[17:09 @ Kanha Jungle Lodge]
The
most dramatic photo of a tiger I have ever taken was taken today.
This
morning’s safari, with Kim, Anne, Chris, Janice, Dimple, with Tarun at the
wheel, was yet another one of beauty and wonder, and of warm and happy
bonding. The creatures that presented
themselves were mostly of the avian kind, and in our path, lots of confusing
tiger pug marks. We got off road into
the sal and bamboo thickets on two elephants, and found the tigress Mohini
sleeping on her side amidst dense foliage, with the half eaten carcass of a
wild boar within tail-flicking distance behind her. She’d be sleeping her lunch off and finish the boar for supper. So, now, she’s not going anywhere. Her four still suckling cubs were believed
to have been hidden nearby. When the
second elephant approached, with Chris aboard manning the video camera, it
began loudly snapping branches and saplings, which arouse the tigress, who, now
crouching, showed her displeasure first with low growls, then an explosive
fang-baring hissing roar, which I captured on my still camera. It’s going to be a good one.
But
not so good for Mohini. If this happens
to her several times a day, she wouldn’t have a moment’s peace, nor much needed
rest.
Today
marks the arrival of Pradeep at the lodge.
No one seems to particularly look forward to it, myself included, even
though he holds no power over me. Tarun
has been cramming his paper work over the past couple of evenings. Especially given the influx of tourists in
short order, Chris considers Pradeep’s arrival as the beginning of the end of
tranquility at Kanha. The whole camp
seems bracing for a siege.
Faiyaz
has also lost some of his exuberance.
How could he not, knowing that his freedom of action to his heart’s
content for what he loves most will be bent and curtailed?
But
his spirit of inquiry has not dimmed when I showed him, as well as Anne and
Chris, one of the books I had brought with me to India - Edward O. Wilson’s
[The Insect Societies], copyrighted in 1971.
I asked Anne to read out the section on p. 317 titled [The Superorganism
Concept and Beyond]:
[The
idea of homeostasis leads easily to the visualization of the entire insect
colony as a kind of superorganism. In
fact, the story of the superorganism concept, from its origin as a
philosophical idea sixty years ago to its present sharp decline in contemporary
thinking, should prove instructive to historians of science as well as to
biologists with a more immediate interest in the subject. During some forty years, from 1911 to about
1950, this concept was a dominant theme in the literature on social
insects. Then, at the seeming peak of
its maturity it faded, and today it is seldom explicitly discussed. Its decline exemplifies the way
inspirational, holistic ideas in biology often give rise to experimental,
reductionist approaches that supplant them…
[…
the current generation of students of social insects… saw its future in stepwise experimental work in
narrowly conceived problems, and it has chosen to ignore the superorganism
concept… Seldom has so ambitious a
scientific concept been so quickly and
almost totally discarded.
[The
superorganism concept faded not because it was wrong but because it no longer
seemed relevant. It is not necessary to
invoke the concept in order to commence work on animal societies. The concept offers no techniques,
measurements, or even definitions by which the intricate phenomena in genetics,
behaviour, and physiology can be unraveled.
It is even difficult to cite examples where the conscious use of the
idea led to a new discovery in animal sociology…
[… But it would be wrong to overlook the
significant, albeit semiconscious, role this idea had played in the history of
the subject…
[Finally,
it might be asked what vision, if any, has replaced the superorganism concept…
there is no new holistic conception…]
After
reading it, Faiyaz asked me, “So, what does this leave us? It seems that the door has been slammed shut
on the concept decades ago.”
“It
is about to open again,” said Raminothna through me.
“It
slammed shut for a reason. Is the
reason gone?”
“Yes
it is.”
“And
what is this reason?”
“It’s
name, to begin with.”
“’Superorganism’ Why?”
“I
think I know why,” said Chris.
“Why?”
pressed Faiyaz.
“If
you call a society of organism a superorganism, what would you call a society
of superorganisms? A
supersuperorganism? And what do you
call a society of supersuperorganism? A
supersupersuperorganism?”
“I
see the problem,” said Faiyaz, nodding perceptibly.
“And
downward, too. If a termite mound is a
superorganism and the termite is an organism, what then would they call a
termite cell, or an amoeba for that matter?” said Anne.
