Paper tiger

Nothing can conceivably compensate for the disappointment of having missed seeing a tiger by a whisker, not even the consolation of seeing its quarter-plate-sized footprint implanted in the wet mud at the Bhadra Tiger Reserve, near Chikmagalur in Karnataka. On the drive back, therefore, my mind played tricks on me, resounding with the roars I never got to hear. My hallucinatory reverie was disturbed, however, by the noisy rattle from a Channapatna toy-seller at a railway crossing. But among her wares, what really pieced my broken heart together was this jigsaw puzzle of a menacing-yet-friendly tiger. At a nominal `60, it was a steal, a value-for-money memory of the elusive Mr. Bigpaw. As a puzzle with just half a dozen pieces, it’s a bit tame, and does little to challenge the mind. But it does a wonderful job of inspiring in me the belief that someday, somewhere, I’ll be able to say “Gotcha!” to its brother in flesh and blood.