Vision of Life; by Sanjay: Super Moms of Tadoba, Chapter 1

“Iss Duniyame Bhagwanse bhi badhkar sirf ek hi Takad hai aur wo hai Ma ki Duaaoki Takad” … Rocky bhai in KGF.

Well, with due respect to western world’s wisdom words in English(what else) when its matter of emotions, nobody can beat our Desi languages & when it’s about Maa i.e. Mother then you name it & we have it as who can forget the all-time greatest, “mere pass Maa hai” from Deewar (it’s a superhit movie in 70s for the younger genre) yet when I thought of writing about Super Moms of Tadoba then I choose more recent & powerful one from this genre’s super hit movie i.e. KGF & when its south then more strong the emotions oozing from the words, lol! Btw those who doesn’t understand Hindi (there are many in Pune) for them the quote means, strength of a mother’s well-wishes for her siblings are more powerful than the God itself! And when the mother is a Tigress then this power must be getting doubled, I am sure! Well, for a long time now in bits & pieces I have written about many tigresses yet this time in my tdaoba trip I kept bumping many tigresses, most of them were with cubs & I could observe the hardships a tigress has to face while she raises the cubs until they become a grownup tiger & I thought the best tribute will be to write individually about few of them. That way, every Mom (may it be of humans or tiger or deer or as sparrow) is a Super Mom in her own place & own way yet when you are a tigress then though you may be the Queen of the jungle yet that Queendom comes at very high price & that’s why tigress Super Moms are more special!

Tadoba is blessed with many wonderful Mom's i.e. Tigresses, all zones have some or other mother which has blessed the Park with new tigers every year making the Park richer! And it's not an easy job to raise tiger cubs even your home may be protected forest like some Project Tiger as safe as Tadoba as apart from Male tigers i.e. other than the father, the small cubs are vulnerable to many threats the forest holds, smaller predators such as jackals, leopards, wolves even other tigresses too are a threat for the young cubs! And then the tiger cubs too are playful & can put their lives at risk while playing i.e. can get drawn in water body or bump in to a venomous snake, forest is full of dangers in every corner, so leaving them along is a tough task while the mom goes for hunting. As well to feed her own stomach along with cubs, the Mom has to be on the hunt keeping them at a safe place! At the same time, it's not easy for the tigress also to live constantly under human eyes, yet both the tigress & the humans have accepted this life & are happily living, this is coexistence at its best! And do mind, the way we are afraid of a tiger, the tiger is more afraid of we the humans actually! This behaviour we can learn by observing it in the wilds, especially when cubs are around, the tigress is very careful & imagine the stress levels she must be carrying along, so as a tourist we must be as silent as we can & just observe the wildlife keeping our excitement under control & let the tigress have her own peaceful time with her cubs! I have seen many tourists getting over excited when they see a tiger & that’s natural but instead shouting & telling other about the tiger, all you can do is use signage or just be steady, silent & absorb the beauty of the tiger in front of you, right?

And all such things make these tigresses Super Moms of Tadoba, so I decided to mention (rather say, to pay tribute) few such Super Moms who made my forest trips wonderful by giving me opportunity to study them & their life which has taught me so many wonderful things about the forests at large. I am mentioning local nick names of these tigresses which has been given to them because of their resemblance to somebody or the place they originate from or from their mother’s nick name or some birth mark. This may not be correct as per the experts or authorities because forest dept identifies every tiger above age of three years by some number & doesn’t allow to name some tiger the way we name some human or a pet but frankly it won’t corelate us with the respective tigress, so I am using names given! At the same time keeping full respect for forest dept’s concerns,’ it’s ok to number a tiger as we humans also have Aadhar Card number but we don’t call each other’s by that number, same way I feel its ok to call a tiger by its some name, though it does create confusion a times as same tiger is nicknamed differently when it changes territory of region by the locals, yet be it. As I have mentioned many of these tigresses have been clicked by wild lifers & have made millions of tourists happy by giving them full show as everybody visits forest to see a tiger & I don’t blame them for doing so. These tigresses have not only made life of the tourists happy but because of their sighting just like a super hit movie draws audience again & again to watch that movie & making film entire industry able to sustain, same way here, one tigress not only gives birth & grow its cub & in the process she helps hundreds of families also grow & able to live as it’s the money generated out of tourism which makes that happen! That’s one more reason of paying tribute to these Super Mom tigresses of Tadoba! At the same time, let me confess, I am not an authority on the subject, so please forgive if any reference related to location or blood-line of these tigresses is not correct, rather please write me back with correction, as my intention of this sharing is, to make common people understand importance of these tigresses & our responsibility towards them as well forest at large so we can conserve our wildlife for our next generations...

