My Gypsy King YOSSARIAN and I have been on many road trips in the last 10 years and made many memories together! Narrating a few interesting Tales from the Road!
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| YOSSARIAN in our *secret forest* on Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border |
A key reason for buying the Gypsy was to cover more physical area on my Weekly "Jungle Ghooming" trips. Between 2006 and 2008 I was based in Pune/Mumbai and most of my weekly explorations were in the Western Ghats. The Western Ghats are an amazing ecosystem with a lot of wildlife potential. Starting from Tansa and Nane near Kalyan-Kasara in the North to Anshi just across the border in Karnataka to the South with Dajpiur, Amba and many others in between! After 2008, stopped carrying Tents and began Camping out in the Gypsy itself. Made setting up Camp very easy indeed! 😋
Chased by "the Dorai"
I moved to Bangalore in 2009 mainly for professional reasons. But there was another reason too! Kenneth Anderson, the famous hunter of man-eating tigers in British-India was based out of Bangalore and working as a Plant Manager at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. He was also called the "Jim Corbett of South India" having authored dozens of wildlife books and books concerning the occult - both of which greatly interest me! I had devoured all of Anderson's books before I finished High School and had read them dozens of times since! I can never tire of reading Jungle Stories! I almost know the stories By Heart! 👧
All of Anderson's stories are based in Jungles within a 5 hour driving distance of Bangalore. There are7 large Tiger Reserves within that 5-hour radius: Wayanad, Nagarhole, Bandipur, KGudi, Mudumalai, Satyamangala & Kudremukh. There are also smaller forests that are not much known outside the Wildlife circuit. The main advantage of living in Bangalore for me was the unique opportunity to go Jungle-Ghooming and Car Camping every week in some of these forests that Anderson wrote about!
Just around 60 miles south of Bangalore, is a thick forest straddling the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border, teeming with Wildlife and with Ecological secrets that I will not divulge for fear of attracting corporate vultures intent on destruction - we have seen what happened in Panna (MP) right? Nor do I want Rowdy drunk Boys with Jeeps coming here for Off-Roading and destroying the peace! While I certainly enjoy Off-Roading games, The Jungle is not the place for it! This corner of the world must remain pristine & untouched!
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| Entry to "Spider Valley" |
This forest once teemed with Tigers which were spotted here even till the mid-90s. However, most Tigers have long since vanished from here. The few that I have seen seem to be mostly transient tigers migrating from one Forest to another. There are plenty of other animal species from Elephant, Sambar & Chital Deer, Bear, Hyena and ofcourse Leopards - the last are especially thriving here. The following pic was shot early morning just meters away from the spot where I was car-camping. She was up in the tree all evening while I was parked right there! I only noticed her next morning when she started calling for a mate!
In this secret jungle hideout lived a particularly annoying Elephant. The local Forest Guards called him "Dorai" which in the Tamil Language roughly translates to "Gentleman", "Nobility". He wasn't a particularly large male as Elephants go - infact quite the opposite! And he had no tusks at all! I am not sure if he had lost the Tusks in a fight or it was because of a genetic condition. The "Dorai" name in this case was a sarcastic reference to his annoying habit of harassing anyone who crossed his path! Bullock Carts, laden with Timber felled in the forest, were a favorite target. On atleast one occasion, he had mauled one of the bullocks, crushing his legs first then proceeding to slowly torture the unfortunate animal through the night till he died. Most locals learnt from experience to avoid him!
However, I passed the Dorai on numerous occasions without being harassed so much so that I began doubting the stories told to me by the Forest Guards. There was even a discussion amongst the Forest Officials on why this was so! My Gypsy was Blue. "The Dorai only attacks White Vehicles". A common theory about Elephant behavior in Southern India.
Naturally, I soon began to relax around the Dorai, frequently going into the areas he was known to frequent. Even camped out there a number of times! That would soon change! One weekend, I had reached the spot and set up camp around 9am on Saturday morning and spent all day chilling out at the spot. Doing some birding, reading, even cooked 4 meals in total outside the Gypsy without any issue! After a relaxing, uneventful weekend, I packed up the Gypsy and left the site just before noon on Sunday hoping to avoid the Sunday evening traffic around Hosur, reach Bangalore before 4pm and head out for some beer with friends at Arbor. That was the plan!
