The Jungle Book

Prelude 

We guys are totally bored with the routine work for last 22 days. Monotony has started to creep into the lives of many, including me. So I feel, I would tell the story of a jungle to kill the boredom of everybody here. If it happens to kill your boredom then please give credit to me and if it does not then you are all welcome to curse yourself for reading this magnum opus (of mine).

Background

There is a jungle, away from the hue and cry of human civilization, on a hilltop. The jungle is purely multicultural with every species of animals and some beautiful birds living in it peacefully, though the jungle is often termed as the bird deficit jungle. There is a peculiarity about this place. All the animals and birds have migrated to this place on the same day from distant lands. There was no specific reason for that, but as the insiders say they have come here to search for peace and serene joy; some kind of holiday home. By holiday home we get a mental picture of laid back attitude, laziness and slumbers all over, but quite unnaturally this happens to be a super active jungle. The jungle is abuzz with activities, events, romantic stories, gossips and what not. In the next few posts I would be telling you the anecdotes from the jungle which may make you smile for a split second. A word of caution I may put here; the first three posts may be purely devoted to the introduction of the various prominent personalities of the jungle. 

Episode-1: The tiger club

Aristotle says, “He who can live without a society is either a beast or a god”. But our fellow animals in the Jungle are hell bent on proving Mr Aristotle wrong. There are too many groups, in-groups, outer groups, fringe groups etc in the jungle. One such group is the group of tigers. Of course a few cubs are included in the group too. That happens to be a truly socialist group as we don’t find any single leader. There are 5-6 regular members of the group who are real majestic tigers. But many times they are accompanied by a group of cubs too. These majestic beasts are the most important group of the jungle in the sense that they are seen in every nook and corner of the jungle doing anything and everything under the sun (as they may like) even sometimes mingling with the beautiful birds of the jungle.

However, what distinguishes them from the other beasts, and mind it there are at least hundreds of beasts, is that they frequent to a place every single evening. That place is actually the bank of a nice river. These majestic beasts sit there, and enjoy the evening with the elixir of life. Yes, one can say the knowledge of elixir and the knowledge of optimal usage (of it) has been one of the most fundamental characteristics of these beasts which provide them the manly vigour and grace. These beasts can gulp any amount of the divine liquid and discuss the issues that happen to affect the jungle and the world outside including the human civilization. They discuss topics ranging from the green feathered most beautiful bird in the jungle to the stanzas of the great epic Rashmirathi. They are the actual power nucleus of the jungle.

Special mention can be made of one particular tiger, which is arguably the most famous beast of the jungle. He is a great connoisseur of the elixir and one of the regular visitors of the river bank. He is famous amongst the birds and beasts alike because of ready witness and jokes which most of the times border foolishness. But my personal favourite is one huge and robust tiger, looks innocent but with real killer instincts or shall I say killer basic instincts!! He is powerful at the same time adorable; in short we can say beauty and beast personified in one body. And no doubt he is a good lover of elixir. Besides him, there is one white tiger with great masculinity, a huge tiger with special facial features and other tigers nothing lesser than the illustrated ones described above. And last but not the least there is the maverick all rounder, a huge beast who happens to be one of the most important creatures of the jungle. These great beasts are generally surrounded by cubs of lesser progeny.

So much for today, for mere introduction will bring too much boredom amongst my readers who must definitely be feeling like killing me at this very instant. So to save myself, I will narrate a small incident which happened sometime back in the den of the tigers near the bank of the river.

That day was somewhat special day for the river bank meeting, as all the majestic beasts and many little cubs were present. The quantity of elixir was unlimited and so also the sidekicks. In the elite company there was that silent and not so elite blooded cub. By nature he is introvert and silent all the time. But that day, he drank a lot of elixir that even put the big beasts into shame. And that made him too loquacious and he boasted bravado, (of course false one). But little does that poor chap knew, too much of everything, even if it is the elixir of life, should be avoided. All the bravado of that cub vanished in utter vain when he vomited in front of most of the creatures of the jungle, even some beautiful birds were present too. From that day onwards, the cub is avoiding the bank of the river, but it is very doubtful if he can keep himself away from that place for too long. However, one gain for the poor cub is he got somewhat famous in the jungle. Yours truly heard somewhere that a beautiful bird asked the poor chap, “You take a lot of elixir right?” and that was the first time the cub and the bird talked that day.

Enough of nonsense for today; if the blog owner finds this write up any worth and allows me to continue further, will introduce some other facets of the jungle to my readers. But I doubt if he would give any chance further!!

Disclaimer:

The above piece of artistic marvel is purely fictitious in nature and if there is any resemblance to any person living or dead, the writer doesn’t care!!!

- jungle_reporter