International Tiger Day: Capturing elegance of the big cats

Vijay Bedi & Ajay Bedi (Canon Cinema EOS Ambassadors) are third generation wildlife film makers and photographers, and won the Green Oscar for their film, 'The Policing Langur'. Their film 'Cherub of the Mist' based on the endangered Red Panda won them an Emmy Academy of Television Arts & Sciences nomination.

This photo was taken soon after the lockdown ended and I headed back to the forest after a break of one year. Riddhi and Siddhi are sisters but now they are grownup and are vying for their own territory. Whoever wins, will keep the territory, an ideal habitat for future cubs.

Something seemed to have changed in the world when I went back to the forest. From the age of the Anthropocene, we seemed to have moved as it is being said now to the Age of the 'Anthropause'. The animals in the forest seemed more relaxed, there were very few tourists those days as i moved around, trying to get these pictures. On a lighter note, the two tigers seemed to be giving each other a fist-bump that seems to have become a reality of our socially-distanced world.