The Tiger of Tiger Haven

The year of 2008 has been such a magical year for me... when i roamed almost all over India, been to prime habitats, seen interesting species and met with amazing set of people.

The most remembered and proud meeting is what i want to describe here...

Beacon television was the platform that helped me reach places. Sitting in the office and discussing about what we are going to shoot during our Dhudhwa trip was the time i remember i realized that i will be soon getting a life time opportunity...an opportunity unique in itself to meet a personality who has impressed me since a long time. There are 3 people I consider as superheroes in the arena of wildlife and environment. Billy Arjan singh is one of the three and others are "Carpet Sahib" Jim Corbet and legendary natural history presenter David Attenborough.

We reached Dhudhwa at night and planned for a shoot next day...next day as we left in the morning; i was just wondering and accounting for similarities between Billy, Corbet and Attenborough.

Anyway, we reached the spot, sat on a machan and waited for sightings...I and my director Seema Muralidhara were busy vocally enlisting species that we needed to shoot to compile the story. Often the tiger would come in our desired list...but the tiger in real wasn’t showing up...we were still happy...for the 1st half of the day, the catch was good and we got some unique shots of wild boar, hog deer, swamp deer, storks, kingfishers...it was still satisfying.

After lunch we came again to the same spot...suddenly we saw something....our guide Mr. Naseem shouted Leopard...Bahadur-my colleague shouted small tiger! …And, then i being indifferent just thought it’s better to get a shot of whatever it is...our cameraman Patil zoomed in and concluded its a Tiger...precisely female tiger...

I managed to get several images...of tigress and then of 4 cubs...3 hours is what we spent watching tiger cubs and the magical tigress.

In the evening, while contemplating several things i realized, i am not that happy even after seeing tigress with 4 cubs…We still had to see the most amazing resident tiger of Dhudhwa.

Next day comes and first half of the day was spent shooting Rhinos and their unpredictable behavior.

After lunch, we preceded towards the "Tiger Haven"…place where we would meet the tiger who changed fate of all other tigers in Dhudhwa.

Billy Arjan Singh devoted almost 50 years of his life for the welfare and protection of India’s big cats. Billy did not appear as i visualized him from his posters and book covers. I always imagined him from his most famous picture- a tall body builder holding a leopard...Feisty Billy Arjan Singh!...

During our meet in 2008, he appeared very old and was in his 93rd year of life. Physically weak and needed a support.

I had read some of his books...and i started imagining his stories in books against locations that i was seeing then...the Verandah where he writes about leopards-Prince, Harriet and Juliette...who would come and call in the night..the suheli river which used flood his farm...etc. etc.

Anyway, i was seeing Billy Arjan Singh in an unexpected form...age had mellowed him down i thought.

We started discussing things with him...we asked him about his views on tiger conservation in India...we talked about what he thinks of the forest department...we talked on several things...and then we also asked him about the "controversial" Tara - the tigress. Billy Arjan Singh was an ex-army man and hunter turned conservationist. He is famous for his pioneering work on reintroduction of leopards and tiger into the wild. Though he looked weak physically, he still had the same attitude, vision and enthusiasm. Age couldn’t take a toll on his passion for wildlife conservation...i think his ideas and concepts are bigger than his life...nothing would take toll on his ideas and work...
Billy sounded as if he wanted to say lot of things...he couldn’t stop criticizing forest department...in his 93rd year, he would still go for a walk in the forest...he would still inspect and instruct installation of Salt lick for deer. He would still do every bit he can to assist forest to survive and wildlife to breath....he was worried about the man-animal conflict...he was concerned that man would be the ultimate winner in this conflict...he wanted tiger to survive...without being bothered about reasoning, he wanted to save wildlife just for the sake of it...

While we were discussing several things, i just heard a question that i thought would make him uncomfortable...in-fact i was prepared to run expecting he would hit us with his stick...
The question was about his beloved tigress Tara...the tigress which Billy braught from Twycross zoo and trained her to introduce her into the wild...there is a speculation amongst people that Tara was killed as she turned a man-eater soon after her introduction to the wilderness of Dhudhwa...
Billy was facing questions about Tara, her being a Siberian breed and accusations on him about introducing a Siberian gene alien to the wild gene pool of Dhudhwa...Billy was amused a bit by our questions…did he consider them lame?...or I guess he was used to such enquiries... he refuted that Tara was a man-eater...he negated the fact that she was killed during the man-eater hunting expedition and he stressed that he has in-fact enhanced the local gene pool by introducing Tara.
He said Tara must have died a natural death or she must have been poached...but, she for sure wasnt killed as a Maneater...
He also showed us several documents that made us somehow inclined towards him.

