Shyam Das is a forester who stays up all night and patrols in the dense forests. He is not an army man but a common man who does exactly what the Army does at the border. His children are studying in the city while he spends his day and night amidst the Wildlife. He could have gotten a good job and would have spent a leisurely life in the city. One would wonder -What has made Shyam Das stay in these dense forests?
Foresters like Shyam Das have spent their entire life protecting Indian Jungles and most importantly, the magnificent animal - Tiger. One would often argue,”It’s just another wildlife animal”. But for someone who has chased the beast very often, maybe it’s not. Tiger, which is often regarded as the King of Indian Forests, has so many lessons for the Mankind. One of them is patience.
I have spent my entire childhood in the forests, visiting Wildlife Sanctuaries and chasing pugmarks of the black stripped beauty. On some days I used to climb a watch tower and sight beautiful birds like Hornbill and Drongos, and wait for the sun to set. The sky would change its colour every minute as the birds would fly home. I would often get up at 5am in the morning just to see the Spotted Deer passing by. Even though I was far away from them, in the rest house built by the britishers, they would stare at me every minute as if I am the real intruder in their territory. Every minute spent in the macchans and tree houses, have taught me the rules of nature.
While I was busy looking for beautiful animals in the jungles of Kanha, Corbett, Achanakmar, Bandhavgarh and many more, I learned numerous lessons which even books did not teach me. I got the invaluable opportunity to study their behavior in different situations and how Nature plays its role in everything that happens around. The monkey and the deer are best friends. The monkey warns the presence of a tiger by giving an alarm call to the deer.
These alarm calls help the visitors to track tigers. Another way you can do that is by tracing their pugmarks on the road. Pugmarks can give you detailed information about everything - Whether the tiger moved around in the morning or at night, whether it was a male or a female etc. You get better at it with each new safari. I have been to many Tiger Reserves,made countless trips to the core zone and yet have spotted just 25 Tigers. That explains how hard it is to spot a tiger specially due to its ability to form a camouflage. Sometimes, it might be sitting very close to the road and you might just miss it if you are not attentive enough. The most important rule is to keep your eyes and ears alert whenever you enter any jungle.
Tiger Reserves in India attract a lot of tourists every year. Here the rules are pretty much different - Men inside, Tigers outside. You are not even allowed to step down outside the Gypsy Car on any occasion. Every morning, a large number of gypsies line up at the entrance of the Core zone at 6am. Then begins the race to sight a tiger and Believe me, it’s more exhausting than enthralling. Sometimes people spend three days sighting no tigers while some sight three in a day. That depends entirely on your luck and the patience you have.
Regardless of the number of visitors, the Forest Department of India has done a great work in preserving our national animal. According to the guidelines, just 20% of the Tiger Reserve is allowed for tourism and the rest of it is strictly for the animals to move around without human intervention. What surprises me the most is the ability of Foresters who guard the area that has no clear borders. They spend their lives in Macchans, walking alone in the dense forest with no safety equipment, just so that India protects its National Animal. It’s the legacy of famous conservationists like Jim Corbett, Kailash Sankhala. These brave men left all the materialistic things to explore Nature from every aspect.
India is now home to 2967 tigers. India has successfully made way for the tigers to flourish despite being the second most populous country in the world. It is because of the efforts made by the forest department of India. International Tiger’s Day is celebrated on 29th July. This day comes as a reminder to us - When we protect tigers,we protect the Indian Jungles. We have come a long way and we have been successful in protecting the Tigers. However, we have a long way to go. The fate of Indian Tigers and the Indian Biodiversity lie in our hands.
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