Super Mom, Kuani!

Here is a tigress which is ruling Kolsa range for nearly eight years single handedly; irony is, she still has to fight with another Super Moms i.e. Hirdinalla female for territory to protect her cubs, that's the irony of being a tigress!! It’s because of tigress like Kuani, Kolasa which is a wonderful forest but lesser known than other ranges as its entry if from slightly remoter side of the forest i.e. from Mul road, came to fame as the bold attitude with which Kuani walks along with her cubs on the road is treat to wildlife tourists! She is a brave tigress as Kolsa & Palsgaon villages got shifted last from the core & Kuani has been used to live with humans around, so she is not afraid of them. She has given birth to nearly eight to ten cubs & most of them has lived as beyond Kolsa there is not much development & lots of forest though unprotected also is available for the new tigers. Her contribution on the front of raising cubs along with making Kolsa range on the map of wildlife makes her Super Mom of Tadoba!

Super Mom, Sharmili!

Some ten years back when buffer zones were not on the preferred list of wild lifers (read as tiger seekers), with Junona gate came in operation near Moharli main gate of core, & later two new gates were started with great opposition from the locals fearing the restrictions on their movements in their forest because of the entry gate system! And even the tourists were not ready to visit here as one, the forest of Agarzari, Junona, Devwada is bit different than core, with narrow roads, thickset of trees & bushes & grass & backwater, it was difficult unless the tiger or any animal comes on road to sight it! In such times it was one tigress who was bold enough to walk on the road for miles to delight of the tourists & taught the same attitude to her cubs, which eventually helped tourism with which money started flowing & that’s helped locals to strike coexistence with the tigers! It was not easy to raise cubs as well as live in buffers as food is not as easily available as it is in core (deer & such) & you have to maintain safe distance from the humans, yet she survived for long & blessed Tadoba with many tigers, until she met with unfortunate early death by snake bite is what locals says! But she indeed is a Super Mom of Tdaoba!

Super Mom, Choti Madhu!

Moharli which is main gate of the park & the road which connects Tadoba to Chandrapur is of some 30 km length & the portion of the main road near Moharli has witnessed some wonderful sighting of a bold tigress which crosses this road at least once a day & with such ease or comfort that any outsider will think this tiger (most people can’t differentiate nor cares whether it’s a male tiger or tigress) is pet(tamed) as she is unfazed with humans or their vehicles, she is Chioti Madhu, undisputed queen of Agarzari & Junonoa Buffers of Tadoba! Though her name is Choti Madhu, it is from her mom Madhu & she is quite big by size for a tigress in compare to some other tigresses! Best part of Choti Madhu is, the way she has adjusted herself with the humans as the territory she rules has villages, farms, even resorts & main roads which are continuously used by the humans for all part of the day & yet she is successful in avoiding any conflicts with the humans & is delight for them as she brings tourists & that’s good for the locals for their survival! In Corona lockdown times she has taken shelter in nearby empty resort with her two cubs, such adoptability she has developed! I am lucky to observe Chiti Madhu at length & always admire her survival techniques with the humans as well other male tigers. Problem for Choti Madhu is the ongoing migration of male tigers from core to buffer which disturbs her mating cycle & put her cubs under constant threat as father moves away after she gives birth to cub & the new male kills them, that’s cruel side of nature! This is why her many cubs couldn’t survive yet the Super Mom doesn’t give up & recently is busy in growing her two little ones, & it’s her courage to survive among the humans & make their lives better makes her Super Mom of Tadoba!

Super Mom Combo, Choti Tara & Maya!

