A tiger suddenly appeared out of nowhere. At that moment, an axe was Kawsar’s last hope.
A tiger ate a man! Kawsar Gain is from Golkhali village in Koyra upazila of Khulna, right on the edge of the Sundarbans. If you’re born in a village like this, your life naturally becomes tied to the forest. Some people make a living by fishing, some by catching crabs, and when the season comes, others go deep into the forest to collect honey. Kawsar is no different. Sometimes he works as a fisherman, sometimes as a crab catcher, and sometimes as a honey collector. Out of sheer necessity, his life has taken many paths—but all of them lead back to the Sundarbans. It was in this same forest that Kawsar lost his older brother, Amed Ali Gain. Amed was fishing along the riverbank, pulling in a net. Suddenly, a tiger sprang out of the forest. In an instant, it pinned him down along with the net and dragged him straight into the dense jungle. He was gone in seconds. Kawsar was a little ways off. By the time he got there, it was already over. The tiger had eaten parts of the body, but the rest...
