February 26,
1999, Friday, sunny, 15-29C
[19:54 @
Rm.111, Kanha Jungle Lodge]
Because of that ugly letter from Pradeep
last night, and the state it put Faiyaz into, I was pulled into a shallow
depression myself, and had some trouble sleeping. While staring at the ceiling tiles in the darkened room, I
thought of just saying “Fuck it” and go back to Vancouver, and not for the
first time, but of course, that was just a thought. To do so would be to forsake Faiyaz in his dark hour, and to lose
the trust of the villagers I have met, and to abandon the tiger when they need
help most. I was furious with Pradeep
for more than one reason, not the least of which being wasting a pure soul and
open heart like Faiyaz. One of the
staff remarked that if and when, after all the hard work and heartache, the
conference becomes a big success, Pradeep will jump right back in and claim the
media and glory and credit, and Faiyaz will be buried. Faiyaz says that would not bother him as
long as the tiger benefits from the conference, but it bothers me.
Finding it hard to sleep, I stopped trying
and put my thinking cap on. Today,
while planning the next week’s work, I was informed that the first few days of
March will be impossible, since it will be the Holi festival throughout the
country where almost everyone will drink himself / herself to a stupor. This cuts off several precious days of my
remaining time at Kanha. In view of
this, March 23rd seemed closer than ever, and the conference may
become ill organized as a result. Also,
the conference has taken on a life of its own, which has removed it somewhat
from my original vision. The two
meetings with the Panchayat so far are exactly what I have in mind, and if the
conference is to go ahead as planned, I may run out of time for such meetings
with all the panchayat leaders in the area.
My conclusion is that I should reset the conference time for April or
May, to be organized by Faiyaz and Anne after I have left, and while I’m here,
I’ll do nothing but conduct these intimate small group meetings with the
panchayat leaders. Then, I would have
enough time to meet each and everyone of the 178 villages at the average rate
of 6 villages every day over the next 30 days.
One of the great worries of Faiyaz and Anne
is that once I leave Kanha, all Tiger Trust activities will cease. So, enough momentum must be generated by the
time I leave to carry the event to its proper conclusion.
It also happens that by then the tourist
season would be over, and Pradeep will be back in Vancouver, whatever this will
mean.
So, first thing this morning, I discussed
the plan with Faiyaz and Anne. Both
objected to it, citing that too many government officials have been informed
about the date, and more importantly that the villagers will come to the
conference largely because of me, and if they find that I have deserted them,
they will be greatly disappointed. I
argued that my intention is not to cultivate dependency in them on anyone but
themselves, but Anne and Faiyaz would not have it. They said that I’m the great new hope of the villagers, who have
been disappointed by unfulfilled promises far too often already.
Kim, who as usual listened in from the
periphery, spoke up and said that she supported their argument. When I counter-argued that there is not
enough manpower to organize a conference of this scope in such a short time,
Kim offered herself quite strongly as a part of the team. I reminded her of what she once said, that
she was not interested in dealing with the villagers, but would prefer to deal
with the tourists instead. She
countered back with that the tourist season is ending, and she will switch back
if/when the need arises.
Together, they said that I was the “glue”
and “magnet” that hold the villagers together, and if I leave before the
conference, the whole thing would fall apart.
They do have a point there. So,
March 23rd it will remain.
Today, being Friday, is another medical
clinic day. While Faiyaz and Anne were
busy with the patients, I had a long chat with Tarun. After some trust building, we pretty well laid things on the
table. He confessed that he had never
thought much of the work Tiger Trust had been doing over the last few years. He considered it not tiger protection work,
but “social work”. His idea of tiger
conservation work is to shoot poachers, pure and simple. He feels that work involving villagers would
create a dependency in the people on the NGO’s handouts. He said that he therefore gave the panchayat
visitors inferior food, so as not to create an expectation in them for royal
treatment here. I said that he was
discriminating against his own people, and again explained my whole
conservation strategy. In the end, he said
that he was beginning to look at Tiger Trust work in good light for the first
time, and said that he will help in organizing the conference.
He also self-disclosed some more on his
feelings about Pradeep. During lunch
with everyone, he said that Pradeep will pour in effort for the conference if
he has VIP guests and media present, but not if it is only a group of panchayat
peasants. This is hardly surprising,
but coming from his own nephew it carries extra meaning.
He also told me proudly about his
grandfather Dejev Singh, who is the brother of Kailash Sankhala. Dejev deliberately shed the name Sankhala
because people see him first and foremost as Kailash’s brother and not his own
person. He had his own laudable
accomplishments. Once, he saved a woman
and her small son from a man-eating leopard that escaped from a zoo with his
bare hands, resulting in many claw gashes all over his body. He subdued it by wrestling it “for an
hour”. But when finally the leopard was
disabled due to exhaustion, a cop came and shot it, about which Dejev was
livid, since he was himself armed with a hand gun, but elected not to use
it. He also created a huge walk-in
aviary.