Barely a couple of miles from the camp site, there is a section of Trail around 3 miles long that I call "S bend" - self explanatory na? Right at the beginning of this section, I spotted the Dorai standing to the left (South) of the trail peacefully munching away on some bamboo shoots. I was not worried! I crossed him and must have gone maybe a 100 meters when I heard a blood curdling shriek rip through the silence of the jungle from behind! Looking into the rear view mirror, I was horrified to see the Dorai charge with incredible speed towards my Gypsy. I had little time to react! I floored the pedal and the Gypsy took off with a screeching sound! Incredibly the Dorai didn't stop as Elephants usually do! He followed for more than 2 miles till had reached the center of the "S bend". It was at this point that he seemed to give up and turned into the jungle with his tail in the air and defiant shriek! That was a close call! I eased up on the pedal and slowed down - there is a strict speed limit within the forest area and I didn't want to be breaking rules! My heart was still racing at the close call! I had barely gone another couple of miles, when I noticed the Dorai hiding in the foliage on the left of the trail! The Rascal had figured out that he wont be able to catch up to me and had contrived to take a short cut through the jungle to cut me off! He was waiting patiently to pounce on me as soon as I passed. I continued slowly and when I was barely meters away from him, suddenly floored the pedals and took off again! Taken by surprise, the Dorai gave another blood curdling shriek and gave chase. Unfortunately, the trail here was somewhat rocky so I couldn't speed enough and I saw his figure grow larger & larger in my rear view mirror. In sheer desperation, I went down a gear and floored the pedal! I almost made it! The Dorai, equally keen to make a kill, made a swaying motion with his head which caught my rear bumper.
I was doing around 40kph at this time. I only felt a slight bump from the rear as the Dorai made contact. For a brief second I thought I would get away with it! What happened next is something I am unable to explain to this day! The steering column jerked and the entire front of the vehicle lifted into the air, toppled onto its right side and came to rest with a loud crash! The Dorai did not press his attack and ran off into the Jungle. I was unhurt except for a bump on my forehead and a bruised ego!
After a minute to collect myself, I climbed out of the Driver side window which was facing the sky! I called the local Forest Guards using my Radio and told them all about what happened! They arrived in 30 minutes with a Tractor from the local village to pull the Gypsy upright. The windshield and right window was completely smashed and the rear bumper was completely bent out of shape but the FRP hard top was surprisingly undamaged! Fortunately the engine started on the first crank and I motored back to Bangalore with a bruised ego. I did reach Bangalore by 6 and did go to Arbor that evening! Didn't tell my friends anything because they wouldn't believe anyway!
Barely a couple of miles from the camp site, there is a section of Trail around 3 miles long that I call "S bend" - self explanatory na? Right at the beginning of this section, I spotted the Dorai standing to the left (South) of the trail peacefully munching away on some bamboo shoots. I was not worried! I crossed him and must have gone maybe a 100 meters when I heard a blood curdling shriek rip through the silence of the jungle from behind! Looking into the rear view mirror, I was horrified to see the Dorai charge with incredible speed towards my Gypsy. I had little time to react! I floored the pedal and the Gypsy took off with a screeching sound! Incredibly the Dorai didn't stop as Elephants usually do! He followed for more than 2 miles till had reached the center of the "S bend". It was at this point that he seemed to give up and turned into the jungle with his tail in the air and defiant shriek! That was a close call! I eased up on the pedal and slowed down - there is a strict speed limit within the forest area and I didn't want to be breaking rules! My heart was still racing at the close call! I had barely gone another couple of miles, when I noticed the Dorai hiding in the foliage on the left of the trail! The Rascal had figured out that he wont be able to catch up to me and had contrived to take a short cut through the jungle to cut me off! He was waiting patiently to pounce on me as soon as I passed. I continued slowly and when I was barely meters away from him, suddenly floored the pedals and took off again! Taken by surprise, the Dorai gave another blood curdling shriek and gave chase. Unfortunately, the trail here was somewhat rocky so I couldn't speed enough and I saw his figure grow larger & larger in my rear view mirror. In sheer desperation, I went down a gear and floored the pedal! I almost made it! The Dorai, equally keen to make a kill, made a swaying motion with his head which caught my rear bumper.
I was doing around 40kph at this time. I only felt a slight bump from the rear as the Dorai made contact. For a brief second I thought I would get away with it! What happened next is something I am unable to explain to this day! The steering column jerked and the entire front of the vehicle lifted into the air, toppled onto its right side and came to rest with a loud crash! The Dorai did not press his attack and ran off into the Jungle. I was unhurt except for a bump on my forehead and a bruised ego!
After a minute to collect myself, I climbed out of the Driver side window which was facing the sky! I called the local Forest Guards using my Radio and told them all about what happened! They arrived in 30 minutes with a Tractor from the local village to pull the Gypsy upright. The windshield and right window was completely smashed and the rear bumper was completely bent out of shape but the FRP hard top was surprisingly undamaged! Fortunately the engine started on the first crank and I motored back to Bangalore with a bruised ego. I did reach Bangalore by 6 and did go to Arbor that evening! Didn't tell my friends anything because they wouldn't believe anyway!
