Kumram Bheem Asifabad: What would you do if you noticed a tiger crouching in a bush looking at you?

A group of 30 people had the frightening experience in a remote forest area in Asifabad district on Thursday evening. The villagers, however, did not scream in fear or run away, but did something that must have confused the ferocious big cat. They started playing drums and other musical instruments that they wore.

Whether it was the cacophony or the big drumbeats, the tiger, it seemed, hesitated to attack them and just watched them, perhaps curiously. At the end of the grueling two-hour period, the troop of the faithful managed to run home, although after more than 100 people led by the police had forced themselves into the forest for the rescue mission. The literally mind-boggling incident was reported Thursday evening in the Amaragonda village of Dahegaon mandal, Asifabad district. But details of the incident were not released until Friday.

Chinnaraspelli’s group of unsuspecting devotees moved into the forest to take a sacred bath in a confluence of streams on the occasion of the full moon day at Karthika masam. The devotees who took the bath were scared of their lives when they heard the roar of the tiger. As the worshipers froze in fear, they noticed the big cat crouching in the bushes. The group of 30-strong believers from Chinnaraspelli ventured deep into the forest to bathe in the streams – peddavagu, on the occasion of the full moon – the Karthika Pournami. As they were about to come back from the stream, they heard the roar of the tiger and they literally froze in shock.

Luckily for the group, they were still in the wireless coverage area. Some of them called their friends and relatives, who eventually alerted the police.

“The worshipers were forced to wait on the banks of the stream for about 2 hours. We rescued them by rushing to the scene with the help of a hundred locals around 8 p.m. We transferred them to Chinnarasepally by oxcarts at 9pm. But we couldn’t spot the tiger in the vicinity. It may have disappeared after they started playing the trumpet and drums, ”Dahegaoin SI V Raghupathi told“ Telangana Today ”.

One of the faithful Chapide Anjannah said they were tense after spotting the tiger in the bushes that was about to attack us. “We all decided to come together in one place and not to disperse. Then we played drums, trumpet and other musical instruments. Loud music helped us scare him off, ”he said. The faithful, however, thanked the police and residents for coming to their aid.

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