THE HIGH OF THE TIGER

Triumph's big cat is in its most ferocious avatar yet

- Manaal Mahatme

It’s a gloomy morning. The road is empty and still damp from the previous night’s downpour. The village folk are still indoors. Only cattle and stray dogs are in sight. A deep rumble alerts them. They twitch their ears and look around for the threat. The sound gets louder; the predator is approaching them fast. The cows get up haphazardly; too afraid to look back while the mutts take shelter and prepare to ambush whatever is darting their way. A pair of shiny blue eyes appear, latched onto its prey. The dogs don’t dare come in its way. With their heads lowered, they just wait for the beast to pass and hoping to leave them unharmed. The beast’s is fixated on its target. Its well-defined, muscular body shows that it has immense power and isn’t afraid to use it. In a swift move, the beast leaps onto its prey — the sweeping corner down the road.

Panthera tigris, commonly known as the tiger, is the largest among the living cat species. Years of evolution has made it a lot different from its earliest known ancestor — the Pseudaelurus. And even after all these years, the spirit of this beast has remained unchanged much like the Tiger from Hinckley.

This particular subspecies is the Tiger 900 GT — the one that is supposedly the most accessible and friendlier of the lot. A glance isn’t sufficient to see the small changes it has had over its predecessor, but it doesn’t long to notice that this avatar of the 900 GT is the most ferocious it has ever been.