Self-defence

Another headache, another middle-of-the-night awakening. 3:15 AM. Jeevi looked at her clock with a tired feeling. When will she get a sleep without waking up before sunrise, without a headache? This was the second instance of a headache within the last ten days. In no mood to bear the headache any longer, she got off her bed, turned the light bulb on, and gulped down the paracetamol tablet from her side-table. Jeevi managed to get a decent two-hour sleep while listening to the odd melody of the jungle’s night creatures mixed with the light rain.

Jeevi was still tired when she reached the safari office at 5:30 AM. As a jungle safari guide, she had to make sure that her tourists’ papers were in order and the jeep was ready before the tour started half an hour later. The papers told her that today’s visitors were a young couple. That meant that the husband would try to showoff his knowledge about the jungle while the wife would act amazed at every trivial detail. She kept the papers in her backpack and walked towards her assigned jeep – thankfully, her safari was assigned to the newly employed and reticent, Nitesh.

“Nitesh bhai, ready?” she asked with a false cheer in her voice.

“Yes, but they are late,” he pointed at the jeep’s empty back seats. 

Jeevi was about to hurl an expletive when a man and a woman approached the jeep.

“Sorry for the delay,” the woman said. “We were caught in the paperwork.”

They both climbed the jeep and Jeevi couldn’t help but observe that the man was talking to the woman in sign language.

“Yes, I’ll tell them where to take us. Bukhara den first?” the woman asked Jeevi.

Jeevi felt slightly sorry for being judgemental about the man, climbed into the jeep and asked Nitesh to drive.

“Sorry, ma’am, we can’t go to the Bukhara side. It’s still monsoon and that area is forbidden,” Jeevi told the lady.

“Oh, right. The season’s prohibitions just slipped my mind,” the tourist said with a hint of disappointment. “I guess we won’t be seeing any tigers today,” she looked towards her husband who mirrored her sadness.

“There are tigers in other areas too,” Jeevi said. “Besides, the jungle is more than just tigers. There are so many beautiful trees, monkeys, deer…”

The man made a beak-shape with his hand and a chirping gesture. 

"Yes, the birds are wonderful too," said Jeevi.

“Jeevi madam will show you a tiger. She has a great record,” chipped in Nitesh.

Jeevi looked at him in surprise. It was no secret that in just two years of being on the job, she had helped tourists with the most tiger sightings but she hated the rivalry among safari guides.

“Let’s see if you brought some luck along,” said Jeevi.

After three and a half hours of roaming around, the tourists seemed to have found themselves unlucky. With just thirty minutes of the safari time left, they had given up on all hopes.

“Doctor sa’ab, you forgot to pack luck,” the lady teased the man.

A doctor… that got Jeevi thinking. If he could help her with her headaches.

“Nitesh bhai, please follow my directions,” she said.

As the driver slowed down, Jeevi made a twittering sound. The woman and the man looked at each other in surprise.  

“Are you mimicking a nighthawk?” asked the lady.

Jeevi continued making the twittering sound as she guided Nitesh towards a rather secluded part of the jungle.

“It’s a nightjar. I am surprised that you even know about nighthawks,” said Jeevi as she kept looking at the trees.

The lady realized that Jeevi was trying to listen to replies from other birds.

“It’s all thanks to the doctor,” said the lady pointing at the man, “He is a vet and has a special interest in birds. Are you actually talking to the birds?”

Even as Jeevi tried to listen to responses from the jungle and kept directing the jeep, her face bore a shadow of disappointment. So, the man was not really a doctor. “Not talking but, yes, something like that,” she said.

Eventually, they reached a dense area of the forest with a gentle brook running along. Jeevi stood up on her seat and motioned the tourists to do the same. A tigress was drinking water with her three cubs.

“Amazing!” whispered the lady. The man, too, had a look of excitement on his face. After about ten minutes, Jeevi said, “We need to leave. It’s closing hours.” She was contemplating about asking the doctor for help for her headache. But would a vet be of any help?

At the end of the tour, the couple offered to pay Jeevi and Nitesh. While Nitesh shyly accepted the reward, Jeevi said, “Madam, your husband is a doctor, isn’t he? May I ask him for some help?”

“Sure! What you did out there was splendid!” said the lady.

xxxx

During the month that followed, Jeevi acted on the doctor’s advice and noted everything that she did to track what triggered her headaches. She had still had them thrice in that month, the last one on the previous night. She was sitting at the desk in her room – writing her daily journal. She was thinking about the stupidity of the whole idea – wasting a month bearing bad sleep thanks to some silly advice from a vet. A commotion from the adjoining room broke her chain of thought. John, the Park In-charge, was arguing with some people.

“This is unacceptable. You said there would be no lapses,” Jeevi heard him shout.

Though she tried to listen in, she realized that they had lowered their voices. Jeevi had the advantage of the night's approaching darkness. She stepped outside and stooped near the window of John’s room.

“It’s even in the papers now. Count me out if you are going to be so careless. Now please leave,” John said.

What was in the papers? Jeevi rushed to the office canteen. She ordered a cup of tea, took the newspaper from the counter, and began looking for news about the jungle. It didn’t take her long to spot a report about the arrest of poachers carrying tiger skin and bones. She had heard faint murmurs of these incidents but could have never imagined that the problem lay so close. How could John be doing this?

As she was about to leave the canteen in a hurry, she stopped at the sight of the stack of old newspapers near the counter. She knew the exact dates that she was looking for. And once she was done with those three newspapers, she realised – her headaches had coincided with the dates of poaching incidents.

Later that night, Jeevi stepped out of her room.

xxxx

A few days later, she was assigned another safari with Nitesh.

“Jeevi madam! I was looking forward to talking to you. It all happened in the room next to yours. Didn’t you hear anything?” he asked.

“What can I say, Nitesh bhai? Seems like I am a sound sleeper,” Jeevi replied plainly.

“But why would a tiger kill John? And, that too, so brutally? We know they are swift, clean killers. How did he even enter his room?” Nitesh kept on asking the questions that were making the rounds within the jungle staff.

“Next time we meet a tiger, we will ask him, OK? Though, I'd call it self-defence,” Jeevi answered while smiling at the disappearance of her headaches.