Salute to the Royal Animal..!

Saluting the royal animal...!
When I was a kid, I never knew what tigers are except for the fact that "Tiger is our national animal."

Being a pseudo-ecologist, I now know that tigers are keystone species of  an ecosystem (dominantly evergreen to  moist and dry-deciduous forests). With the population of tiger falling drastically, wildlife is undergoing a bottleneck. Reasons are many. However, the prime reason for the tiger-fall is poaching. Human are the biggest danger to these big cats today.

Taken this Sunday, at Dastkar Nature Bazaar, 2011 (@ Gayatri Vihar, Palace Ground, 5th-14th Apr'2011), this photo has a story to be told. While I was wandering for my subject (to be clicked) and  at the same time, wondering what to buy and what not, I over-heard the conversation between a 5-6 years old kid and his mom.
Boy: "Mommy, whats this?!?!"
Mom: "That's a tiger.."
Boy (chuckled): "Mommy, see see, a blue tiger..!"
Mom: "Nahi Beta (~son), its violet..!" (My eyes popped out hearing this)
 ----
Boy: "Mom, but the one we saw in zoo is yellow.. All tigers are yellow..It can't be a tiger, you are lying to me" (awww, I was awe-stuck with the kid's intelligence!) And with that he started crying..!
----
After a big silence,  mom gave a super-witty response..
Mom: "Beta, painting hai..! It's a mistake..We will ask the painter to make it yellow."
(lolz, I must say its so easy to make your kids satisfy when then are kids..")

(I think this is a gimmick for all of us to realize what we are up to and what we ought to do..!)