Ranthambore Fort

Aditi Ghosh

No.. we did not see Tiger after spending more than 10 hours in the jungle covering the three most popular zones. We are missed by just a few minutes… thrice! Luck was not on our side this time. Tiger is the town’s talk and backbone of the local economy. Starting from the railway station to every place you visit, it is full of tiger paintings. And any unknown person ( local or tourist) you meet, will first ask you – did you see the tiger? when? which zone? And the lucky ones ( more than 50% of tourists in my estimate) will excitingly show you their tiger photos and videos. It only rubbed salt in my wounds, more so, when I realized that they were in the same zone almost at the same time. It happens!

Another star attraction of this place is Ranthambore Fort which tells us the stories of valiant Kings, the treachery of some of their associates and the sacrifices of Queens including the unfortunate Jauhar/ Sati(mass self-immolation by women). I sincerely wish we can create a history for the future when the achievements of women are equally celebrated with some sacrifices of men.

My story of Sawai Madhopur (Ranthambore) will remain incomplete if I do not share about the hospitality of local people. They made us feel so special in every interaction, be it women in the craft village, vendors or service providers. We reached the railway station early, so the driver put us in the tourism reception centre at the station. Khan sab there learning that we could not see the Tiger.. made all efforts to cheer us up… showing us all the tiger paintings in his office, encouraging me to take a selfie with the tiger and finally gifting me a few gorgeous posters of tiger and famous Chand Baori( Royal step well) of Rajasthan over a cup of tea. I forgot all my disappointments of not seeing a tiger. Rajasthan will always remain in our hearts. We’ll wait for the next opportunity to come back.

The writer is a globe traveller