Major Khan
AH legend
The English saying is “ There is a first time for everything “ . That is true. However , it is also true that the very 1st time 1 attempts to try their hand at something, they can be rather slovenly in the way they go about , with their work . This certainly held true for me. If there is any sport , which l consider to be the king of all sports , then it is panther shooting . With 20 panthers under my belt ( or braces , which l personally favor wearing to belts ) , it can be safely said that l am above average , in this sport. However, every shikaree has a beginning and some are more embarrassing than others. Tonight , l will tell you all the story of my very 1st attempt at trying to secure a panther and the comedy of errors which ensued in my grandfather’s and my attempts to pursue it . Our story begins in November , 1965 .
I had just successfully completed guiding a shikar for a large male royal Bengal tiger and had acquired a hefty 6000 Rupees to spend as l saw fit . Thus , l decided that l would treat my maternal grandfather for his birthday ( he had just turned 67 years old , at the time ) . Being a product of the British Raj , Nana was an avid lover of western food and he fortunately passed on his fondness to me . His favorite meal of all was a roast beef prime rib ( referred to , as a rib roast back in those days ) . Thus , we had dinner at a small restaurant named “ Ben Bow “ which was run by an elderly British lady . Their roasts were some of the finest in Nagpur at that time and my favorite was the roasted prime rib ( cooked to medium ) , hash browns and creamed spinach . And it comes as no surprise that , this was the meal which we had on that evening. We started talking about many things and it was natural that our mutually loved sport ( hunting ) arose as a topic. My Nana mentioned that a goat farmer in a farm , roughly 3 miles away from our family house had been facing problems from a very large forest panther which was responsible for killing a half dozen of his goats and that the farmer was desperately appealing to my nana to go and hunt down the panther and rid him of this menace . I had often heard many exciting stories from my good friends , Tobin Stakkatz and Kawshik Rahman ( in Darjeeling ) who sang praises about the excitement of hunting panthers , but l had not shot any till then myself . Thus , l seized my opportunity when my Nana mentioned the forest panther and l begged him to let me tag along and help him dispatch this animal . Having shot 4 panthers himself till then , my Nana agreed , but insisted that l listen to everything that he say. I solemnly promised to do , just that.
Had l only listened to him , l would have avoided making a fool out of myself .
Below , l have provided a photograph lent to me by my good friend , retired fellow professional shikaree and fellow forum member , Sergeant Kawshik Rahman , of a dressed panther skin of a panther shot and killed by Kawshik in Darjeeling. I am using it , because l do not wish to show a photograph of the panther , my Nana and l had to kill , until the climax of this article.
In the next part of this 3 part article , l will relate how my Nana and I had to contend with this devious feline .
I had just successfully completed guiding a shikar for a large male royal Bengal tiger and had acquired a hefty 6000 Rupees to spend as l saw fit . Thus , l decided that l would treat my maternal grandfather for his birthday ( he had just turned 67 years old , at the time ) . Being a product of the British Raj , Nana was an avid lover of western food and he fortunately passed on his fondness to me . His favorite meal of all was a roast beef prime rib ( referred to , as a rib roast back in those days ) . Thus , we had dinner at a small restaurant named “ Ben Bow “ which was run by an elderly British lady . Their roasts were some of the finest in Nagpur at that time and my favorite was the roasted prime rib ( cooked to medium ) , hash browns and creamed spinach . And it comes as no surprise that , this was the meal which we had on that evening. We started talking about many things and it was natural that our mutually loved sport ( hunting ) arose as a topic. My Nana mentioned that a goat farmer in a farm , roughly 3 miles away from our family house had been facing problems from a very large forest panther which was responsible for killing a half dozen of his goats and that the farmer was desperately appealing to my nana to go and hunt down the panther and rid him of this menace . I had often heard many exciting stories from my good friends , Tobin Stakkatz and Kawshik Rahman ( in Darjeeling ) who sang praises about the excitement of hunting panthers , but l had not shot any till then myself . Thus , l seized my opportunity when my Nana mentioned the forest panther and l begged him to let me tag along and help him dispatch this animal . Having shot 4 panthers himself till then , my Nana agreed , but insisted that l listen to everything that he say. I solemnly promised to do , just that.
Had l only listened to him , l would have avoided making a fool out of myself .
Below , l have provided a photograph lent to me by my good friend , retired fellow professional shikaree and fellow forum member , Sergeant Kawshik Rahman , of a dressed panther skin of a panther shot and killed by Kawshik in Darjeeling. I am using it , because l do not wish to show a photograph of the panther , my Nana and l had to kill , until the climax of this article.
In the next part of this 3 part article , l will relate how my Nana and I had to contend with this devious feline .