March 24, 1999, Wednesday, sunny,
17-37C
[19:29 @ Rm.12, Bandhavgarh Jungle
Lodge]
Where
tiger-sighting is concerned, there is assuredly nowhere else on Earth that can
best Bandgavgarh. So far this visit at
Bandhavgarh, the sighting success rate has been 100%. Even Kanha, given its denser vegetation, can boast a success rate
of perhaps only 40%, even for a lucky guy like me. And today’s sighting is almost as magical as it gets.
We
were just trundling along the park drive through a thin sal forest when we
passed a small herd of about a half dozen sambar a stone’s throw away. We didn’t stop then, but about 50 meters
later, we abruptly did. Pushpinder was
at the wheel. Even after the Gypsy had
halted, I still didn’t know what we had stopped for, until, following his eyes,
I then saw, only 6 or 7 meters away, partly concealed by the trunk of a tree,
the tigress Mohini. Even after I had
seen her, I still had a passing thought that she was a statue. She was frozen in a static-dynamic pose,
like an arrow in a tightly drawn bow.
She paid us not the least of attention, her eyes trained at the sambar
like twin laser beams. In fact, I doubt
that she could see them through the vegetation, but she could certainly hear
them. But I doubt that they could hear her. In the full minute since we had stopped, she
moved only twice, and at that very slowly.
When she put her paws down one by one on the dried-leaves-carpeted
forest floor, there was not a sound to be heard. Except the clicking of my camera. Over the next several minutes, she inched forward no more than 5
or 6 meters. And then, over the next
split second, she was gone in a flurry of flying forest debris. In her direction came a few honking alarm
calls, which in a heartbeat was carried away by the wind and flashes of brown
dashing through the black sal trunks.
Pushpinder put the Gypsy in reverse and backed it at forward speed to
where the sambar were last seen, and found Mohini there instead, now in a state
of dejected relaxation. As if already
having shrugged her shoulders in resignation, she ambled stoically away. The sequence from beginning to end was long
enough for me to click off a dozen excellent still shot and some video footage
of the stalk and of the sambar dashing away.
Did we distract her and cause her to fail? Did our camera sounds alert the sambar? Sorry about this, Mohini.
Well, just chalk this down to one of the twenty or so times tigers fail
before their next success. May be the
next time will be the one for you.
On our way back to camp, we
encountered a white Gypsy in the passenger seat of which being no other than
the Superwoman Latika herself in her Aussie hat. We did a quick verbal exchange
when her vehicle pulled parallel, and
rearranged my visit to 10:15.
Speaking
of “Superwoman”, nickname-wise – put it down to cabin fever and terminal
frustration - Ms. Sucheta Tiwari, for awhile called “the Monitoring Agency”,
and “Tigress” by me before things came to a head, is now the “Monitor Lizard”. One person we know is now the “GIB”. There is a little story behind this. One day last week, we came upon a bird which
Chris C. identified as a Great Indian Bustard, but which the park guide in our
Gypsy mispronounced slightly, if you know what I mean. We all roared with laughter and the nic
stuck. Faiyaz is “Wild Dog” or “Brain
Fever Bird”. Tarun is “Asiatic
Lion”. Anne chooses “Elephant” for
herself, in terms of temperament only, because she looks more like a white swam
to me. As for me, I’ve heard that the
lodge staff at Kanha had a good one for me.
It’s the name of an Indian movie star who specializes in villain roles,
since they deemed it very funny that (they thought) I looked like him. Tarun even showed me a picture of this guy
in one of Dimple’s Bollywood movie mags.
I didn’t think I looked the least bit like him, the definitive proof
being that there is no way for him to pose as a Chinese tiger-bone buyer in an
undercover sting operation, however villainous he might look. On the other hand, Anne gave me the very
complimentary “Charger”, “in honour of your campaign style”, she said.
The
visit to Latika was warm and casual, sitting in the dining pavilion of the
Bandhavgarh Jungle Camp where she lives.
Her very fortunate man Nanda was there as well and both treated me with
courtesy and respect. Just superficial
chatting, but Nanda said to me that he’s been managing the camp for 10 years
and has had enough. He plans to switch
over to full time conservation work as of next year. Also, his 3-year labour of love in terms of their video TV
full-hour documentary is about ready for release. Since I had the 11:00 appointment with Vandana, I had to bid an
early tata, but not before Nanda invited me for dinner on the 26th,
19:30, which I again gladly accepted.
The
visit to Vandana was joined by Faiyaz, Vivek and Anne. We had a broad-based yet intense discussion
session. Following are the raw notes
taken, in point form, and partly incomprehensible, which will take weeks to
understand and months if not years to research.
-
papaya as alternative crop as solution to crop raiding by deer
and wild boar
-
mushroom cultivation as revenue source
-
biogas plants – 27, only 6 of which successful
-
art and craft training – 3 years
-
awareness program last year for forest villagers
-
villagers “lazy” – forest as only resource of needs, takes time,
access children
-
visit schools, nature art. Talent search, encourage children to
go to school, with park-visit as prize, plant 5 plants each group, prizes for
good plants.
