash, ate all the guavas.
Ashok and Suniel left after a while, promising to come next day if he was still not released. Doctor Mehra came at 4PM, checked everything and much to Yash’s relief asked sister to release him next morning if he was feeling ok. So, he could still go to the Antyakshari round tomorrow afternoon Yash thought, it was not so bad afterall.
In the evening, he had one last visitor. MataJi came by, this time Yash was awake. She asked how he was doing, whether he needed anything, and whether he was comfortable. She also mentioned that she would pick his Aunt tomorrow morning at the bus stand, and bring her to the hospital.
MataJi sat on the stool next to bed. She seemed to want to talk about something. Last night’s incident, Yash thought. He had some questions himself, and MataJi seemed to be the only person who could tell as to what might have happened, for she was the only one who was there.
Yash waited. MataJi spoke, but she was talking about the morning in the jungle when he woke up. She said –“ I told the forest officer and others that the tiger attacked you and I shrieked. That may not be entirely true.’.
‘You were following the tiger at some distance as far as I could see, almost sleepwalking. Though it was dark, I could still see the shapes of you and the tiger walking into the Jungle. It appeared as if there was another animal that suddenly jumped over you, maybe a bear, and you fell down. The tiger turned and seemed to attack this animal, and that is when I shrieked. After that this animal ran away, and the tiger also slowly disappeared into the bushes. Almost the same time, ShrawanJi came running.’
Yash was suddenly very attentive.
‘I was confused, and I didn’t think anyone would believe me if I told that you followed the tiger and then there was another animal involved. Also, it was dark, and I am still not certain that this is what happened.’
‘As it is, I can’t go back and talk about all this now, and with myself not being sure I don’t think I am going to tell anyone any thing more than what I already told. However, I wanted to tell you so you know’ – MataJi was in tears by this time.
‘It is ok, I myself don’t remember what happened and how.’ Yash said.
‘Can you think of any reason why you followed the tiger? Did you follow the tiger, or you were walking in sleep? Have you ever seen this tiger earlier?’ MataJi was asking.
‘I have no idea.’ Yash said. Did he ever see the tiger earlier - Yash pondered over this. In dreams? Was it this tiger? Really? Yash thought he was losing his capability to think coherently. Maybe he was drowsy.
MataJi sensed he needed rest. She said goodnight and promised to bring his aunt first thing in the morning.
Yash was not thinking about Aunt Varsha though.
If he was following the tiger, and if the tiger attacked another animal attacking him, did that mean something? Was there a link between him and the tiger? Was the tiger leading him somewhere? or did it just happen to be there when the other animal attacked him?
Next thing, he woke up and saw a familiar face standing next to him. It was morning already and Aunt Varsha was here.
Chapter 3 North Jungle
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Yash was released from the hospital and walking back with Shravan, the PT teacher and Aunt Varsha. He was already feeling bad about her.
Aunt Varsha was Yash's sole guardian. And Yash was all she had. With this background it was hard to imagine how less they spoke with each other. But Yash understood. Aunt Varsha had a difficult job, and then had to manage home all by herself. And support Yash. With all this she never had any time or energy left to engage in routine things with Yash. As long as Yash remembered she was always hassled. And now she had to take days off from work - certainly with a pay loss - and do this taxing journey.
But, even by her standards, Aunt Varsha was being reticent today. Yash finally had to probe 'Aunt, you shouldn't be worried. My pain is almost gone, and I would be back to normal by monday. I am sorry they called you here.'.
The reply was a bit surprising - 'I wonder if you should move back to Minipal and join a school there.' - Aunt Varsha was saying.
This didn't make much sense. Yash had worked hard to get into Gurukul, all on Aunt Varsha's insistence. And now, just because of one accident she wanted to move him back.
But then she added - 'Maybe I worry too much. I too hope things will be fine.'.
Yash and shravan left Aunt Varsha at the guest house, he would come next morning before she left. Then the two walked back to Yash's hostel.
Shravan also had something to say. 'Don't venture into North Jungle, whatsoever be the reason. You may get hurt, and you may be rusticated from the school.'.
