"Wildfest for Kids", Building Hope for Wildlife!

 

--

“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”
― Madeleine L'Engle

“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.”
― Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Only if we make our kids understand the role of a tiger in the forest, then they will definitely save the forest & eventually the tiger too.”

-- Me

Yes, the sharing is about wildlife & forests & there is Tadoba in it (can it ever be not possible!) but it’s regarding the most neglected aspect in wildlife conservation & no, it’s not about the tigers or habitat but it’s about the kids & their connection with the wildlife! It’s about an event rather a movement will be a proper term for it, which we called “Wildlife Fest for Kids”! Last year, in a brain-storming (read as argument at work, but sounds nice if called so) session of Jungle Belles (plz google) we were discussing about how to make people love wildlife as then only they can think about next step i.e. joining hands for conservation, we come up with the idea of focusing on kids for wildlife! As usual, like any idea, it sounded great but how to do it was the question as kids on their own can’t go to the forests as it’s the parents which decides the trip's destination (mostly) & then how can you decide to go to a place about which you know nothing. On top of that, such a place where wi-fi is an issue, no shopping, no TV in rooms (many places), no mobile range & no Siggie of Zomato means no Pizza or Coke, which kid will like to go to! And on top of it most parents, especially of today’s era, want full value of the money they are spending on the trip & wildlife, if you don’t understand in the right way then chances of you not understanding what it has given you in lieu of the money spending are most. In nutshell when most of our country men (And women) visits forests for tourism (wildlife) then they want to see a tiger & they forget it’s a jungle & not a zoo where every animal & bird behaves as per its need & not paid for some show to the tourists who thinks they have paid to their nose & if you don’t see a tiger the trip money is wasted! On such a background, taking the entire family to some forest as a trip is the last priority & that’s the reason most of the kids remain unaware about wildlife in real sense! Agreed there are kids who have been to the forests via organizations like Foliage or Nature Walk but the percentage of such kids is too low considering the cost incurred & it’s just once in a while. And even if any kids loved what he or she has experienced in the forest, chances of visiting the forests again are very less because of our parents’ unawareness about wildlife. One standard reason is, what’s there to visit again the same forest or say the forest itself, & I am sure many readers also must have faced the same question when it’s about visiting forests!

Exactly to answer this question we decided that if the kids can’t go to the forest, we will bring forests itself to the kids in Pune & that's the start of Wildlife fest for Kids, of which first edition was in 2024, i.e. exactly one year back. That edition (event) was too raw as everything was in a way a test case, right from duration to activities, which must be focusing the kids. And the biggest challenge was (well real biggest challenge I will share at end) to keep the kids engaged for all the time & what should be that time! We decided that it will be a four hours event & we will break these four hours in different activities & all of them must be related to wildlife obviously but will be a blend of fun.com & gyan.com as then only it will serve the purpose! Indeed, to our surprise it was a success as people were asking this year when is Wildlife Fest, what better receipt of success there can be than this! And that made us more tense as success is one thing & to repeat is another as it comes with a package of expectations to perform better & so was the second edition of Wildlife Fest which happened on 14th June 25!

Indeed, last years’ experience was with us to guide but kids are as unpredictable as forest, you never know what will happen with them in the next moment & our brains were busy thinking about this aspect. This year one major addition in the team was Tushar Joshi who is a media expert & he suggested we must bring someone who has media value, meaning the media will be interested in that person. I know nobody is bigger than the forest yet we live in a world where the media may not rule my life (personally speaking) but of the masses & if we can get someone who qualifies for both things i.e. media interest & kids wildlife aspect also then what’s harm in it! And first name was Sumedh Waghmare, a guide from tadoba who can mimic many birds & animals & has been in limelight thanks to a reel by Sachin Tendulkar about Sumedh! Anuj put all his efforts for getting Sumedh on board & yes there were some frictions about his remuneration but I feel unless people in wildlife doesn’t get right money it won't ever become sustainable & if some actor or actress can demand lakhs of rupees for mere appearance here is a guy who will be travelling nearly thousand kilometres & give his best about wildlife to the kids so if we spend some thousand then its worth as the cause matters most than the spending! And then rest of the topics were debated & finalized with personalities’ because there are many people in wildlife & great work all of them are doing yet one factor is that person must be able to connect with the kids & make them explain purpose of their sharing by going to their level of understanding & interest, & such must be the subject also!