-
aim to produce young conservationists
-
anti-poaching – 73 beat guards in park, not equipped enough, 1
beat guard hurt by poachers, Santosh Kumar Chaturbedi at Gohdi check post,
equipment needed – wireless set, guns, 30 motor bikes @ Rs.8000 each
-
once a bear guard heard a shot, went for help, had to walk, one
hour, came back, poacher gone
-
acting as intelligence agency to gather info
-
45 volunteers needed to keep eyes in guests in villages – if
suspicious, inform Territorial Forest, NOT park personnel (who leak info), TF
keeps track and acts on info
-
contact made from outside, sends contacts to villages, guest at
villages, transact
-
usually, villagers caught, but contact gets away
-
even forest officials are afraid to act against these poaching
agents because they are very powerful and influential
-
main distribution centre is Katni
-
Mr. Atesh Katia, Tiger Conservation Cell suggested to
Superintendent of Police to launch plain-clothes investigation about 1.5 months
ago, the SP said yes, but no implementation
-
Staff members of Bandhavgarh Foundation Trust 12, 45 volunteers,
foreign volunteers welcome for general awareness, school outreach, kids,
patrolling park periphery, circumference 150 km.
-
Chairman of BFT is a maharaja Pushpraj Singh - off. Fort, Rewa
486001 (MP) (07662) 40095, 22069 - has right to go inside the park at will,
other privileged people can too but only in the presence of the maharaja, 5
max, 1 Gypsy donated
-
Park beat guards easily corruptible, wage Rs.1500-2000/mo.,
senior personnel Rs.3500
-
When hiring – screening mechanisms: interest, out of the way
work, outdoorsy, offer education for children
-
Life of beat guards should be insured
-
Schools needed
-
Corruption rampant, from top to bottom, top down, Minister of
CCFI on down, asks for money for election, minister comes with staff of 10-20, officials
have to cater to them, have to have money from somewhere
-
VD gets threatening phone calls, phone cut, also against
anti-poaching NGOs, government officials also get these calls
-
VD has bodyguards.
-
ENVIRO mag, vol. 6, #1, 1998 – tiger special
During
brunch break in the park this morning, I led Faiyaz and Anne to work out a
classification system for all planets in the Universe, however numerous or
innumerable they may be.
Take
the planets in the Solar System alone for example. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto,
in other words, all planets in the Solar System except Earth, are Molecular
Level Planets. Earth four billion
years ago, too, was a Molecular Level Planet only. But one billion years later, it had moved up to being a Cellular
Level Planet. 500 million years
ago, it had become a Metabion Level Planet, and 100 million years ago,
since the rise of the social insects, a Tribal Level Planet, then a City
Level Planet, and so on. Today,
Earth is a National Level Planet.
A few thousand years hence, hopefully, Earth will have integratively
transcended into being a Planetary Level Planet. Later still, a Stellar Level Planet,
then a Segmental Level Planet, then a Sectoral Level Planet, then
a Galactic Level Planet, and so on up.
Hopefully.
Broadly
speaking, given the billions of planets likely to exist in our Milky Way Galaxy
alone, let alone those in the other 100 billion galaxies in the Universe, I
would not be surprised to see that the number of Molecular Level Planets, and
that of Cellular level Planets, and that of the Metabion Level Planets, etc,
etc, would also make an exponential series of sorts, although, given our lowly
National Level of development, we would have no way of knowing this for now, or
for a thousand or perhaps even a million years.
In
the afternoon, Faiyaz and Anne spent time on this computer translating Hindi
documents into English for international publication purposes. Following are two articles and one letter to
the editor. More to come, including the
transcript of a speech by the M.L.A. of Tala made only two weeks ago.
Article from “Detective Eye” weekly
newspaper
4 January 1999
Destruction of Bandhavgarh National
Park Accelerated Under Leadership of R.C. Sharma
Umaria –
It
is well known that Sita, the famous tigress of Bandhavgarh, went missing in
1998. But the forest officials, whose job it is to protect the forest, don’t
seem to care. If urgent action is not taken, the days of Bandhavgarh National
Park will be numbered.
Under
the supervision of the officials, thousands of trees have been illegally cut
down in recent days from the Raj Bahra and Mahaman ranges, in the heart of the
park. Recently, when the officials came
to know that Indrajit Patel, a Minister in charge of the district, would be
visiting the park, they put their staff on a war footing to hide all the
evidence, including the trees that had already been cut. Mr. Sharma himself supervised the operation,
and the trees were eventually hidden at night with the help of tractors.
The
entry of vehicles in the park at night is an offence under law. But the
darkness was useful to the officials to cover up their shameful actions. Everybody knows that the entry of vehicles
in the park, especially diesel vehicles, is prohibited at night. So how can the people trust these officials?
