The monotony for a single man working in vast sea of unknown humans called Mumbai had begun setting in. I walked into the BNHS office with lot of hope and curiosity. It’s an NGO working in the field of wildlife research and nature conservation. One of its many activities includes organizing trails, nature walks and bird sighting for nature enthusiasts for bare minimum fees. It also planned tours to wildlife sanctuaries, which I was particularly interested for. The office was quiet, devoid of any human presence except for the irritated gatekeeper whose dreams I had shattered by my untimely presence in the afternoon. It resembled a library of a college of certain vintage, not exactly by look but by the feel and calm. I walked gingerly to the room as directed by the old man.
A chubby young woman was sitting there engrossed in some paperwork. The nameplate displayed Jaya G.
“Excuse me, I wish to become a member of BNHS. What is the process?” I asked.
She looked up, watching intently with her eyes without bothering to slide the spectacles up.
“I’ll explain it to you, just be seated”. She completed her work and began explaining the process of membership and the activities which I could participate in. I agreed and she started filling the form herself. By now, the initial façade of no-nonsense attitude had faded and she was forthcoming and chirpy. We engaged in a comfortable conversation.
“Designation?” She asked after filling the other details.
“Relationship Manager” I replied with a confident smile slightly tilting towards arrogant pride. I had just been promoted and vanity is a trait God put in every human being, in varying magnitude.
She tired really hard to stifle it first, but it looked like she would have choked had the laugh just not poured out. My smile vanished and my rage had just been put on the stove and the burner lit.
“Why, what happened?” I asked with my civility almost tearing up at the seam.
“Relationship Manager, never heard of it”, she was still unapologetic about it. The aura of Relationship manager was sitting in the dustbin next to the table. The year was 2004 and it was perfectly alright to be ignorant about the term. The fact that she was casual about it rather than not knowing it was hurting me more. The fragile male ego had been brought down by a simple, innocuous remark.
“It’s ok, there are a lot of things you might not be aware of”. I was done with politeness.
“What does Relationship manager do?”. She was not interested in war. The laugh had toned down but not gone. I wondered whether it was a genuine query or she was being cheeky.
‘Setting up prospective brides and grooms’, I was about to spurt. “Managing the investments and risk of clients and giving them financial advice for their stock portfolio”.
She nodded to either appreciate or assuage me. I completed the formalities and became member of BNHS with a very awkward interaction. I consoled myself with the fact that she was assigned registration duty and never was I ever meeting her again.
I dragged my dear friend Zubin along in BNHS. We went to multiple nature walks in areas around Sanjay Gandhi National Park. BNHS showed me the Mumbai I never knew existed. Walking along rivulets, birds chirping and carefree bunch of people all eager to soak in as much as nature offered, we were always guided by friendly and jovial BNHS employees. There used to be intense arguments over identification of birds from the calls heard, we both used to watch them with amusement wondering whether we were really living in Mumbai. Zubin was born in Mumbai and all those years he had never discovered this side of it, so soothing and surreal.
After almost a year, the opportunity arrived I had eagerly been waiting for. BNHS had organized a four-day tour to Sasan Gir National Park, the only home to Asiatic lions located in Junagadh district of Gujarat and interested members had to visit their office for registration and payment. I hesitantly looked at the room I had gone to; the last time I had come to BNHS. Someone else was there and I took it as a good omen. Both of us were guided to a senior gentleman in the office for resolving all the queries we had for the tour. We met an extremely warm and humorous person who cleared all our doubts and had us in splits all the time. When him and I finally thought we had neared the end of the discussion, Zubin again sprung alive.
“What if the lion attacks the gypsy, after all it’s an open one and lion can easily jump on to it”. He asked with a nervous smile.
After all the do’s and don’ts, we were back to square one. I looked at Zubin with disbelief. The officer was still smiling.
“Of course, lions are kings of the jungle and unlike tigers they do not attack for no reason at all, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have a bad day. What if he’s not happy with the food served by the lioness and he decides to take the frustration out on you. After all lion is still a wild animal”.
I could barely watch Zubin’s reaction amidst the tears in my eyes and my stomach was hurting badly for laughing hysterically. Not to be outdone, Zubin still went ahead
“What should we do if such a situation arises?”
“You are a strapping, young man. I am sure you can outrun him, in the race of fear and food, fear mostly wins. Don’t forget to wear your sport shoes when you go on a safari. Build your stamina, there’s still some time for the tour”.
Zubin, a true blue white-as-a-ghost Parsi, was flush red in the face and I was not rolling on the floor because the room was cramped. After about a minute later, when the laughter died down he continued
“Don’t worry son, BNHS guide will accompany you, just follow the instructions and nothing shall happen to you”.
The employees doubled up as guides and I had met many of them on those nature walks. Just out of curiosity, I asked
“Who is it?”
He pointed towards the door.
We both looked in that direction. Jaya G was sporting a big grin. I tried to match it and failed.