Adilabad: In a nerve-chilling incident, a group of 30 villagers from Chinnaraspalli got caught between a tiger and a rivulet (peddavagu) on the state border for more than six hours on Thursday. Good news is, they returned to their village in a celebratory mood, to the accompaniment of drumbeats and light from ‘bamboo torches’ (Kagada), at night.
Chinnaraspalli is set in Dahegoan mandal of Komaram Bheem Asifabad district. Peddavagu is located between Amaragonda and Loha villages -- to where the villagers went by a couple of bullock carts in the afternoon for a holy dip (Karteekasnanalu) marking Karteekamasam.
In this forested area on the state border, tiger movement is frequent. Tigers migrate into Kagaznagar division crossing River Pranahitha from the Tadoba Andhari tiger reserve.
The group was taking a holy dip in the rivulet’s waters after resting their bullock carts on the sand. All of a sudden, they were face-to-face with a tiger.
The tiger sat on the sand and began staring at them from close quarter. It appeared to enjoy the sight of the villagers’ holy dips and continued observing their strange movements. The scared villagers remained stay put in the water, scared to their bones.
Both the tiger and the villagers spent more than six hours in their respective spots, staring at each other. Water kept flowing in the rivulet and the tiger would not move from the spot.
It was no man’s area. Telephone signals were poor for them to call up the police. After remaining stranded for a long time, a villager managed to contact the Dahegoan police and forest officials.
Chinnaraspalli, hearing the news, went into an upheaval. The inhabitants got together, marched with traditional drum beats and bamboo torches at night to the rivulet area to usher the group back. The local police led by Raghupati reached the Amaragonda village and led the group back to their homes.
The dispirited tiger, meanwhile, went inside the forest after hearing the drumbeats and sight of the burning bamboo torches. This gave relief to village folk caught for long in the rivulet. The group of men and women safely reached their village around 8 pm.
