I'm just back from Bandavgarh in Madhya Pradesh where I had gone to pay my last respects to a legend. If ever there was a superstar among us tigers, it was he – B2. Yes, B2 was his name.
As the most famous tiger of Bandhavgarh, his photos have graced the covers of national and international magazines. Of course, all of that didn't make a difference to him. All that mattered was his turf and he would go to any lengths to protect it. After an eventful 14 years which has seen many battles, he finally breathed his last.
Let me start from the beginning. B2 was born in April 1997 to Charger, the then ruling emperor of Bandavgarh and the beautiful tigress Mohini. He had two siblings B1 and B3. B2 grew up seeing his majestic father rule the jungle with an iron hand.
A legend in his time, Charger was called so because he would charge at the jeeps and the elephants carrying tourists who would come to the jungles.
When he grew up to be a strapping young fellow, B2 knew that he had to quickly assert his authority to be the next king. By the time we tigers are around two, we must move out of our family home and create our own turf. So it was with B2 and his siblings. In the year 2000 he battled his own father Charger and in the process Charger was seriously injured. Charger was found by the forest guards who nursed him back to health. But he died a few months later, unhappy to be confined to an enclosure. B2 meanwhile, got into many scuffles with his brothers, especially B1 and managed to wrest most of the territory. In an unfortunate turn of events, B1 got electrocuted and the poachers got B3.
B2 now became king of the jungle and ruled a large territory for a record 11 years. Our hero was a big guy of almost 300 kilos and those who dared to fight him had to go back with more than just a bloody nose. Last month, B2 was badly injured in a fight with his son Bamera who had been trying to wrest the kingdom from his father for some time. Fourteen is old for a tiger and if you've survived that long without getting killed by poachers or in a fight, you can count yourself very, very lucky.
Survival of the fittest is the law of the jungle and old must make way for the new. In B2's case, the wheel had come a full circle. It was history repeated. Forest guards found a badly wounded B2 on the road. Although they tried to save him, the king was far too gone. He hadn't eaten for days after his injuries and the starvation and the wounds got the better of him. On November 20 he breathed his last. An era has ended and Bandavgarh will never be the same again.
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