World War II Remembered

Tiger, Tiger

103 During World War II, tigers still burned bright on the jungleclad slopes of the Himalayas in Assam in northeastern India. They sometimes came down into the tea fields below, from which the U.S. Air Transport Command flew supplies over the Himalayan massif to China. The tigers were not supposed to be man-eaters, but we who were stationed there could not be sure that one would not change his mind. One steaming evening in 1942, in the chota (short) monsoon, some of us were sitting over drinks of wild lime juice and Indian gin and trying to maintain an illusion of coolness. Fireflies were flashing their lights over the fields—always a spectacle, for in their millions, they flashed, not at random as at home, but simultaneously, forming a brilliant stratum of light that gradually rose above the fields in the gathering darkness. Suddenly,ayoungsoldierdroveup.Leapingfromajeep,heshouted, “Tiger, tiger! He nearly got me in this goddam broken-down jeep!” Still Tiger, Tiger • George Harris Air Transport Command 104 World War II Remembered trembling, he said that he had been driving down a long, narrow lane in the tea fields. In the twilight, he saw on the road ahead the glowing eyes of a shadowy figure he took to be a stray calf. As it came closer, he saw that this was no calf but a big Bengal tiger. He stopped, appalled by the thought that there was no room to turn around and that the jeep was prone to stalling and could be started only by hand-cranking. The tiger continued to saunter down the center of the road toward him. Getting out to crank the jeep was unthinkable. The temperamental engine was still running. Could he put it into reverse without it stalling? With the tiger only yards away, the question might be one of life or death. The great beast might or might not be hungry. Pinning desperate hope on retreat, the terrified young man revved up the idling engine to a high scream and thrust the jeep into reverse. Backing the quarter of a mile to the end of the lane, he must have broken all speed records for driving in reverse. We tried to calm him with lime juice and gin and resolved to insist that the starters on our jeeps be kept in working order. Stories of man-eating tigers were common but mostly unsubstantiated . When verified, the tiger was elderly and unable to take any prey other than human. Tigers are, of course, dangerous animals to hunt. If cornered or wounded, they can turn the hunter into the hunted. They do not so much seek humans as avoid them, except when yielding to feline curiosity. Some of us were aware of these characteristics, but no one was disposed to test them. The Yellow Eyes The living room, bedrooms, and veranda of the junior officers’ bungalow were built above the kitchen and storerooms, which were separated by a driveway that passed under the living quarters above. Our mess sergeant preferred setting up his cot in the driveway at night to trying to sleep in his airless room in the storage unit. Late one night, he rushed up the stairs to the veranda, where most of us, unable to sleep in the 95-degree humid heat, were still up. “I’m not sleeping down there anymore,” the sergeant announced. “I just woke up. I had the feeling something was watching me. Right there beside my cot was the biggest tiger I ever heard of. His head was big as a basketball. He just stood there looking at me through my mosquito net. Those yellow eyes! Tiger, Tiger: George Harris 105 Finally, he walked off. Must not have been hungry!” Needless to say, the sergeant slept on the veranda thereafter. The thought that there was nothing to prevent the tiger from joining us too was not comforting. Our headquarters was in a long tin-roofed shed from which the tea-drying tables had been removed. The colonel’s desk was at the head of the double line of desks of the rest of the staff. Mine happened to be just in front of the colonel’s. I was glad to spend most of my time in the field, out from under the colonel’s critical eye. One morning, a supply truck drew up. The driver, a corporal, came in and saluted the colonel...