Yash started to protest but stopped. It wasn't as if he did go there, or was going to. Still, he kept to himself.
It was good to be back at his room. But there was no-one, everyone was gone for the classes. Yash had to rest for two days - doctor's orders. After fifteen minutes in the empty hostel, the feeling of being in hospital returned. Luckily he had to take his pills and was already very sleepy.
The dreams were unclear and kept breaking. Yash saw himself in the football team, and just when the game was to start he couldn't find his boots. And then Mr Dey was on the guava tree, and his boots were there. And then Sid grew tall and covered the whole goalpost, and then there was a tiger in the middle of the ground. The football ground was suddenly empty, and the tiger kept walking towards him.
Yash woke late in the morning. Everyone was already gone for assembly and then to classes. Yash had his breakfast and went to Guest Hostel. Aunt Varsha was ready and he walked her to the bus-stand.
Yash was returning from the bust-stand and he suddenly felt very bored. It was another 4 hours before everyone returned for lunch. He had to meet the forest-officer in the principal's office in the afternoon, but till then he was free.
His shoulder was almost back to normal, and, he thought of going back a little into the north jungle - as if to retrace his steps of the night.
North Jungle was the most trecherous part of Lapoh valley, with steep hills with clear slippery stone sides where it was impossible to stay put and not slip. A little into the jungle and first of the three streams of Sona river appeared. North of Gurukul, there were three streams of the river running in parallel, with sharp rising hills dividing them. Further north, the main stream had strong and deep currents and falling in it meant almost certain death.
If one could go up further north, it was dense jungles of
Every student, on the first day of school, was told in strict terms to not venture into North Jungle. The first smaller stream was the farthest they could go, and that too with supervision.
There were many stories - from tribal outcasts turning cannibals and having eaten one or two students who went missing, to the trecherous hills and river which meant certain death, to plain and simple understanding with the tribals to not venture into their territory, to a three hundred year old baba who could suck all the lifeform out of anyone and so on. Some were true.
Since this was stated as a rule, students were bound to break them. And, going to the first stream was considered ok. After that, the hills rose, almost straight up, and it meant it was anyway unlikely someone would be able to go up those hills.
Yash fould himself walking along the stream. He wasn't particularly going anywhere. It was already much farther along the stream than he had ever been and he thought of returning.
He was now in an area where the stream went down, at an angle where it was difficult to walk. On the other side huge stone-fronts, without any grass or trees rose. Of those many formations, one made a peculiar shape. On the front a huge stone made up a base - the size of a basketball court. On top of it two stone-fronts rose almost like a wall and merged at an angle - effectively making a cave like structure.
Yash saw there was a cloth piece there on top, it seemed like something that was left to dry.
Who might be there? Yash paused for a while but there was no signs of anyone.
Then Yash remembered Shravan's warning and started to turn back.
'You can come up here if you are curious' - the voice came from the top. Yash looked back, there was a person there. A man with beard and a thin cloth around his waist - with beads around this neck. A baba - yash thought and hesitated.
'Curiousity is good. It teaches you more than your school books.' - the baba was standing now, smiling.
He had another three hours before lunch - Yash thought. And then started to cross the stream.
The cave, if it could be called one, was surprisingly well-lit and much larger than from outside.
'I am Sidhdha baba' - the baba said, 'or that is what everyone calls me.' - he motioned Yash to sit on the stone floor, outside the cave entrance. He himself sat there.
Inside, Yash could see some personal belongings, an area with some utensils etc, and a whole lot of books - arranged neatly by the side of the wall. The other end of the cave wasn't visible.
Baba offered him some Aamla (a tangy little fruit with rich vitamins, it was commonly availlable in the jungle) and asked him how come he was not in his class.
After half an hour, Yash found he had told all his story, about the event three nights back, about his frequent dream sequence, his planned afternoon meeting with forest officer.
Baba didn't seem to ask any questions though he listened everything intently, breaking only to fetch more of the fruit and offer the same.
Sidhdha baba was asking - 'tell me about your friends.'. And Yash told him about Ashok, Suneil, Abhi, Sanjay, Chako, and others.
