The unfulfilled desire & the unsatiated quest; a basic feature of Homo Sapiens. It is different for different people. But one desire or quest is common to all. I am no exception either.
My unfulfilled desire & quest prior to this trip was to see God and the Big Cat. The first common to all Homo Sapiens including atheists, got fulfilled while the second remains not inspite of having visited different wildlife sanctuaries 7 times.
Sariska - twice, once in '82 when tigers used to roam before Sansar Chand found them.
Chilla/Rajaji - thrice, last known to have 9 tigers.
Dudhwa - once, known to have 90 tigers.
Corbett - once, known to have 164 tigers.
God, The Almighty I did find. All along He was right next to me, and I couldn't see. It took me all of 24 years of being called a husband that I suddenly achieved enlightenment. All husbands/men in relationship with woman, have seen God. Surprised and confused?
Let me explain. In my quest to see the stripes, I planned a trip to Corbett in April after my daughter's Xth Boards finished on 31st March. Corbett I had not visited and almost all of my acquaintances, who went there had a sighting. Also, as the tiger density in Corbett is quite high, a visual was ensured. After having visited jungle quite a few times, I had gathered a bit of experience and chose this month assuming that we would be able to see Stripes near water holes very often as the temperatures were soaring.
The trip to Corbett also drew inspiration from my very dear friend
Suman's visit to this place almost a year back. I had nearly finalised my plans, when the old saying - "
Man proposes, God disposes" rung true.
I had proposed a visit to Corbett from the 5th to 8th April, 2010, but God intervened and said that Nainitaal, Ranikhet & Almora also need to be incorporated in the itinerary. I pleaded with God, that I couldn't possibly be away from work for long and also finances were a problem. God turned a blind eye and said - you've proposed and this is what I have disposed.
All along I thought God to be a He, but it actually turned out that the woman in the Ardhanareeshwar form of God becomes dominant after a man weds and the God becomes a Goddess. In this case it was a woman who happened to be my wife of 24 years and she disposed that Nainitaal, Ranikhet & Almora also had to be in the itinerary.
I was back to the drawing board, cajoling my partners to let me go, frantically arrranging finances and doing bookings. Voila..! As God...oops Goddess had disposed, everything fell into place without a hitch and my wife, daughter & I were all set to embark on our mini-vacation on the 5th April.
The Arrangements
Suman, on his visit to Corbett had stayed at a place called
Tiger Camp, that he liked a lot and highly reccommended. Using Suman's reference I got in touch with his contact person and finalised a package for 3 nights & 4 days.
Called a friend of mine and made bookings at
Ranikhet from 8th to 10th April.
Charged the batteries of D300 & Coolpix S220, checked the camera bag for any missing items, got the Scorpio checked at FNG, packed the suitcase and was all set to go.
With excitement building up, waited for D day...
To be continued......!