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Wildbuzz | Agony and ecstasy
The mating of mighty lions under the African skies is a cosmic moment of release of pent up energies, beastly passions and the augur of new life; when a slithering guest affords a glimpse before vanishing, it not only sets off genuine fears but politically-sensitive apprehensions of inauspicious presence
We may describe them as a ‘pride of four male docs’ passionately fond of wildlife photography. The four took to photography 15 years back, encouraged and guided each other, and that resulted in some outstanding outcomes of wildlife photography. They are Dr Kuldip Jaswal, Dr Inderjit (Moga), Dr Vivek Banerjee (Saharanpur) and Dr Sanjeev Goyal (Sirsa). The Wildbuzz column has had the privilege to publish a picture each from the latter three over the years. A scintillating one from Dr Jaswal of mating African lions in this week’s columns completes the representation from the ‘quartet of pic docs’.
Dr Jaswal, a public health specialist posted at the dispensary of the Institute of Microbial Technology, Sector 39, Chandigarh, was recently at the world-famous Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, for a six-night odyssey into a wilderness known for hosting dreamy breakfasts in the crisp dawns of the savannah. His second tour of the Mara over the years fetched him a fortuitous interlude. Having witnessed the iconic migration of the wildebeest, Dr Jaswal’s vehicle on return encountered lions engaged in the vigour of sexual congress. “We were lucky we got frontal shots as there were very few vehicles and the lions were in the open and not concealed by the bush. They mated four to five times in front of us,” Dr Jaswal told this writer.
The mating of mighty lions under the African skies is a cosmic moment of release of pent up energies, beastly passions and the augur of new life. For the lioness, especially, it is a moment of surrender to the most competitive of the warlords of the bush. For her, passion is interspersed with agony and ecstasy as the lion subdues her will and snares her streak to break free from the wincing pains of repeated penetration.
CM ke darshan
The Haryana chief minister’s residence employs a rickety contraption to serve as a boundary wall with the lush and plush Bougainvillea Garden, Sector 3, housing the War Memorial. The garden has the nullah draining from the foothills running and it flows adjacent to the august presence of Haryana’s personage. Inside, the VVIP residence itself is riven with rodent holes in a section of its garden to the accompaniment of splendid trees and lush foliage. All this makes for an inviting habitat for uninvited guests, the serpents of ‘sawan’.
When a slithering guest affords a glimpse before vanishing into a rodent hole or the foliage, it not only sets off genuine fears but politically-sensitive apprehensions of inauspicious presence, superstitions galore and misconceived notions about the very nature of serpents. In recent weeks, two silvery-black snakes were rescued from the residence. It was only when they were bagged that it was realised they were non-venomous Rat snakes of an unusually dark morph. From a glimpsing distance, they had acutely resembled Spectacled cobras, dreaded by many but also well regarded by Shiva devotees as symbolic of his thick, unfurling coils.
Not that cobras were going to give a miss to a darshan of the CM residence when lowly Rat snakes had marked their presence! A newly-born cobra, characteristic of the breeding season of August, intruded from the Garden boundary but was rescued before it did damage or got itself “encountered” by a burly Haryana VVIP cop.
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