ECHOES OF THE WILD

IN KANHA'S MIST-DRAPED WILDERNESS, THE FOREST BREATHES, LISTENS, AND REMEMBERS. AMID TIGER TRAILS AND TWILIGHT SAFARIS, THE SINDHIAN DISCOVERS THAT SILENCE IN THE WILD SPEAKS LOUDER THAN ANY CITY SOUND

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The road to Kanha began with the promise of silence. Not the hollow, urban kind - but a living silence, woven with rustling leaves, the distant drumming of woodpeckers, and the sigh of wind over tall grass.

We watched through the jeep's window as the landscape shifted from dust and concrete to stretches of Sal forest, glimmering under the morning sun. My younger brother, Anil, leaned forward, wide-eyed with wonder. "Do you think we'll see a tiger?" he whispered.

Our guide, Veer, smiled knowingly. "Perhaps," he said. "But remember, the forest doesn't perform on demand. It reveals itself, when it chooses."

As the jeep entered through Mukki Gate, the world seemed to fold inward. Sunlight filtered through towering trees; the air grew cooler, scented faintly of damp earth and mahua blossoms. By the time we reached Kanha Jungle Lodge, a serene property nestled on eleven forested acres, we already felt lighter - as if the city had uncoiled from our shoulders.

Our cottage opened onto a veranda that overlooked the trees. Birds flitted between branches. Somewhere in the distance, a langur called out - echoing like laughter across the stillness.

Lunch was simple, wholesome - rice, lentils, wild greens, and the tang of homemade chutneys. Afterwards, Veer led us on a nature walk, tracing faint forest paths marked by clawed tree trunks, deer tracks, and the curious silence that comes when something unseen is watching. “Every footprint here tells a story,” Veer said softly. “You just need to learn how to read it.”

At a sunlit clearing, the forest opened into a meadow of tall grass, golden and swaying. It was breathtaking - a cathedral of nature, where light and shadow danced across the earth.