Is there a tiger out there?

It is funny….when I was working on my doctorate and it was late at night and I was exhausted in my office, I would sometimes…..ok a lot….consider ridiculous things. One was…Ok. Wtf would I do, if I looked up and a lion walked in? Could I get away and how would I do it? Let me just say that I eventually had escape plans for lions all over that campus.

No…not insane…I know what you are thinking….just badly needing to think about solving any problems others than those in my dissertation…..and also….hey…well you never know when you might need such a plan!

Anyway, First night. I know there are tigers around. Mind you maybe only 20 in the entire region….but still! Those are more than zero! So when I hear the rustling of a large animal at 2am just outside the window….my first thought is…ok. Shit! I hadn’t had time yet to formulate my tiger/lion man eating escape plan!! And….. did I close the back door? And……. is there a back door? Or hole in the wall that I might have missed? Or the ceiling? Did I lock the door? Do tigers know how to turn doorknobs? And then….is it going to hurt? It turned out to be….a cow….of course! And he/she/she….yes cow would be she…..visited me every night…sounding very much like a tiger munching grass….because they totally do that! Tigers….munching grass.

Inside was a smaller mammal….a rat . I know…..sort of unhappy face. I called him mouse. Partly to make him seem….nicer? …Mouse was pretty small compared to a tiger, but also sounded just like one going through my luggage my first night. And of course that seemed perfectly logical to me. ….that a tiger would rummage through my luggage. I mean…there could be cool stuff in there! Hard to come by a good leatherman in Nepal. When he would get in my luggage from there on I would just call out mouse once or twice really sternly….to let him know that I meant business. You need to be firm with animals that way….I am certain of it. Yeah….he ignored me.