I wanted to show him pictures that i had taken the previous day...when we informed about our sighting of a tigress with 4 cubs, he was delighted. I showed him pictures and still remember what he said...he said “Tara wasn’t killed, Tara lived a normal life-earned a natural death and that is why i can see Tara in this tigress...i see Tara in many tigers in Dhudhwa...that itself is a proof that Tara survived, lived and bred...”

Scientific studies finally proved that some tigers in Dhudhwa showed 90% certainty of carrying a Siberian gene. If he really "polluted" the gene pool is still a question...For my belief, Billy's success stays in the fact that he showed the world that restocking of wildlife by human assistance is possible and refreshing of the gene pool can be strategically practiced. He must have been the 1st person to try training and introduction of tigers into the wild. He prooved that tigers born in captivity can be returned to wild.

Billy passed away in 2010...But i think such people never die...Corbet is still there and Billy will still be there..."People die...ideas cant...and ideas wont"

We left tiger haven… 2 days later we left Dhudhwa...while returning i was reading a book titled "Honorary tiger : the life of Billy Arjan Singh "...the book still stays and Billy still lives...

Almost 2 months later, i read in a newspaper that a tigress and 4 cubs were burnt alive as they sneaked in a grassland nearby a Tharu settlement...very close to the place where we had our sighting...Just few days before this incident a young chap was mauled by a tiger... the conflict continues...Humans still have the upper hand...

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PATIL Kaka!

Patil kaka (kaka = uncle) is a true champ…never underestimate this smiling old man in his 60s…you shake a hand with him and the pain that follows to your palm will be a testimonial to his undying strength. He is a strong man…brave, intelligent, sharp, bold and always smiling…He is one of the 4 watchmen to the 33 acre wilderness called Conservation Education Centre (CEC) in Mumbai.
Except for last three months; I have been visiting this forest patch regularly almost every alternate week since past 4 years. Whenever Patil sees me or I see him amidst the forest, we welcome each other with a handshake or a pat on the back…every time I do this, I repent the tradition for obvious reasons. Anyway, Patil always welcomes me with a warm smile after this ritual.

Patil originally belongs to the southern part of Maharashtra… very close to Dandeli tiger reserve…Here he has a huge agriculture farm looked after by his wife…In Mumbai he stays in his self-made house along with the children and grandchildren. While his wife guards and manages the several acre farmland, Patil visits her twice a year…Sometimes he also goes to his village to claim compensation from the forest department…for his crops that get ruined by wild elephant herds occasionally visiting his farm, eating and wiping out majority of his sugarcane crop.
This man knows almost everything of about forest…the leopards, Deer, monkeys, civets, Cobras, Vipers etc etc…All the time he has huge never ending stories about real life close encounters with cunning, gentle, angry, aggressive, hungry, massive, small, “beautiful” leopards… he gives adjective for almost all the leopards he has seen.

The most incredible story would be his face to face encounter with a massive overgrown female leopard.
He says that was the first time he was actually frightened. It was evening 6 pm…the visible light had already vanished… and Patil was walking on the forest road. He was just about to climb the steep slope towards the CEC campus and, the leopard was just about to climb down the same slope towards the forest road. Both eyes met…Patil always advises that during close encounter with leopards, you should always maintain cool and should never show any anxiousness…
Running away means asking for the attack… anything that runs away from the predator is thought to be a prey. So, Patil maintained his cool and faced the leopard just 2 feet away for 5-10 long minutes… he says those minutes were like hours. Both, the Leopard and PATIL were confused about each other’s move…Finally the massive cat made a opening move and took a leap deep into the forest cover. I don’t know if anybody else can do this… This makes Patil so courageous…he says he was so close to the beautiful beast that he could hear her breath.

One more episode that I always memorize…

Me, Patil, a lady colleague and another 2 young chaps… desperately waiting for a leopard that had just gone inside a small tunnel hole that connects two valleys of the CEC forest. We were sitting on a slope about 10 feet high… The tunnel that I am talking about will be more or less 2 feet in diameter and is closed on the other side by the rock boulders brought down and deposited by the stream that flows through this tunnel during monsoons…This means leopard would come out only from the side of the tunnel that was facing us…for that was only opening from where the leopard entered and from where it could come out…So we were very certain and confident of the leopard sighting…
Let me give you more information about the tunnel area. The tunnel our side opens in to a small waterhole that was dried..so if you try to go and stand on the dried sandy waterhole bed and look in to the tunnel, your head and opening of the tunnel will be in a same plane….
So now, we were waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting…
1 hr…1.5 hr…2 hrs…
I am such a impatient soul…somehow I lost hope…I thought, the leopard would have definitely sneaked out fooling us…so I concluded our wait is going in vain. I also made a theory that probably the leopard didn’t even go inside…the person who informed us might have just been in a illusion…

