Anu Doongaji was wearing a tee shirt with a tiger motif. "Mané jausé tau aavsé [if (the tiger) sees me, he will come],” she announced to the 60 odd community members aged three to 80 who were on a trip to the Balasaheb Thackeray Gorewada International Zoological Park organized by the Nagpur Parsi Gymkhana (NPG) on June 25, 2023. She wanted to hug the tiger they spotted, to which Meheroo Watchmaker commented, "Maré-ré … éné su koti karé, vaas marto (Damn, who wants to hug him…he must be smelly).”
Clockwise from top: Tigers at Nagpur;
merrymakers from the Orange City at the Zoological Park
"The excitement in the buses was palpable, the noise and chatter drowned the poor guide’s commentary altogether” as they sighted a young leopard, four sloth bears, lots of deer including albino black bucks, lots of peacocks and two tigers, noted NPG honorary secretary and joint editor of their periodical bawabuzz Khurshid Dalal. One young sloth came right up to the bus and stood up and peeped in, she said. The safari was followed by a hearty breakfast at the residence of Nilufer and Mehernosh Rana.
The International Zoological Park includes a Jungle Drive, Rescue Center, Bio Park, Bamboo Department and other natural beauties of lakes and hills,” notes their website. The safari is very well organized, starts and finishes on time, and the buses are clean and well maintained, said Dalal. Gymkhana president Tauby Bhagwagar, Dalal and joint honorary secretary Gulrukh Mehta worked very hard to make the event a success, Dalal stated.