November 16. “I am very sad today, Button?”

“Why?”

“I read a terrible story first thing in the morning as I have a habit of scanning the front page of the TOI. There were pictures to go along with the story of how a sambar was attacked by two tigers in a tiger reserve near Nagpur and how it went into a shallow lake to avoid them where it was again attacked by crocodiles. He fought a lone battle for 24 hours before being hunted down by one of the tigers on land. Sambars are tame creatures. It was so brave of him to fight a 24 hour-long battle.”

“What are sambars?”

“A kind of deer.”

“Sad. But that’s the law of the jungle where the mighty rule.”

“As it is, global warming is killing off most of our animals and making them extinct. And then this? What will be left eventually? A bare world! These are our real treasures.”

“I don’t know. I am as sad and confused.”