“A…
an… infraorganism, I suppose,” said Faiyaz.
“See
what I mean?” said Chris
“Yes. Cumbersome, to say the least,” admitted Faiyaz. So, what is your solution, Anthony?”
I
wrote on a piece of paper: “Society (X)
= Organism (X+1)” They looked
and nodded. Faiyaz said, “Yes, I
see. The simple and systematic
approach. Drop all the ‘super’ or
‘infra’ prefixes and call all of them ‘organisms’, just on different levels of
organization. In this multileveled
structure, an organism on one level is also a society of its own social
organisms on the level below.”
“Conversely,
a society on a certain level is also an organism of the level above,” said
Chris, adding, “as long as it has developed itself past a certain threshold of
sophistication and integration, I suppose.”
“This
is so obvious, why didn’t they see it?” asked Anne.
“Why
didn’t we see it?” said Faiyaz.
“We
did see it. Isn’t Anthony is one of
us?” said Chris.
[22:34] Well, Pradeep is in camp, and short-notice changes have already
come down.
During
dinner, Kim who was sitting to my right, whispered to me, “I need to
communicate.”
“With
me?”
“Yes. Come to my room at 10 and we’ll talk.”
I
didn’t know what it was about at that point, but after she had left the dining
pavilion, Pradeep make a few announcements.
For one thing, Janice was chastised for leaving Bandhavgarh without
permission and ordered back, departure at 09:30 tomorrow, and Kim with
her. Kim will stay at Bandhavgarh for
the whole month of February, and will switch with Anne for the month of
March. My opinion was not sought about
this switch even though whom I have to work with is of relevance to me.
While
he was at it, Pradeep gave me, too, an order.
“Anthony, you will come with Craig and I into the park tomorrow.” Again stated in command form, without asking
me first if I had had anything planned.
To
cap it off he said aloud, “Anthony, Sucheta told me that you will do only one
presentation a day. I thought you’re
here to work.” How the hell dare he?! And it’s not event rue. Two a day is always my optimum, in Canada,
in India. I have 10 days in Delhi and
they booked only 4 schools, so what’s the gripe? He may have said that as a joke, but first there is nothing funny
about it, and second, his jokes, even if funny, are usually at the expense of
someone-else’s dignity as in this case.
I like to joke too, but I appreciate the Woody Allen self-deprecating
kind. All I said was, “You have been
sadly misinformed..”
Craig
Sholley is a ruggedly handsome man who came in camp with Pradeep. He is a biologist by education, a long time
conservationist in Africa who has personally worked with Dian Fossey at her
mountain compound in the capacity of a graduate student, and is now an
ecotourism operator, owner of an outfit called International Expeditions. He has come to India to develop a wildlife
tour package for his largely American clientele. He is right now on a cross-country tour to check out the
itinerary Pradeep has designed for his clients, with Pradeep as his guide. Ecotourism-wise he is experienced with
Africa (esp. Uganda, esp. the mountain gorilla) and South America (esp.
Amazonia).
Unfortunately,
his comments about Fossey, who is one of my heroes, were largely negative. He said that she behaved as if she owned the
mountain and the gorillas, and that her hard-line approach did more harm than
good. I happen to have a copy of
Virunga on me, by Farley Mowat, about Fossey, which I haven’t yet read, and
which Sholley also criticized as bad journalism. I did a quick search in the index of the book while back in my
room, and did find a few mentions of Craig Sholly. The comments aren’t all that complimentary either. Still, he is extremely intelligent and
articulate, and makes a good casual-conversation companion.
On
February 2, I will go back to Delhi with Pradeep and Craig. On the 8th and 9th,
I’ll go to Jaipur Rajasthan, where two more presentations have been
arranged. Then back to Delhi for the
“Love-the-Tiger Walk” on St. Valentine’s Day.
After that, back to Kanha here.
I
just returned from Kim’s room. She said
that one of the things she intends to do at Bandhavgarh is to get to the bottom
of Sita’s death. Yes. Sita, the world’s most famous tigress
(National Geographic, December 1997, cover article) is dead, killed by a
poacher just a few weeks ago. May you
get right to the bottom of it, Kim. And
may you fall in love with Bandhavgarh as I did, not once but twice before, and
no doubt for yet a third time before I leave India this time, all over again.