Tiger, tiger, burning bright

This is not a rewrite of some ancient political text. Someone somewhere long ago said one should keep one’s friends close and one’s enemies closer. Yes, murky statecraft needs stuff like that to lighten the gloom of eternal government and foreboding drudgery of skimming through files and files.

On the street, there is no enemy. Let’s say almost none, the eternal enemy of a driver late at night down dark uneven roads is an enormous fast-gaining SUV flashing the dipper and turning the pleasant familiar darkness around you into a blue-white Alien-like high beam. The SUV is a creature that challenges public safety and Indian well-being. It should have a very high tax on it so that motorists can go home in peace without being startled to dart from the right lane to the left in a very deft move while mouthing the many mantras to Shiva and Ganesha seeking their favour to protect you at that instance from the fast-gaining brute.

The mental note one remembers before swerving left is to remember the Hare Krishna mantra, if one can feel the impact and hear the metal, that would take one to Vrindavana without queuing up at the pearly gates or waiting for the 72 virgins to show up. Sigh.

Maqsood Khan met Vijay, the white tiger, in a close encounter of the worst kind, stuff nightmares are made of. But the tiger was on its best behaviour, sizing Maqsood up for a good 15 minutes or so. (Tip: Don’t  ever look into the eyes of any animal that threatens you, look away). Vijay looked surprised at the intrusion. Reports have quoted Maqsood’s father saying his son had mental instability. But Vijay growled a bit and stared and stared.

Then, there came the turning point, oops sorry for using the clichéd TV line, some good Samaritans decided to help poor Maqsood by pelting the tiger with stones and kicking up a badass noise. Yeah, they were ostensibly not the best of pals with the soon-to-be victim but they were doing what they wanted to do prevent his death.

Well, Vijay panicked at the tamasha. If one has seen any or some British Raj-era films, the shikari raja has a whole bunch of drummers banging away at the instruments to make the beast run into a narrower area for the marksman or his lackey to shoot. In Vijay’s case, he panicked and by instinct dragged Maqsood, killing him.

One can’t deal with an enraged beast but one can at least temper their attempts to help with reason and not send an animal into chomp-chomp mode, if there’s a next time. Maqsood’s helpers ended up killing him. Beware of friends.