A Tigress Called Machhli has added at least three places to my neverending list of places I want to visit: Kokkare Bellur, the village of storks, Kalo Dungar in the Rann of Kutch and Jawai for the leopards.
A collection of true animal stories promised to be delightful, and A Tigress Called Machhli did not let me down. I loved the lighthearted style, and how easily facts are woven into engaging stories. Perhaps you know about the tigon – the result of irresponsible mating between a tiger and a lion – but how does that become a story?
Supriya Sehgal’s storytelling style is simple, and the brevity of each tale left me smiling and satisfied.
A story I found particularly striking was “The Sport in the Sky”, which is about a creature that is not dear to me at all – the pigeon. Pigeons are messy – and what I hate most is when they come into the house and then panic.
“The Sport in the Sky” talks of kabutarbaazi, the art of training pigeons. And however much I dislike pigeons, the idea of caging and training them makes me deeply uncomfortable.
What impressed me about the story, though, was the complete lack of judgment in tone. The story is, first, a story. What comes later is what you can take away from it. And at the end of the story is a little author’s note that talks about the ethics of pigeon flying and the idea that birds must be free. That’s it.
A fun collection, A Tigress Called Machhli is ideal for readers who like to read like I do – in bits and pieces, rather than in one sitting.
| Title | A Tigress Called Machhli |
| Author | Supriya Sehgal |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Rating (out of 5) | 4 |
| Age-group | 8+ |
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