We then went on to discussing
poaching. Tarun and Faiyaz both opine
that the Kanha tigers are relatively secure, and that the Kanha park service
and forest officials are relatively sincere and honest. But not so Bandhavgarh. They cited incidences where maharajas are
allowed into the park to poach deer and other animals, that as we speak, there
may be poachers staying in at least two of the lodges, and that certain park
personnel themselves also indulge including certain mahouts, and
politicians. There has been cases where
honest park personnel who exposed such cases have lost their jobs. One case has it that a raja poached a deer
whose leg was protruding from under a tarp in the back of a gypsy, and the
guard at the exit of the park asked the raja to push the leg back under the
tarp. This needs to be exposed to the
world, and Bandhavgarh needs a Tiger Trust program badly – sigh, only if
Kailash is still alive. I will have to
gather more information on this and blow it out at the panchayat conference and
world media.
The tourists left today, headed towards
Kaziranga. I made a few friends among
them. There were David and Barbara
Waddell, both Canadians residing in Ancaster, Ontario. David is an emeritus entomologist at U.Vic.,
and Barbara is an associate professor of kinesiology and biomechanics. David, who is 82 years of age, went around
showing me insects, especially a species of termites that live on the trunks of
living trees. Barbara is 66, and showed
a lot of personal warmth towards me, and took souvenir photos of me, and
insisted that I go visit them when I go to Ontario. There were also a few people who came to congratulate me, one
saying that my slideshow was “inspirational”.
And then there was the woman who had seen
me on TV in Montreal, who sought my autograph.
And then there was Barry Flowers, a South African man of about 60 with a
young woman as a companion. A couple of
days ago I was sitting with Kim when I asked, “Who is that attractive
blonde?” So yesterday, when I was
concluding my slideshow, and dinner was being laid out for the few of us, I
said, “I would like to entertain your questions while having dinner, you,
David, or Barbara,” and, jokingly, “or the attractive blonde over there.” They all laughed, except Barry, who
complained to Kim about the comment. So
this morning, I went to their room and said to Barry, “I wish to extend to you
my profound apology for the comment I made about you friend. It was meant to be a compliment to her
beauty and to you for your taste.” He
extended his hand and patted me on the shoulder saying, “It is I who should
apologize. I entirely mistook your
intention. I would like to make a
donation to your campaign.
Unfortunately, I have no money on me.
But I will give a cheque to Pradeep when I see him. I will also recommend your slideshow to him
to make it a standard feature of his tour package.”
Later, Kim told me that while I was in
Anne’s room discussing postponing the conference to April or May, Barry was
looking for me all over camp. “Here is
his card. He was bending over backwards
to ask you to send him a copy of the Champions of the Wild.”
This afternoon’s safari was free, the
tourists having paid for the whole day.
We (Tarun, Anne, Kim, I, with Chris C. at the wheel), decided to take
the afternoon off work and all go into the park. Yet another rare sighting of three wild dogs stalking and dashing
after chital, and four Gaur.
When we got back to camp, Faiyaz handed
Anne a fax delivered to the TT conservation centre by someone from the District
Collectorate (Manu Srivastava’s office) inviting her to go to Seony as a
speaker at the woman’s issue conference.
This propelled Anne into a state of euphoria, partly because she was a
little disappointed earlier by the lack of the promised fax and had given up on
going to the conference. She will leave
the lodge at 05:00 tomorrow.
Since Anne will be unavailable for the
meeting with the panchayat people tomorrow, I asked Kim and Chris C. whether
they would like to help out. Earlier in
the evening, while we all were sitting around a dinner table, with Tarun
present too, I asked openly if Chris C. wanted to go back to Bandhavgarh as
Pradeep had ordered from afar, “and do nothing”, or stay here at Kanha and help
with the panchayat conference. He of
course chose the latter. Tarun said
nothing, but inside, I think he was fighting a battle between agreeing with
this choice and foreseeing Pradeep’s reaction.
But when I asked him this time to help, he readily agreed in spite of
himself. He is right here. The Conference is right here. Pradeep is a thousand miles away, literally,
and I might add in spirit as well as physical distance.
Kim and Chris C. were discussing who to do
what, between taking notes and video documenting the meeting. Chris said, “I’ll do whatever Kim
doesn’t.” Tarun chipped in, “She
doesn’t sleep with him,” meaning me.
They all erupted with laughter.
One of us was leafing through the magazines
I bought in Delhi when he or she opened the India Today magazine on to the
story titled [MURDER OF A MISSIONARY] about fiery deaths of Graham Stewart
Staines and his son (see 1999-02-09).
The conversion of course at once turned serious. In the ensuing discussion, Anne, who had
been telling the free school children about micro-organisms and their role in
diseases, said, “It’s almost like the Staines, being foreigners, were
micro-organisms which entered the body of India for the purpose of making
unwelcome changes in the country, and were eliminated by its anti-bodies.”
Being foreigners themselves, and at that
ones who are about to participate in a campaign which also seeks to induce
fundamental changes in the way of life of the locals, Kim and Chris exchanged
apprehensive glances.
“Foreigners
could be intruding bacteria, but also injected social medicine, or perhaps even
introduced genes,” said Raminothna.