I was so restless …I started convincing people that there is no leopard in the tunnel…And to take a additional step…I even volunteered to go bang opposite to the tunnel opening on the waterhole bed and checkout…so that I can make sure the leopard isn’t there…
Well I did that…took a torch….jumped on the waterhole bed sand and stood there for while. I lit the torch I had and focused it inside the tunnel…I lost my speech for what I saw…
I saw the Sub-Adult medium built leopard staring at me face to face…eye to eye…
I lost the earth below my feet…The leopard was sitting right at the edge of the opening and seeing me it stood …gave a stare and tender snarl… It freezed me…All these happened within seconds…I was damn petrified…frightened but managed to not run or scream…
Patil sensed this and from the height he was sitting, this old man jumped right aside to me…He started making sounds with his stick that made the leopard move away from us.

Walking deep inside the tunnel, the leopard sat on the extreme end staring at us continuously…

I called everyone down…we sat behind a bush opposite to the tunnel opening…focused the torch…saw the king of the CEC forest for a while and then understanding the respectable distance and space we moved….

Patil still smiling, me still surprised and a girl crying…So, that was Patil…brave, intelligent, sharp and “smiling”

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Sunday at Salim Ali point

This Sunday was another memorable day to conclude after whole weeks exhausting work exercise. As the days build up, amidst this fast forward world full of competition and race against time, it’s getting more and more traumatic. With little space around, juggle between study and work has been a task getting tougher. A hope that “this shall too pass” and the days after would be brighter has kept me strong and fighting. But a Sunday in the wilderness is always enough. The forest takes in all stress and grants a huge relief every time.
I planned a visit to CEC, the Conservation Education Centre of BNHS sandwiched between Borivili National Park and Film City. I have been visiting this place since past 5 years and as a result know almost each and every piece of this land. Being such confident and comfortable about this place I prefer to splurge my good time here. 

Almost a dull afternoon with little sun around, I started for Salim Ali point, about 30 minutes trek from CEC building. Forest always shows its distinct beauty no matter how many times you visit the same place again and again.

This evening was another engrossing event on this trail. Welcomed by the beautiful sight Small blue Kingfisher and Scaly Breasted Munia I knew I will definitely have a great time. The Moon moth ahead made my day. Nature is very magnificent and mysterious and this principle gets stronger each time I come across life forms evolved and adapted to perfection. The Comman nawab caterpillar is one such appearance. The animal is strangely so inconspicuous with such near-perfect carved survival skill of camouflaging; absolutely a match to the leaf of its habitat, the Acacia catechu (Kattha tree). The beauty of this animal cannot be described in words.

As I walked ahead clicking as many pictures I could, a peacock crossing the forest road in its full gait was further addition to enthralling trip.

Lots of things to see and lots of things to be passionate about. The Owl moth, the Yellow Orange tip butterfly, the Oakleaf, the Giant wood spider; almost everything of forest is stunning and inspirational. 

Finally walking through the wonderful wilderness thicket I reached Salim AliPoint. I could see Vihar Lake from there.


Sitting for a while, I thought about lot of things.

The Global warming agendas are repeatedly made and amended but still nothing has yet reached to the hearts and heads of common man. Environment Education industry budding up like any other business but still not reaching those more than 75% kids who study in Municipal schools and don’t have any access…EIAs made compulsory, public hearing obligatory, but still the whole thing going haywire, like child’s play; with negligible authenticity proposals are passed crushing all hopes and means of wildlife survival. Whole policymaking process is still much away from the accomplishment, understanding and requirement of much affected common man. Environment Policy making is still worse better not to think about. Forest department lacks funds, passionate people lack opportunities, Common man lacks awareness, Students lack quality education, NGOs lack proper management and Mother Nature lacking recuperation space and time. There can be lot to be cynical about, I understand that somewhere we should be positive and expect the best outcome.

But, practically there is no scope for development and success, unless and until we provide revision towards at least 3 very basic and much required things for the Environment Conservation Movement.
1. Transparent and justifiable policy making process and genuine subject oriented policy makers.
2. Authentic, Reliable, Lawful, un-influenced Environment Impact Assessment process with existing emphasis on public hearing and EIA reports.
3. Free Environment Education for majority of municipal school students and other required people who cannot afford to pay the growing environment education trade. It is the environment education quality on which is dependent the message that will go across the masses generating the much desired consciousness.

Exploring wide range of thoughts I realized about the passing time. The sun was going faint. I had to respect wilderness and leave the place. Thus I left and within 45 minutes returned back to the fast as usual life with replenished vigor to carry on with another working week.

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