For example, the subject of camera trapping which helps forest officials to count & identify the animals in the forest, however important the subject may be yet it may connect with the kids & they may lose interest which exactly we didn’t want to happen as it will ruin next person’s sharing as well entire purpose of the fest! And thus, we finalized Dr Prachi Mehta who works for conservation of owls & kids are definitely interested in owls, thanks to Harry Potter (plz google). Then there was a puppet show with characters in forest & this was considering two aspects, one is this genre (kids) have never seen a puppet show (like Kathputali) & animal puppets speaking human language would be fun for them which does happen. And then we have a young RFO (range officer) from Bandhavgarh Tiger Project who travelled nearly double of Sumedh & presented life of forester & hardships as well commitments needed for the job! As well we decided to have some short films about wildlife too, just to keep the kids engrossed. And yes, there were stalls of merchandise related to wildlife & yes, mascots of a tiger & an elephant. Something more we added this time & that is, life size cutout images of four popular tigers in news, Maya, Choti tara, Mataram & Chota Matakasur (these are names given to respective tigers by locals, as forest dept gives them numbers) & with information as well their contribution to the respective forests. This was one more hit thing, as “Selfie with Your Favourite Tiger” which pulled lots of kids & even parents around & such things help kids to connect more strongly with wildlife! And there were book stalls with Anant Sonvane, writer of a book about tigress Maya himself being present at the stall, which made even the parents thrilled to get a photograph with him! Last but not the least we arranged for two mascots of tiger & an elephant respectively & they were a hit among the kids too!

With all stuff loaded yet to plan something like this on paper & execute it & make through are two different things & needed support of many people of which most important was place & Sidharth Gokhale with Nachiket, of Bougainvilla Farm was the perfect place. With lots of greens & trees as backdrop the place was perfect for the event & things started rolling! On the D Day, one more hurdle was there & it was changed (read as erratic) rain pattern of Pune though we have anticipated rains yet the way nowadays it downpour, one such burst was enough to ruin entire decorum yet I believed in our work which if for the nature itself & nature also responded with same vibe & thankfully it didn’t rain except a small shower that too when the event was already on roll!  Pune’s forest dept was kind enough to support the initiative & Mr Praveen CCF as well Me Tushar Chavan, DCF (wildlife) were there right from the start as well became partners for the event officially!

As I said, Wildlife Fest for Kids was a big gamble because till now nobody has planned something which is focused on Kids & with wildlife as theme, as there have been many events about wildlife & for kids but fusion of both, well I am proud to say (on behalf of jungle Belles & Nature Walk), this is first of its kind! Though we have a firm belief that if we want to secure the future of our wildlife then we must start from the kids & they responded with full enthusiasm. For more than four hours hundreds of kids were enjoying the presentations, puppet shows without showing any sign of boredom & I heard one mom telling to Hemangi that her son refused to go out even for snacks because he thought he will lose his prime sitting position, this is the best compliment we got, is what I feel! For entire four hours I saw faces of kids (and parents too) engrossed in the event, smiling faces when they saw some funny image or listened such incidence, amazed faces when they saw images of wildlife as well sad when they listened to sharing from Mr.Arpit Mairal RFO from Bandhavgarh forest & how they handle man-animal conflicts (though I will say, coexistence) & they do get engrossed when puppets were giving message for wildlife conservation! Even Dr Prachi Mehta’s presentation about owls was enjoyed by all as kids (and the parents) realized how interesting studying one single species can be & its importance in nature!  Sumedh’s presentation about wildlife was epitome of the festival & best part was its not just about mimicking sounds of birds or animals but he tried to explain to the kids that nothing in the forest happens without any purpose as well he shared hardships of his life & journey to reach the stage he was standing! We thanked the parents as unless they wouldn’t have brought the kids to Wildlife Fest it wouldn’t have been a success. Kids are like a car & steering wheel is parents, it’s the steering wheel which decides the path of the car & future of the journey along, & this is why we, at Jungle Belles are keen to make the steering aware to drive the car named kids on the path of wildlife as conservation will follow eventually!

