A day at the zoo

CHENNAI: Most of us remember the first time we saw a tiger, the sheer awe, the wild grace of this beautiful animal. Except for the brawny few who had the chance to sight it in the wild, the rest of us civilised mortals had our first encounter at the zoo.The image of barbed enclosures with name boards briefing one about the wild species in captivity have faded over time, but the moment when the grand animal made eye contact with you, however briefly, will remain with you for the rest of your life.It was one such moment that eight-year-old Adithiyan from Seerkali experienced on Thursday. This visibly excited boy shared the experience with stars in his eyes. “It was beautiful. The cubs of a white tiger. I kept looking at them. I called out to them and waved. And then one of them turned and looked at me for a long time. I am so happy it looked at me.”The endangered white tiger pair, which came from the Delhi Zoo, has been a hit with the public. Living in an enclosure of mountainous terrain with a lily pond for wallowing in, they have been very successful in breeding and have together parented seven cubs.Young ones rule the roost in the zoo, both human ones and wild ones in captivity. There were plenty of happy moments as they connected with each other, while parents looked on with joy and had a chuckle.Deepika from Oorapakkam, going to class 8 in the coming academic year, was hanging out with her college-going cousins near the Point Calimere Aviary. She and her cousins Priya and Divya were checking out the young ones of the painted stork, and white ibis. Suddenly Deepika looked at the pelicans, laughed out loud and pointed to her cousin, “They look exactly like you.” For those who cannot walk the distances, the BSA cycles for hire are an interesting option. The charge is `35 for an hour with a deposit of `200 per cycle. Bhavani from Vadapalani was sitting on a bench near the cycle stand. “My children have gone for a cycle ride,” she said.Thanikachalam of BSA Cycles said, “We have 140 cycles, of which 95 are out at the moment. During the summer we make `5,000 a day, and around `1500 at other times.”Roselyn, a retired teacher from Coimbatore visiting her daugher, got out of a battery operated car saying, “This is a wonderful ride for elderly people.”“The five battery operated cars do ten trips every day in this summer,” said PRO Ramachandran.