RIP Arrowhead - a life in the media
Not all Ranthambhore tigers are equal. Some become greats, immortalised in stories and forever linked to this famous park like no other. Two of the more famous ones, now sadly deceased, are Machali and Krishna. Well I have to sadly report that a third tiger has joined the hall of the greats in the sky, and that tiger is our beloved Arrowhead. She is a very special tiger to me personally, as she was present for all of my wonderful times with Dicky. She gave us so much fun and so much stress in equal measures, she made us laugh and she made us proud. It was Dicky that named her after her distinct facial markings, a name that would contribute to her worldwide celebrity status.
So over the coming days here, in words, music and pictures, is a celebration of her life. Today I will start with her early life, with her mother Krishna and siblings Pacman and Lightning…..
My first picture of her, walking at the back behind her brother Pacman and mighty mother Krishna. Of all the tigers in Ranthambhore, Krishna was the most incredible hunter, which was always such a joke to myself and Dicky as Arrowhead for much of her life was certainly not the best hunter!
I missed a lot of the early part of Arrowhead’s life due to travel elsewhere, but Dicky didn’t and always loved to remind me of that. Well with this picture I got my own back! In those days the parties at the Bagh were legendary and the night before this we had a big one and a severely hung-over Dicky didn’t make the early start. I did, just about, kept awake by Himmat and Rajkumar during the drive in, luckily we found the family early resting by the lake. The light was beautiful and as always the boss had us in the best setting due to some great tracking by Rajkumar (as usual bro)…..
At one point Arrowhead and Pacman started to play fight, I almost missed it to be honest as I wasn’t firing on all cylinders but a nudge from boss Himmat made sure I didn’t! Of course I could not wait to tell Dicky when I got back and this has become one of my favourite images of the family.
Fast forward a few years and Arrowhead’s life had become different, she was alone, she had the lakes as her territory and she was learning how to survive as an adult tiger in front of us. We watched as she tried, and usually failed, to hunt herds of chital by just charging into them. She became an expert at getting the young, which I guess kept her going until her skills were honed enough. Perhaps more than any tiger we saw her grow in front of us and start to thrive. I remember this shot so vividly, it was one that I had always wanted with the fort as the backdrop but there is only one angle to get it and the timing must be precise. As always my team put me in the right place at the right time and it’s a shot I really love. I was doubly honoured by it being one of the opening shots in the Remembering Tigers book, Dicky would have loved that, our girl right at the front.
Little did she know then how much her life was going to change!
Nothing ever prepares any of us to be a parent, I always thought Arrowhead would be a terrible mother as she was at times such a terrible tiger! But she proved us all wrong, she was a great mother, inheriting some of Krishna’s uncompromising streak but adding a touch of Arrowhead to it. She was the most visible tiger the lakes and zone 3 had ever seen in those days, even more so than Riddhi is today. I have so many pictures of her with her cubs, you can see a lot more in the slideshow that follows at the end of this blog.
After the cubs had gone she had a period which I think was the finest in her life. She was magnificent, able to hunt at will, totally dominant in her territory and fulfilling the legacy of Krishna and Machali before her. These three images were shot on the same trip, a freezing January in Ranthambhore where the light was simply incredible, and so was she.
After that period came Covid and it was a few years before I would return to Ranthambhore. Things had changed for Arrowhead. She had lost the lakes to her tigress offspring Riddhi, and was squashed into a small area between Riddhi’s territory and another mighty tigress called Noori. She was rarely seen…then I began to hear that she was sick. Valmik told me she had an infection and that the forest department were treating her with medication in some meat… because she had small cubs that depended on her. And at that point I decided that I didn’t want to see her again, she didn’t need me in her life. Yes we did come across her a few times, when we thought she was getting better, luckily (or not as it turns out) her cubs were growing strong. They became independent, and it looks like one turned mankiller, at which point her reason for fighting on vanished and she passed on.
I want you to look objectively at the picture above, don’t see people hassling Arrowhead because they weren’t. They were loving her, she was and still is, a tiger celebrity. No one got in the way of her hunting, no one pushed her; she had grown up and thrived in this environment, in the public eye. She had taken on the mantle of being the worldwide tiger celebrity, doing so much for tigers and for their conservation and protection. Whatever you think about this, putting a name and a personality to the tiger does a brilliant job for conservation. So let’s remember her for the amazing tiger that she was, for the memories she created for so many people and for the legacy of her that lives on in Ranthambhore. For me she reminds me everytime I see her of Dicky and the times we had together with her, alongside my lifetime friends of Rajkumar and Himmat.
That’s what she means to me, and so many other people around the world, a tiger that gave us memories.
Here is a slideshow of my favourite pictures that I took of her. Turn up your volume, max the screen size and enjoy the life of a lovely tiger.
The only image I have of myself, Rajkumar, Himmat and Arrowhead. Thanks to the ever supportive Mr Balendu “Olympian” Singh for the cool pic.