Tiger Lessons by Sannapureddy Venkatarami Reddy

A young man trained to be an engineer finds himself herding his family's sheep up in the hills one summer and trying to survive the jungle. Ravi comes from a golla family but his father and brother have worked to make sure he does not have to live the sheep-herding life. The physical labour is hard on Ravi but the menace of the wild is harder. He is terrified of the forest and its denizens. Sleep eludes him at night, every little sound a tiger lurking nearby, every root or vine a slithering python. He freezes on the spot when a hyena attacks the sheep, offering his neck to the animal without a fight. Everything he knows and believes is violently put to test when a tiger begins to hunt his herd.

Tiger Lessons paints in marvellous detail the entangled world of the shepherds, their sheep and the beings they meet, while tracing Ravi's journey through the forest of his fears.