The
temple tiger and more man-eaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett as the name
suggests is about the man eating tigers in the Himalayan region. It
is a collection of Jim’s hunting experiences of five man-eaters.
Though all these are real life experiences, I prefer to call them
stories. They have thrill, suspense and all other elements of a good
story
The
first story the temple tiger is different from all the stories
written by Jim is very different from other stories written by him.
Here he utterly fails to kill the man-eater. The man-eater escapes at
the end. This shows his honesty. It would have been easy for a person
like Jim to say that he had killed that tiger. But he tells the
truth.
Jim
not only describes the tigers but the life of people of the hills is
also depicted very well in his stories. Thus in the Muktesar
Man-eater he says in rural India, the post office and the bania’s
shop are to village folk what taverns and clubs are to people of
other lands, and if information on any particular subject is sought,
the post office and the bania’s shop are the best places to seek
it. Ignorance regarding leprosy finds mention in the Panar
Man-eater.
Not
only the men but he describes the vegetation and of course the
wildlife very vividly. In the Chuka Man-eater he describes how the
tigress trains her young cubs in a very poignant manner. He also
adds to our knowledge by telling that monkeys are blessed with
exceptionally good eyesight. In the same story the following line
depicts the guilt which even a hunter faces. ‘The thought of
disabling an animal and a sleeping one that, simply because he
occasionally liked a change of diet was hateful.’
The
font size used in the book is very small. As a result reading this
book causes a great strain on the eyes. Also there are typographical
errors at some places. I wish these were avoided.
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