The funniest bit was at the Garage 2 days later. The Insurance Surveyor who came to assess the damage asked me what had happened in order to write his report. I told him verbatim the above story. He wrote down "Rear ended by Truck at Hosur Signal"! I got the insurance claim almost in full! 😂
While returning from another camping trip to the same forest, the metal Gear Shift on the Gypsy snapped into 2 without any warning forcing me to drive back to Bangalore! Learnt to shift gears on the Gyp with just the stub end! My left hand was completely bruised but I got back to Bangalore without incident! Another example of "expect the unexpected" when you own a Gypsy! 😂
Locked Steering
This was not the last time the Gypsy would topple however! Just 2 years later, I was enroute to a Census project in a small state forest near the town of Chitradurga to the North of Bangalore. I stopped for Breakfast around 8am and started driving again at 9am hoping to get to the Forest Guest House by 11. The road was narrow and surrounded by jungle on both sides but it was a State Highway with proper tarmac roads. There was a 3 ft wide and tall mud embankment on both sides separating the Road from the Jungle proper. There were locals walking casually along this narrow road and the occasional deer crossing so I was going exceptionally slow.
Suddenly, without warning, the steering jerked slightly and locked into place! You know like how it locks when you remove the key? Like that! The Gypsy swerved off to the right and climbed onto the embankment on the ride, lost momentum, then slid back and rolled over - again on the right side! This all happened in a split second without any warning whatsoever! Once again, I was unhurt so climbed out as a crowd gathered around me preparing to berate me for driving drunk at 9am! I told them in broken Kannada about the steering lock. An older uncle type villager called his son to come over with his Jeep to pull me upright while a kind lady running a tea shop gave me some strong Black Tea to restore my nerves! The steering was still locked but pulling out the slightly jammed key and putting it back in again unlocked it! I was unhurt and the Gypsy was largely unscathed except for a damaged windshield and scratched up bonnet on the right side.
To this day, I don't know what happened that day! I later posted about the incident on a popular automobile forum. There was lots of speculation but no real answers!
Tire Change in the Jungle and a Nasty Surprise!
One week, I was visiting one of our secret jungle hideouts on the West very close to the Karnataka-Kerala border. My close friend was with me on this camping trip. He had never seen a Tiger in the Wild and was hoping to see one this time. I had told him tales about the various tigers that resided in that forest. We had a really great time car-camping that day and that evening was a lot of fun too! 😉 Sadly, we didn't see any Tigers!
So HE was in a very bad mood as we prepared to head back for Bangalore on Sunday! We Jungle Folk believe in one thing - if you carry negative energy, our jungle friends will stay away. Plus bad things happen when you have a bad attitude! And that was the case here too! It started raining as we Left! He lost all hope and even packed his camera and big wildlife lens away! We had barely gone a few miles when I realised we had a Puncture on the Rear left side tire. His grumbling only got worse! I had stopped on a Small "Culvert" where Forest Staff had built a 3ft wide gutter under the road to allow rain water to flow unimpeded without flooding the road itself.
Getting out of the Gypsy, we started swapping the tire with the spare. He was still grumbling, so I told him this area where we had stopped was the territory of a Tigress called Meenakshi (aka Minx) and even showed him photos of that tigress taken on a previous census trip. He wasn't impressed! "Leave it Baby! Heard a lot of stories from you but haven't seen even a Jungle Cat yet!"
15 minutes later, we were done replacing the tire and got back in! I tried to cheer him up by promising to make him some Kerala Style Beef Fry - his favorite. Saying that, i turned the key to crank the engine! At the sound of the cranking engine, A loud roar split the Jungle from somewhere near us. He had never heard a Tiger Roar before but there was no mistaking that sound! Startled, It took us a second to realise that sound had come from beneath us! We had no clue that we were changing that tire, yapping loudly all the while, with a Tiger hiding in the Culvert below us - perhaps sheltering from the drizzle! The Gyp had not started so I cranked the engine again. With an earth shattering roar, a Tigress jumped out of her hiding spot in the culvert and dashed into the jungle! In this area, It could only be Minx! He didn't really see the Tigress, only its rear end and tail as it dashed into the foliage. But that was enough! He had heard the roar - a sound he is unlikely to forget for a lifetime! He was in a much better mood for the rest of the drive back to Bangalore. And he called his friends over for a drink that night to narrate the story in great detail!
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