तस्माद्व्याघ्रो वनं रक्षेद्वयं व्याघ्रं च पालयेत् ॥
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| Majestic: a king in his kingdom |
John Doe were looking eagerly in the direction where the forest rangers were trying to locate a collared tiger sleeping inside bushes. Suddenly, one gypsy driver shouted- पीछे देखो….बाघ पीछे से आ रहा है (Look back..tiger is coming from the other side). It was another tiger who came looking for her mating partner lying in the bushes. Holy cow! We just had our first tiger sighting at the most unlikely place – Sariska Tiger Reserve, a place that became infamous for wiping out its entire tiger population just few years back.
Holi : the
spirit of celebration
As the cold winter breezes transforms into warm dusty gusts heralding
onset of Falguna, the transient period before arrival of spring, the whole of India
gets ready for a season of festivals like Teej and Mahashivratri. It also is the
time for Holi. Harivansh Rai Bachhan saab had eulogized the spirit of the
festival of colors in these beautiful lines:
होली है तो आज अपरिचित से परिचय कर लो,
होली है तो आज मित्र को पलकों में धर लो,
भूल शूल से भरे वर्ष के वैर-विरोधों को,
होली है तो आज शत्रु
को बाहों में भर लो !
(On this Holi, let’s forget the differences and, let’s give a warm hug
not only to friends, but also to foes)
With time, the way we celebrate holi had transformed so much that it
makes one scream - नहीं ये है गुलाल-ए-सुर्ख़ उड़ता हर जगह
प्यारे ।
Silver and golden humanoids, laced
with myriad of industrial dyes, moving around reminds one of the notoriety of
holi in Delhi. It has become obvious to look for escape routes when holi is
around. शत्रुओं को भूल जाओ, मित्रों से भी दूर
भागो।
When the holi of 2011 came knocking, we were looking to get away from
Delhi. Getting a booking on short notice was not that tough those days. We set
out for Sariska, roughly about 200 km from Delhi.
Sariska : the hunting ground
The former hunting grounds of the Maharajas of Alwar, was notified as a
Wildlife Reserve in 1955, then a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1958, and finally a
Tiger Reserve in 1979. Maharajahs gone, but hunting continued. Notorious
poacher Sansar Chand had systematically exterminated all 25+ tigers from the
park in collusion with some villagers settled within periphery of the park. By
year 2005, only the name remained as Sariska Tiger Reserve, sans any tiger. The
furor that Sariska wipe out created led to the first tiger census of India with
latest technique in 2006 that pegged the number of remaining tigers at a
shocking 1411.
In a renewed conservation effort to revive a prime tiger habitat, the
forest authorities decided to reintroduce tigers at Sariska by relocating 5
tigers (2 males and 3 females) from Ranthambhore. The country's first tiger
reintroduction programme using an Indian Air Force MI-17 helicopter in 2008 is
well documented by Subiah Nallamuthu ji in Tiger Queen. Tigers were named ST (Sariska
Tiger) – 1 to 5. Later, one the five relocated tigers, a male ST-1, was also killed.
Despite the dire situations, the nexus was ugly and apathy was unimaginable. Probably a well thought out plan for relocation of villages and livelihood of displaced villagers was missing to reduce human-animal conflict. Creating a balance has been a paradox. A report of Indian Express found 12 marble mines operating inside core areas of the tiger reserve even in 2014. This was due to disagreement between forest and mining departments. Money over tigers’ survival! Remember, it was the Forest department's denial mode of extermination of all tigers in the park by 2004-05, and they conituned to show tigers on paper, before the lid was blown off.
Ghost of a
chance
A Ghost of a Chance points to the near nil possibility scenario. In
probability theory, Kolmogorov's zero–one law,
specifies that a certain type of event, namely a tail event, that will
either almost surely happen or almost surely not happen; that is, the
probability of such an event occurring is zero or one.
The above theorem was a true depiction of the probability of getting to
see a tiger in Sariska in 2011. Four relocated tigers were roaming in an 800+
sq km of forest. Map below gives an idea of how erratic the movements of tigers in the park can be. Therefore our trip was not to see a tiger, but to spend some
time in the lap of nature rather than getting laced with industrial dyes. Yet, to
utilize the available time, we hopped onto a safari gypsy and set out for an
afternoon safari in the park. Safaris were easily available as there were
hardly any tourist those days.
