this really happened...in manipal

Tiger by the tale

Forty five minutes after I was over fed on the myths surrounding our tiger circle, I was returning to my hostel room. The road was lonely but I was contemplating if it could be true that tigers actually came evrynight and sat near the circle to hold their daily meetings?
Walking through the roads of MIT, I saw the shadows of these two guys walking behind me; their shadows encroaching on mine with every light that passed me.
Ten minutes later, I was with my friends again. Rima, Megha and Kriti were seated in this lonely dark patio enjoying the rain. I wanted to share my renewed belief about the circle when `GRRRUNT!’ Only Megha heard the strange noise. “Oh come on I’m sure you are making it up,” said Rima. “No I hear a grunt.” she claimed. Rima retorted by saying “Oh shut up Megs, it’s probably a pig. The worst it can do is sniff you up and go." We started giggling like nine-year-olds. Just then Rima heard another grunt. “GRUNT!” No, actually it was more of a roar but in lower decibels! But trust me it was more than enough to get us scared. I laughed at Rima and then I heard it too. And so did Kriti. We were shell shocked, all of stood close together- stuck I could say. “Grunt! Grunt!” That was it .We ran screaming at the top of our voices, loud enough to make anyone deaf! But we couldn’t care less. My main aim was to reach Ananya mess or just reach the watchman. “He would certainly help us,” I assured my already worked up soul as I was leading (the race to safety). We must have reached the end of the block when we heard it again. “That hideous noise” snapped Megha. Rima stopped to look back. We all did, but could not see a soul or any animal. Sudenly, something yanked me from behind. I yelled, “Oh my god! The beast has caught me!” Turning back I realised it was only Rima. My calculative mind could only work out short-term strategies for safety. But I guess I failed (miserably!).
We summoned all the might we could and ran screaming…desperately, wondering why the gates we so often see didn’t seem closer than a few miles atleast. Was it the beast that was doing this?
We ran through the rain, hysteric from the experience, embarrassed from our reaction, and tired from the exhilarated run (we so needed after the amount we eat each day!). Soaking wet; we looked at each other and refused to go to the bathrooms alone that night, lest the beast chose to roar up the commode as well!
We changed uninhibited…the beast made everything a community experience.
We did think about it as soon as we settled down to our normal selves…and there were many theories going about…it could have been one of those beefcakes whose shadows were passing me by an hour ago. One of them could have been a perfect ventriloquist…or could the myth of the tiger circle finally be coming true?