Bookosmia Spotlight
Hey everyone. Your best friend Sara here. We read all the time about the need to save tigers and other endangered species. Often we read about it and forget, not giving it another thought. 12 year old Neha Mahesh from Chennai showed us why we should care, through this emotional story.
Tiger speaks- A call of the wild | Bookosmia
I sat on the warm grass and stared at the forest surrounding me. I whistled to pass time and wondered if father and his friends had caught anything yet.
They had been trying to catch a tiger for weeks now. I still remember father’s beaming face when he came home with a dead tiger a couple of months ago.
I really wanted to join but missed out as I had slipped and fallen over a large rock. I was missing out of all the fun. Imagine if they caught a tiger!
I started strolling aimlessly around the bushes when I heard a sound. I thought it must be a squirrel or a rabbit but from it, emerged an old woman.
She was short, stout and had friendly ebony eyes. She wore a simple sari and her hair was tied up in a bun.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Ram” I mumbled.
“The hunter’s son?” she raised her voice. I nodded.
“Follow me,” she said, disappearing into the bushes behind her. I followed hesitatingly. Something told me that she could be trusted. We passed through teaks and banyans till we reached a large grassland.
“Look down there,” she pointed.
I followed her direction and saw a large tigress. She had a beautiful saffron coat and amber colored eyes. And then I noticed her neck. It was bleeding.
“Do you love your mother?” the lady asked me. I said yes.
“She has three young cubs who will suffer because of hunters like your dad. They will grow up without knowing the love of a mother. One by one our pride is vanishing. It will cause nothing but imbalance in nature but people like you never understand.”
It slowly began to sink in. A majestic beast was killed. Her cubs abandoned. For what? Just so a greedy man can boast about it?
“You must stop this Ram, please,” she begged me. I slowly nodded and turned back to the woods.
I went to find father. I had to tell him. I had to stop him. I just had to…
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About the author Neha Mahesh
Enjoyed this story? Read Bengal Tiger-A prayer for you by 11 year old Prabhgeet from Kolkata.