March 13, 1999, Saturday, sunny,
20-34C
[06:23 @ Rm.111, Kanha Jungle Lodge]
Today is going to be an interesting day, to
say the least. Pradeep will be arriving
around 16:00 from Bandhavgarh, and if he hasn’t heard about the Rajeesh Gopal
incident by then, he would then.
The
positive side is that the Balaghat Collector Manu Srivastava will be here also
and he is in favour of the conference.
Jharia is also in favour although being an Assisitant Forest Conservator
he is not very high up. The Mandla Collector
A. Jain is also in favour, as is the Buffer Zone Deputy Director Assim
Srivastava. Only the Field Director
Rajeesh Gopal is against, but he is one of the top bosses, and India, albeit
called “the largest democracy in the world”, is nonetheless a “police state”,
as Tarun and Faiyaz call it.
This
morning, we spent 08:30-10:30 doing our video interview, with me behind the
camera and Faiyaz and Anne in front, mostly Faiyaz, since I’ve already done
some with Anne, who still seemed to be suffering from dehydration. We discussed both the 1997 and 1998
programs, back then when I was blinded by my own innocence.
Around
10:45, Tarun came in and informed us that among the wireless messages sent out
by Gopal was one to his field office, informing it that Tiger Trust’s
“eco-development project” has been put on hold until further notice. This means that no Tiger Trust vehicle will
be allowed to pass through the Mukki gate this afternoon for transporting
panchayat members to the TT Conservation Centre, and so we will have to send
Amar to those panchayats due to come in today to postpone the visit to another
date yet to be announced.
[14:28] We had lunch with
the Maharashtra Collector and quite candidly discussed our situation with
him. He surprised me by saying that we
do not have much of a problem, and that indeed, there is more than one
solution, none of which needs compromise our objective. But before he could say what these solutions
were, Tarun came in and began talking about the new “climate”.
The
Indian political climate is certainly different from the Canadian one. If I attacked any official here the way I
did Cathy McGregor (the prohunting BC Environment Minister), I’d be in jail or
dead. As it is, laughable of all
laughables, I’ve bent over backwards to observe all the Indian protocols to the
hilt, and am being threatened with being charged as a poacher!
[17:44] The new tour group
has arrived, mostly older people, about 10.
I could not help but notice that Bara Bacha, our Gigantic Tiger Cub, its
blower and Pradeep’s 220 volt slide projector were there as well. In fact, Bara Bacha has been moved into my
room. I was on the way to Anne’s room,
when I inadvertantly came across Pradeep who was about to knock on the
Maharashtra Collector’s room. On the
spot, I said a bright “Pradeep!”, and we shook hands with big smiles and a bear
hug.
When
I went into the dining pavilion, Sucheta was there. We exchanged a big smile and hug. There was of course a slight undertone of guardedness, since we
both knew where things stood.
I
had a last minute strategizing session with Faiyaz, and my final decision is
that I will do the talking. If
Pradeep’s signature is what is required, I’ll get him to sign the invitation to
Rajeesh Gopal.
Right
now, Pradeep is sitting at the fire pit chatting with the Maharashtra
Collector. I just asked Tarun to
deliver to Pradeep a small hand-written note:
“Pradeep: Something urgent just
occurred. I need to discuss it with you
some time this evening, at your convenience.
Anthony.”
[21:02] Pradeep and I did have a long talk, in my room. I started off with the genesis of the
conference idea, what we aim to achieve, how we developed it, the protocol we
have followed, our media conference on March 16th, the Gopal
problem, etc.. Along the way, he said,
“You are a very enthusiastic individual.”
On the Gopal thing, he thinks it’s the guy getting pissed off for us not
asking for his permission first before going ahead to organize the event, about
us not involving him in the organizing, about Tiger Trust sending an underling
to deal with him, etc. He was not
angry, and seemed to take things in stride.
Pradeep
then turned to discussing with me my drive to increase park fee, saying that it
would not work. It was a long and
convoluted argument, about lack of infrastructure and lack of guarantee to see
tiger, etc., but all in all, what he was saying was that it would impact
negatively on his tourism business.
He
also said that the higher the park fee, the more the money the park officials
will pocket. Speaking from
experience? But when I asked him if the
Field Director himself pockets money, Pradeep said, “No, but the people lower
down does, and will.”
Towards
the end of the conversation, the Maharashtra Collector knocked on my door and
we admitted him. Pradeep asked his
opinion on the Gopal thing. The
Collector said that Gopal felt threatened by the sudden prominence and influence
of Tiger Trust in his territory and that he was also afraid of stirring up the
anti-park activists. His opinion is
that we have no problem having the conference, but Gopal may try to control TT
some other way some time in the future.
Pradeep said he would attend to it.
He did not say how, and I did not ask him.
Since Pradeep’s entry into camp, Faiyaz has
been sidelined. After my meeting with
Pradeep and the Collector, I went to fill him in. We discussed how Pradeep would handle the situation. The options are limited. Either we will have the conference, or we
won’t. We hope Pradeep will do the
right thing, fearing that he won’t. The
ball is in his court and we feel helpless.
“What
would you bet your last dollar on?” Faiyaz asked me.
“You
really want to know?”
“Yes,
I do.”
“I’d
rather not say,” I said.
And
Faiyaz understood.
“Of
everybody, the only person against park reform is Pradeep. He’s lost me for good. With conservationists like him, who need
poachers?” said Anne who joined us. “It
seems that to save the tiger is just too great a feat for us humans to perform. I’m not confident in the survival of the
tiger at all. We’re just not good
enough.”
“Brace yourselves.
Compared to the greatest feat on Earth that we have to perform, so that
the human species may survive, to save the tiger species is mere child’s play.”
“What
are you talking about? What is this
greatest feat on Earth that we have to perform?”
“The
organismization of Earth, of course,” said Raminothna.