How Ranthambore's Machli seduced a tiger to protect her cubs
There was an original Machli, so named by Fateh (tiger conservationist) because of a fish-like mark on her cheek.
She was the Lady of the Lakes and in the monsoon of 1997 had a litter.
One of her female cubs inherited her name and, by the turn of the century, her territory.
Females can slowly push their mothers out and the new Machli did just that. She was queen of the lakes and in 2000 she had her first litter - two male cubs and one female.
I believe she mated with the huge male tiger Bambooram, the tiger President Clinton had seen on his visit to Ranthambhore in 2000.
But after the monsoon of 2000 I never saw Bambooram again and he vanished just like Genghis. Did he get poached or poisoned?
Nobody knows but he left Machli a litter of cubs to bring up. Even without a resident male, Machli had managed to keep her male cubs safe.
She probably did this through a combination of seduction and aggression with the males that she came into contact with.
I remember the day when a wandering male tiger whom we called Nick sniffed her out. He circled her and made an effort to mate with her.
Machli would have none of it and as he sniffed the air and curled up his lips she attacked him ferociously with tooth and claw.
Even as ear-splitting roars split the air I noticed how both animals never sank their teeth into each other and were even careful with their claws as they rolled over in great ferocity.
It was Nick who moved off first with a little bow to Machli. She had won the round.
As he walked off he had a limp from a deep claw mark on the sole of a pad.
This aggression kept Nick a little away from the cubs but two months later Machli was seductively arousing his interest as she glided past his body and submitted.
This time they actually mated but just once before Machli moved off.
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This bout of mating had nothing to do with conception but it was Machli's way of keeping this transient male happy so he would not threaten her cubs.
A couple of months later her cubs had left and she was ready for Nick who had become a regular presence in her area.
The fact that tigresses could seduce male tigers to keep their cubs safe was a remarkable and hitherto unknown behavioural trait.
All the lake tigresses - from Noon to Machli, the Lady of the Lakes - I had observed were extraordinary animals and gave me great insights into the lives of tigers in the wild.
My encounters with Machli were as memorable as the others. On one occasion, when we started out at dawn, we literally bumped into four tigers - a mother with her three sub-adult cubs - the minute we entered the park.
We were on the edge of Rajbagh and that morning the tigers were feasting on a spotted deer which they must have killed during the night.
Machli was fast asleep on a high bank of grass. The cubs were grown-up enough to get restless and soon decided to stroll around the lake.
One of the cubs started roaring. The sound was mesmeric. Slowly they walked towards Mori, occasionally roaring and snarling at crocodiles in the water.
A pair of Brahminy ducks flew over them and they continued walking. Machli in the meantime had risen and slowly followed her brood towards Mori.
Four tigers on the move is a gorgeous sight. They ambled across to a masjid, an old ruin on the first lake.
A couple of peacocks cackled in alarm as the tigers made their way to Choti Chhatri where I was sure they would rest until the afternoon.
It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of Machli on August 18, 2016, just as I was finishing up with the proofs of this book.
Machli - what a beauty of a tigress! Yes, she was the most beautiful of all the tigers I have seen and a star of the 21st century.
Even towards the end, when she was nearly 20 years of age, and blind in one eye and toothless.
She had lovely stripes around her cheek and body, and was a striking presence who brought great joy to those who observed her.
(Printed with publisher's permission. Courtesy of Mail Today.)