Outside the Core Area

The meat tasted odd, too tangy, I thought.

I looked at Jit to see if he had noticed. It wasn’t clear if he had, for he seemed to be happily focused on the pie and the bread rolls. I fidgeted with the cutlery, unsure if I could finish my portion on the plate. After a while, I saw our hosts staring at me, and Abhi asked, with quite some concern, if I was unwell. I pulled my lips inside and, shaking my head, said, no, just full. Jit looked surprised, for he had never seen me waste food. I felt guilty but nauseous as well from the lingering sourness on my tongue. I opened my mouth to apologise to the hosts, but before I could speak, Tina, Abhi’s wife, and our loving, accommodating hostess until then, grabbed my plate, pulled it before her, and, keeping both her hands away, bent down, with her mouth full on over it to devour the pie. The smacking sound pushed all of us, especially Jit and me, into stunned silence and for the next few minutes, all that we could see was her long tongue sweeping over the plate through the pie, the munching and the licking beats interrupted only by the howling wind outside.

It will rain tonight, mumbled Jit as Tina cleared the dish and looked around its rim for crumbs. Then she sat up, her face satisfied, and she began pawing her mouth, largely unmindful of our presence.

I felt sick.

Pushing the chair back, I stood up and, avoiding meeting their eyes, told Jit that I would like to retire for the day. When Jit joined me in the guest bedroom allotted to us at this homestay, we stood looking at each other in tense silence, unable to speak, our lips utterly dry.

We set out on a nature trail early the next morning. Trek-ready, fresh air inhaled, a slight nip in the air, Jit and I looked forward to the walk.

The setting was tempting in its pristineness. We sank our boots into the rustling leaves on the ground and proceeded. Less than half a mile away from our homestay, as we focused on spotting birds, and I wanted to adjust my position to a higher plane, my eyes fell on a medium-sized pugmark-like footprint before us.

I clutched Jit’s sleeve. “But they said this is outside the core area!” I whispered. Jit had no response.

As we were about to enter the homestay, I let out a shriek as both of us saw a similar mark around the premises. Fresher, dug in, the ground around it clumpy.

Frozen in unknown fear, we tiptoed to our room, silently telling each other to pack and leave as soon as possible.

There was no sign of our hosts. I moved to the kitchen to tell them of our changed plans. There, inside, stretched out on the counter was Tina, holding a chunk of raw, bony meat between her front legs, digging her canines into it.

She looked majestic, her hind legs strong and shining.

My lungs hard-pressed for air, my throat as dry as winter grass, I walked back to our room. There, Jit told me that we would have to delay our departure by a day. Something about a transport strike in town. I sank into a pit of anxiety and fear. For the next few hours, we stayed in the guest room, bolting the door. Not too well, quite full, we would like to skip meals, Jit told them.

The house remained unusually quiet, like a lair. We heard nothing from that side. The stream behind our room flowed along with a mild gargling sound, turning dark as the evening set in. We drew the curtains and sat close to one another, pretending to read. Unknown calls and croaks filled the air outside, and the jungle lodge appeared still-dead despite housing four living beings inside. When we slept, it was disturbed and interrupted. Jit sat up too many times, checking the door, scrolling for local news, turning over on the bed by my side, patting the pistol pouch next to his pillow.

It must have been well past midnight when we were awakened by a scraping noise at our balcony door. We clutched each other’s arms and gulped. The noise increased.

At one point, pushing me away, Jit scrambled down the bed and picked up his pistol. I wanted to scream, I wanted to say something, but my tongue had got stuck between my teeth. I forced myself to get down, my hands shaking and ice-cold, and follow Jit to the door. Taking a quick look at me, Jit positioned his gun and slightly opened the window next to the door. For a fraction of a second, both of us spotted a dark yellow, regal body, its long tail lashing around its rear part.

Jit pulled me behind and, half-hiding behind the wall, he pulled the trigger. A loud, distorted groan broke through the sounds of the forest, and right before our eyes, a flash of dark yellow darted across the backyard and leapt away further into the darkness.

In a few seconds, except for our panicked breathing sound, nothing else remained there.

We were standing in the hall, near the entrance, about to leave. So soon? Abhi asked. We nodded and thanked him for being a good host. Picking up our bags, we were about to step out when we heard a heavy dragging sound from inside the lodge. We turned around and, after a few seconds, saw Tina. She looked a little slow and tired. But she smiled at us from one of the doorways inside and wished us a safe journey back home.

As we were almost out, she moved a little ahead, and we could now see her fully. “Wait a minute! There is a memento for you. We give a token gift to all our guests”, she called out. We looked back and saw her limping towards us, one of her wounded legs, draped in a white cloth, a mark of blood on the bandage.

Jit stopped our car only after a straight two-hour drive, covering more than a hundred kilometres away from the jungle retreat.