Like Choti Madhu, Choti Tara also got name from her mom Tara but the fame she has earned is way more than her mom & so is her contribution to Tadoba also! Rather even at present two other moms which are ruling central part of Tadoba core, both are daughters of Choti Tara, which is a proof of the contribution of CT (nickname) & then there are many present male tigers which are her siblings only. Well, whenever Tadoba’s journey to fame in tiger conservation will be written two Super Mom’s name nobody can miss, one is Ct & another is, legendary Maya! It’s just like 80’s Bollywood when Shridevi & Jayaprada were ruling film Industry & all lime-light was on Shridevi yet Jayaprada’s beauty & screen presence was equally important & admired by the fans, so is here, as Maya always used to steal most of the lime-light yet CT’s contribution & presence is equally important to take tadoba’s name on world tiger map. Irony of similarity between these two & the two heroines I mentioned above is, Shridevi left this world in most unexpected way & early, same way Maya disappeared from tdaoba core in 2023, leaving back CT to hold the fort of core & how wonderfully she is doing that! Before Maya disappeared (God Bless her) for nearly two years CT has to give up her territory for her own daughters which will be next Super Moms of tdaoba core & just when she was settling in buffers Maya disappeared. Slowly & with patience CT entered in the void created by Maya & started ruling here territory & good news is at age of fourteen Ct conceived & has two little ones to look after! Unfortunately, Maya which is probably not just a Super Mom but a Super Queen of tdaoba was always unlucky with her cubs because of too many male tigers in her territory & most of her cubs succumbed to ill fate i.e. getting killed by other male tigers! The contribution which Maya & Choti tara has made to the forests in the recent years will be written in golden letters, such was & is there prowess for the park, making them on the top of the list of Super Moms of Tadoba!

Super Mom K-Mark

She is the youngest entrant in the Super Mon league of Tadoba, as I mentioned few tigresses has been named because of some marking which comes as birth mark & this one is named because of “K” letter marking on her forehead. This young first-time mom present rules Mul side buffers of Tadoba & like Choti Madhu she too is learning to live with the humans as her territory also has many villages around & some busy roads! Recently I got opportunity to watch her at close & she is having three cubs & as she is first timer Mom, she is extremely careful while moving around as she has seen humans closely while she grew up but as a Mom, she don’t want to take rick when she has cubs along. Mul road is a busy road which lies in the buffers of kolsa range & now K mark is a frequent sight for the commuters on that road & as she is having cubs, she snarls, growls, mock-attack the commuters just to make sure they are not a threat to her cubs but never actually has injured any human till now, sowing the smart attitude as she knows killing a human is starting a war with humans which won’t do good for her & eventually for her cubs!

Friends, the way movies KGF or Pushpa (please google), this is Chapter One of Super Moms of Tdaoba, as Tadoba is blessed with many Super Moms & each of them is special at her place & I hope to cover all of them in some time ahead as that’s the best tribute we can give to these wonderful moms (tigresses’)! What we should understand & respect about the Super Moms is the difficulty we humans are putting them in doing their duty towards their cubs, their forest & themselves as barring few hundred sq. kilometres of core where human movements are restricted most of these tigresses are fighting for territory which are being encroached by the humans. And all these Moms need is some privacy & secured feeling for their cubs as they even dare to hunt in stark daylight for their cub’s survivals & some hundred people can watch this scene from their home’s backyards as well there are farmers working hardly at some 200 meters distance & cattle keep grazing around, there are village women going to work from the road from where a tigress mom walks & yet all she does is a snarl or a mock attack that too for her cub’s safety! When she is alone, I have witnessed many times in Tadoba buffers the tigress silently changing her course or pause for a while in the bushes when notices human movement & comes out after the humans have gone, this is so wonderful to learn & experience! And yet accidents (conflicts) happens but they do happen in our cities also on the roads & that doesn’t make us ban the cars or the trucks on the roads, right? If we follow simple rules of living with the wildlife then here also, we can reduce the accidents (conflicts), that’s the best gift we can give to these Super Moms (tigresses) not just of Tadoba but to all such in the forests of our country, adios with this request!

Sanjay Deshpande

smd156812@gmail.com

Sanjeevani Dev.

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