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| Movement map of the 4 reintroduced tigers of Sariska in 2011 Source: Wilflife Institute of India |
Holy Tiger
Icarus tigris, also known as The Spirit Tiger, or the Holy Tiger, is an elegant,
ethereal and mysterious animal in the legendary comics graphic novel Kingdom
Kong. This mystery, coupled with power and grace attached with the tiger makes
it so special. And getting to see one in the wild roaming majestically get
etched in your memory forever. Even after seeing 30+ wild tigers in these
years, I can still recall each and every encounters.
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| the Holy Tiger |
As the safari progressed, we could easily comprehend that finding one of the four tigers in an 800+ sq park is like finding a needle in haystack. It indeed was a tail event of probability theory. Forget tiger, even finding other animals was a tough task. We saw remnants of few settlement and free cattle grazing inside park that was a reminder of the hazard to wildlife of the park. A carpeted road passed through the park where private vehicles were allowed.
The forest was set ablaze by blooming of the Palash or the Flame of the
Forest with its orange flame-like flowers set against dried trees and fallen
leaves. As we watched our vestige of hopes going up in the dust trails behind
our gyspsy, our smart driver noticed a speeding gypsy with forest officials
holding up a tracking antennae. All four relocated tigers were collared. There
were some so called VIP guest in the gyspsy for whom tiger is being tracked.
Our driver immediately understood that the forest officials had found some
signal. He turned around to follow them. But the speeding forest car had
quickly disappeared in the jungle. It was a cat and mouse chase for us looking for
sign of dust cloud left by the forest vehicle, which reminded me of a Hindi
movie scene. After few minutes of searching, we could locate the forest gypsy.
It was trying to get close to a tiger hidden inside bushes. We lesser mortals,
the mango people, could just wait and expect the tiger to come out on road. The
news of spotting had spread, and all safari gypsys had arrived at the
spot.
Suddenly, one gypsy driver shouted- पीछे देखो….बाघ पीछे से आ रहा है ( look back..tiger is coming from the other
side).
The tiger that was sleeping in the bushes was male ST-4. And the tiger,
now majestically walking towards us was female ST-2. Within few minutes both
tigers were out in the open.
Voila! We just had our first tiger sighting of life, that too in Sariska. And two out of the four living tigers of a park larger than 800 sq km were walking in front of us. We could not believe our luck. The escape from Holi was made truly colorful by Tiger. In the map above, the movement pattern of ST-2 is shown in RED and ST-4 in BLUE colours. This will give an idea of how the Ghost of a Chance theorem worked in our favour that evening.
This Holi Tiger played an important role in my becoming a nature and
wildlife photographer. I had a Canon 350D those days with a 70-200 F4L lens. In
those falling light of that evening, I got tiger ST-2 crossing road in front of
my gypsy without any background clutter. I kept clicking. Later I found that
only one photograph came sharp. I
understood that wildlife photography in variable and low light is a different
ballgame from the constant studio lighting for which I was trained. Time to
expand learning. Next stop was the Canon India workshop at Bandhavgarh and Kanha with
lessons by Shivang Mehta and Uday Shringi. Rest is history.
(Images : The one on Top is my tiger image of ST-2 as
a novice in 2011. The one on bottom is a tiger from Ranthambhore clicked in
much worse light than that of ST-2 in 2011, but with professional knowledge and
gear. Now I also see the awkward angle of ST-2 as I shoot standing high)
Tyger Tyger burning bright, In the forests of the night…..
Relocation of tigers to Sariska has been a success story of conservation efforts. The ST-4 and ST-2 mating we witnessed had produced offspring that propelled next generation. ST-3 and ST-5 died without producing any cubs. Later more tigers were relocated from Ranthambore as that park can hold about 30 tigers only as against 40 of Sariska. Tigers were moving away from Ranthmbhore in search of territory due to over populations. The population started growing at Sariska. A report of 2023, hold the tiger count of Sariska as 30. Each one counts. Humans need to let them flourish. The wisdom from Mahabharata says:
निर्वनो वध्यते व्याघ्रो निर्व्याघ्रं छिद्यते वनम्।
तस्माद्व्याघ्रो वनं रक्षेद्वयं व्याघ्रं च पालयेत् ॥
-महाभारत – उद्योग पर्व : ५.२९.५७
Meaning in English:
If there is no forest, then the tiger gets killed; if there is no tiger, then the forest gets destroyed. Hence, the tiger protects the forest and the forest guards the tiger!
-Mahabharat– Udyoga Parva: 5.29.57
अतः, यदि वन सुरक्षित रखने हैं, तो बाघों को संरक्षित करना होगा। Let’s do our bits to save the tiger and save forests. And do keep playing Holi…with safe and natural colours.