The
labourers who cut down the trees did not get paid, so they complained to the
local sarpanch Kallu Bhai Jan and showed him the trees. Mr. Bhai contacted the
local M.L.A., Mr. Narendra Prasad Singh, who in turn contacted Collector Smt.
Pillai. Finally, a team was put
together under the leadership of the Tehsildar to discover the truth. Kallu Bhai Jan has photographs of this
illegally logged wood. If a poor person
cuts down the forest, he is liable to be prosecuted. But the forest officials are immune from prosecution.
The
sacred ground of Bandhavgarh has a lot of stories to tell about the corruption
of the forest officials. Today it seems
that the protectors of the forest are swallowing the forest.
It
is essential that there be a proper investigation to discover the truth. When the forests are being cut under the
supervision of the forest officials and tractors can enter the park at night,
it is easy to see how poachers too could come inside. It seems there is a relationship between the illegal wood
poaching and Sita’s disappearance.
Article from Navbharat newspaper,
Jabalpur,
12 January 1999.
Bandhavgarh
National Park is the pride of the Umaria district and a world wide tourist
attraction. However, its most famous
inhabitant, a tigress called Sita, has recently gone missing due to the
negligence of the director. No official
is able to say whether she is alive or dead.
Her disappearance in July of 1998 may signal the failure of Project
Tiger in Bandhavgarh.
While
questions remain about the identity and whereabouts of Sita’s killer, thousands
of sal trees are being poached from the Rajbahra and Mahaman areas of the
national park with help from the forest officials. When the District Collector of Umaria, Mrs. Renu Pillai, was
notified of these happenings by the local M.L.A., Narendra Prasad Singh, she
formed an investigatory team under the leadership of Te Hsildar.
Sources
say that during the visit of a minister, Indrajit Kumar Patel, the whole sal
episode was covered up and the trees which had already been cut down inside the
park were hidden by the forest officials.
The thousands of labourers who were employed to cut the trees were not
paid. These labourers complained to the
local sarpanch, Mohammed Shabbir, alias Kallu Bhai Jan, for their wages, and
the sarpanch passed their complaints on to Mr. Singh. The sarpanch has also taken photographs of the fallen logs. Mr.
R.C. Sharma, the director of the park, is known to be very strict and
collection of fuelwood and entry of diesel vehicles are totally prohibited inside
the park. But it is well known that diesel
vehicles enter the park at night to collect wood from the forest.
While
on one hand the state government has built an airstrip at Umaria to attract
more tourists to the park, the park is suffering from the disappearance of Sita
and the poaching of sal trees. Local
people want answers to all of their questions and are calling for an
investigation.
Letter from C.L. Singh, Indrakunj,
Manpur village,
District Umaria, 484665, Madhya
Pradesh, India
It
is surprising that the tigress Sita, the pride of the Bandhavgarh, which was so
famous and popular among the naturalists of the world and had unparalleled
record of giving birth to 18 cubs in 6 times and was still young enough to give
birth to 2 or 3 more litters has gone out of sight from the national park where
there is heavy staff for the protection and conservation of wildlife. She was seen last in June 1998, since then
she has not come in sight.
Forest
officials put guesses about her disappearance.
They say she might have changed her territory or she would have been
pregnant and had gone into seclusion or she would have met her natural
death. But the local talent, vigilant
citizens, naturalists, guides don’t agree with them. They question – why will she change her territory where she has
given birth to 18 cubs and lived there for 17 years? Her favourite territory was the Siddha Baba Chakardhara area of
the park. No reason appears to change
the territory.
The
second thing, if she had gone in the seclusion for reason of her pregnancy,
even then, she would have appeared till now.
The maximum period of pregnancy of a tigress is 105 days. This period has elapsed long ago. It is now 9 months over since she was seen
last in June 1998. The third and last
guess of her natural death also does not go down the throat because she was
strong, healthy and young enough to produce offspring. If the third guess, that she had met her
natural death is taken, even then, some proof should exist. Her dead body, her bones, etc., should have
been recovered or some marks of her death would have come in sight. But nothing of the sort.
So
the question rises again: Where is
Sita?
Many
forest officials speak of their own accord or may change their tune but it
seems too hard for them to accept the truth.
Naturalists feel that she has been taken away by some huntsmen. Either she had been killed or put to death
by means of poisoning and her skin, bones and other organs and part of the body
have been stolen away for money.
The
forest officials are trying their best to convince the higher authorities in
another way. So they speak
language. They are guarding themselves…
The
long absence of Sita from the forest leads to the conclusion that she has
become a prey to some hunters. The forest personnel hide this fact. They are
busy in making their picture to [word missing] their side safe. But the fact is
otherwise. Only through deep inquiry may reveal what the fact is!
Most probably
Sita, the glory of the park, has been devoured like unnumbered sal trees in the
area of Raj Bahra and Mahaban, the heart of the park.