A desperate tigress on the prowl with four big cubs; a waiter mauled at his doorstep, now fighting for life at faraway AIIMS; solar fencings coming up on warfooting; a retired sharpshooter and forest staff guarding the deserted approachways at night; and the tourist count reaching an all-time high. Anguish and anticipation never blended so much at Corbett National Park’s famed Dhikala Tourist Complex. Just a few months ago, Umesh Tiwari, range officer of the neighbouring Sarpduli, proudly narrated how ‘‘the Mother Courage’’ has been successfully rearing four cubs: ‘‘If tigers could be decorated, I would recommend a Padma award for her.’’ Then, early this year, the family of five moved into the Dhikala range zone to the delight of ranger Suresh Panth and staff. Dhikala has always been the most coveted destination in the park. As it is much easier to spot a tigress with semi-adult cubs—three female and one male—the rush doubled up. On Sambar road, tourists on elephant back combed the jungle to track the family. High on tips, mahouts often made four elephants pin down the family for close-ups. If constant disturbances by the tourists were not enough, peak summer pushed a number of inland tigers towards the Ramganga river where this family marked out its territory. Dumps of leftover canteen food invite a good population of herbivores to the Dhikala tourist complex every night. As tigers traditionally avoid human contact, the mother tigress had no competition at Dhikala. This arrangement must have worked reasonably well for everybody—till May 26. That night, canteen worker Madan Mohan Pande reached his room at about 11 after a hard day’s work and bent over the lock in the dark. He is now fighting for his life at AIIMS with a crushed shoulder, a half-eaten leg and dozens of stitches all over. He was lucky that forest guard Nand Singh Bisht spotted the commotion and raised alarm. The incident has sharply divided opinions at the CNP. The management sticks to the official line that the incident was due to mistaken identity: Pande was bending over, his head was invisible and was mistaken for an animal from behind. Some officials feel it was the male cub, and not the tigress, that attacked Pande. ‘‘It would have been impossible to rescue Pande if it was the tigress. His neck was intact. These indicate that probably the male cub did it in his youthful exuberance,’’ said Dhikala ranger Panth. But vintage sharpshooter Thakur Dutt Joshi, who gunned down over 50 maneaters in last three decades, and is now busy leading the night vigil at Dhikala, insists it was the mother. ‘‘She was about to attack me the next day (May 27) near the corner boundary. The tigress was so close that there was no chance for me to raise my gun. I focussed my torch on her eyes and made a loud noise till she backed out,’’ he said. As the news of the tiger attack spread, says Sher Khulia who works at the reception of the complex, tourist rush increased manifold: ‘‘Even VIPs are coming in huge numbers. We have to do an actual count, but this is easily the record crowd here.’’ Tourist movements on Sambar road, however, was prohibited after the attack. With night curfew on, nobody including the staff is allowed to venture out after 7.30 pm and food is served in the room. But many don’t mind staying up long hungry nights by their windows for that lifetime glimpse. The staff at Dhikala, however, is plain scared. With the end of tourist season on Friday, they said they would be left alone to fend for themselves.
