‘Tiger Lessons’: A compelling novel about the shared existence of humans and animals in the forests

“When a hundred lives are lying hungry in the backyard, how can I eat food here?” Gurappa questions his family when they ask him to eat his meal in peace without bothering about the sheep in the pen. Just like other shepherds in his village, Gurappa measures his own happiness by the merry bleatings of his sheep. The fact that he was unable to enjoy his meal while the animals starved was far-fetched for his family. It often earned him a look of disapproval from them. But it reveals Gurappa’s character immediately, and along with it, the worldview of this unusual and striking novel.

Konda Polam by Sannapureddy Venkatarami Reddy has been translated into English as Tiger Lessons by Narasimha Kumar from the Telugu. It explores the lives of shepherds, locally known as gollas while their village, situated at the foothills of the Nallamala forests in the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh, experiences the devastating consequences of famine.

The novel captures the ordeals of the gollas during Konda Polam, a practice where shepherds take their flocks to graze deep inside the forests during famine. This period was particularly difficult for shepherds as food and water were scarce. They had to survive on rationed food of hard millet rotis, jaggery, pickles, onions, and rice. As...

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