The Manipal Story.

                                       I had gone to a nature camp near Manipal during the weekdays and was the only guest in the Jungle Lodge. The Manager allocated a tent right in the middle of the forest without any mobile network, but it had electricity and internet. In the evening, I was shown a nice documentary on the King Cobra as we were inside the Someshwara Wildlife Sanctuary near Augumbe which is famous for its snake population. After the documentary was over, I went off to sleep thinking about the role of snakes in the ecosystem and how the snakes were responsible for controlling the rodent and frog population and in turn were controlled by peacocks and mongoose. Early in the morning, I was woken up from my dreams about snakes by a ghostly “whoo - hoo” haunting sound. I felt as if a ghost was outside my tent and making sounds which were followed by an attack of twigs and fruits falling on the roof of my tent. I was a bit frightened and as it was almost dawn,