After the tiresome but refreshing drive, we were back at square one. This time, we stopped in front of a beautiful house, the house of the forest officer. This was a two-storeyed bungalow beautifully adorned with a nice lawn and shrubs bearing nice flowers. It had a fence all around it and a wooden gate which was of the archaic style. It was enchanting in every frame and so, I was again back to track, my photos. This time, Smriti joined me and we clicked a few pics there. In the meantime, Rohit was probably signaling his lost love. I went to watch some sign boards put up there, containing the names of all the animals and birds that exist in that forest. After having finished examining all the boards, I came back and we were standing in a circle (except Rohit, who was awaiting someone’s visit) we saw his Love enter the garden. HE (It’s HE, not SHE) was walking all along the garden and finally came to a standstill at one place. Everyone was lost looking at HIS beauty and started capturing it preciously in their cameras. Rohit wanted to show off that HE was his love, and so, asked me to take a pic of the two of them together. And then, suddenly, HE jumped onto Rohit.
‘HE’ is a stag (or the lookalike of the same species). Trying to stand on HIS two legs, HE started jumping onto Rohit. And Rohit started blushing looking at his love do this to him. Everyone was frightened for a while and started shouting, which enraged the poor creature. The best part of the incident was that the more Rohit tried moving away from HIM, the more HE started chasing Rohit and jumping onto Rohit. The feeling of brotherly love probably overtook HIM on seeing Rohit and HE was probably blinded by it, HE started hugging Rohit in joy. Amidst embarrassment of the public display of affection, Rohit started shunning away HIM and this enraged HIM. HE started chasing Rohit and Rohit started running. He ran, ran and ran in circles around the vehicles that were all parked around the place, all the while, chased by HIM. Then started the Hide & Seek between the two of them. This went on for a while.
Meanwhile, I somehow managed to find our cab driver and get the keys of the cab. We finally opened the door on one side seeing that the stag was away. This opportunity was like a godsend to Rohit and he immediately jumped into the cab and closed the door. This frustrated HIM and HE started circling around the cab. HE even jumped onto the bonnet and was pleading to Rohit to come out and spend some time with HIM. However, Rohit turned adamant and finally, HE sulked and got away. After this brief reunion, we left the place for OUR (Tigers’) DEN and on the way, we stopped on the bridge that was built across a river running through. Again, a streak of photos followed, this time, most of them group photos, post which we reached the DEN. Jinal again had expressed her desire (read: forced us) to click some pics of hers at the place and finally after all that, we checked out of the place and proceeded towards Lucknow.
On the way, we wanted to stop at the bridge (remember? The bridge which had the road cum railway track on it) and click some pics. However, seeing the police escorting it (or probably so) on either side of the bridge, we called back our operation. Then each one of us fell into a delirious slumber. Probably Prashant and Ravi were the only ones who did not sleep.
Finally, Photos, Greenery, Nepal and Couple’s Reunion, four words to summarize the trip in all. The next best trip I had on campus, the best being my trip to Nainital. With this, I take leave and leave you to mull your plans for Dudhwa National Park.
P.S.: For those who are still confused about the love episode in this post, kindly re-read it with HE/HIM = the stag and he/him = Rohit.
Good narration Uday. As said before, felt nostalgic about the entire journey. Glad that its been captured for eternity :)
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