After he was finished, baba smiled and said - 'You need to play more and have more fun. If you want, you can visit me again with your friends - I will make sure I have enough fruits for everyone whenever you come.'. He rose and motioned Yash to follow inside.
It was well-lit, light coming through some large holes on the side. In one corner, there was a rack made of raw sticks, upon which many strange things were placed. On top shelf, there was a small vase with some brown powder and a shiny stone - it was blue and seemed to radiate light. But baba was headed to the other corner, he had a small prayer area there. He bent and fetched something from under a statue.
It was a feather of some bird. A little feather with bluish grey on top getting brown and black on the bottom.
Baba walked out and Yash followed. Baba started to speak
'Long long time back, a tourist was walking in these very jungles. He saw this beautiful bird - the blue kronch. It was so beautiful he wished to take it back for his kid. He was a skilled bird catcher and was able to get it in a little cage. Next day, he reached home, in Shimla, with the bird in the cage. His kid was very happy to see this beautiful bird, and played with it all day. When going to sleep, he kept the bird's cage next to his bed.'
'In the morning, the bird was dead. The father later learnt this bird only ate the soft shoots of chaari plants - found only in this region. He also learnt that this bird didn't live for more than six months, and it would probably have died soon anyway.'
'The son was sad. The bird was taken away and buried. There was this one feather that had dropped on his bed in the night which he kept with him.'
'That kid was me, and this was the feather. I didn't know at the time what that event meant and I don't know now. But for that event, I would have been living in a city doing a job, or more likely died a ling time ago.'
'I wanted to learn about that bird, but more than that I wanted to learn about death, and life, and its meaning, and many more things. Which is why I am where I am.'.
'I tell you this so you know there are events which we do not know at the time what they hold for the future and what it will mean. But sometimes these are the links in a long chain of event and consequences that shape this universe.'
'Anyway, enough of this. Whatever happens, you will be ready for it. Go with your intution, and it will carry you to your destination.'.
Yash only half understood what Baba was saying. He was anyway happy to have come there and spoken to someone who probably understood more about the things he went through that anyone else, including himself.
'You can come here anytime you wish.' - with this baba helped him down to cross the stream, and Yash walked back.
Baba kept standing while yash could be seen. Then he turned, and as he walked back he shook his head twice as if absently. The owl, sitting on the highest perch of the Shaal tree across the stream, till then seemingly sleeping or dead for all purpose, immediately took to the air and took off. It would fly many miles before stopping at another Shaal tree - next to the river.
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Yash, Vasudevji, and the forest officer were in Principal's office. The officer quickly recounted the events of the night as Mataji had mentioned. And then asked Yash if he has anything else to add.
Yash told him he probably saw the tiger on his window, and that he doesn't remember what happened next.The officer was frowning but moved on.
He explained to the principal that this didn't seem to be a local tiger - there were about 4-5 in that and surronding valleys but none were cited near the school. It might have strayed from other forests. He cautioned the principal to make sure students didn't venture in the jungles, and that he be informed immediately if anyone sees any tiger or any other animal. It seemed forest officer had spoken to Vasudevji earlier as well - most of the conversation with the officer was directed at Yash. Maybe he had called the principal earlier.
Before leaving, he asked Yash to be extra careful and left.
Vasudevji asked of the condition his shoulder and pain and was relieved to see he was almost back to normal.
'
It was almost evening when Yash reached back to his hostel. He wanted to get to Suneil and Ashok and tell them about Sidhdha baba, but that wasn't to be.
There was a stranger loitering around his hostel gate - maybe some student's relative Yash thought. As Yash approached, the stranger asked him - 'Are you Yash?' .
The stranger happened to be a reporter of 'Valley Times', the local newspaper, and he was there to interview Yash about the night and the tiger. His name was VidyaShankar.
The reporter had already spoken to others and had a good idea about what happened but still insisted on hearing everything from Yash. Yash found himself talking about that night for the third time during the day.
After many repetitions and a photograph, the reporter reluctantly let Yash go.
Chapter 4 Titala Pochh and Kaale Chaiyan