Friends, as I mentions the hardest part of Wildlife Fest for Kids was (and is) funding, though thanks to personalities like Sidharth Gokhle (Bougainvilla farm) & Raju madkar (Madkar Contractions, Kamlesh Jhala (Mayuk Project), Ajay (Asmi Villa, tadoba) & such, who supported generously yet we need many more to join the moment as indeed even on marketing side its good opportunity but more than that it’s the cause which matters, is what I feel & that’s why team Sanjeevani is proudly associated with this fest as well with wildlife! After thanksgiving by JB team, many parents & kids were asking about the next wildlife fest & needs money, because unfortunately wildlife has no glamour to fetch money (yet) but it’s our only hope for our bright future & I think high-time for our corporate biggies to understand this fact, as what’s use of your product when entire future of mankind is in dark, think over guys, adios with this “waidhanik ishara” & a very happy, peaceful, satisfied feeling for the Wildlife Fest for Kids. And a promise that we will be there next year & after that also as we love wildlife & care for it! Three cheers for Jungle Belles, Nature Walk & Tushar Joshi, you rock & with people like you there is hope for wildlife!

You can watch Vibes of Wildlife Fest for Kids on the link below...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sanjeevani_developers/albums/72177720326885810/

--

Sanjay Deshpande 

smd156812@gmail.com

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about finding a Right Home/ Office in Pune, at YouTube link below & share if liked...

 

https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2024/12/right-home-buying-in-2025.html

https://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2024/12/2025.html

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below) 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

www.punecorporation.org

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com / https://junglebelles.in/

Spellbounding Satpura via Madhai Gate!

 

-

“To learn something from you, the forest silently observes you and quietly listens to you! If you want to learn something from the forest, do the same thing!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“Out of the many things which forests has taught me, one is, every tomorrow is beautiful than today!”- Me.

Once again Mehmet to help me for starting a sharing about forests for which his country (Turkey) is not known for & actually stood against our country in recent clash with our neighbour! Yet keeping due respect for our enmity, nature has only one enemy & that is human so that’s makes all of us on one side of the table, which is why I am ok with using Mehemet’s words of wisdom! And then my own feelings (not quote) which gets in to belief after every forest outing & when the destination is Satpura, MP forest then I doubt whether my words will be enough to capture it or even my camera, such is the beauty & expand of the forest! Can you describe Himalaya’s height or Niagara fall’s sound of water or even try explaining someone vibe of blooming of Kass Pathar’s wild flowers (plz google), I think there are many such phenomenon in the nature which can’t be expressed in mere words nor can be captured in any camera yet these sharing are like a window for those who aren’t lucky enough to visit such places & can see at least whatever being shown to them through these words/ photographs windows of people who are lucky to live these moments (like myself)! Now if you are thinking this is bit over dramatic & philo then it’s nothing in comparison to the herculean task of trying to explain or describe Satpura forest, so be it!

I had been to these forests but from another gate as Satpura tiger reserve (will use this shortform ahead as STR) has three gates i.e. Churna, Madhai & Panchmadhi & they are nearly 150 km apart from each other, so you can imagine the expand of these forests! Of course, the distance of gates from within the forest is much less but then that’s only for authorized personals. I had been to STR from Churna gate & am well versed with the serenity of these mountain range which are known as Satpura in Hindi it means Seven Mounds or Boxes! On the eastern side of these range lies Melghat which is in Maharashtra & flora as well Fauna is much similar in both forests yet STR has been detached from all sides from the urban world & that’s a boon. First surprise (not a pleasant one for me personally) was when I went to ticket counter of Madhai gate for me was I could see a big river Devna in between ticket counter & actual forest gate & when asked how to go to gate & where are gypsy’ (safari vehicles), the guide casually told me, Sahab, baotsehi jana padata hai wahatak” i.e. Sir, we will have to travel by a boat to reach to the gate of the park! This was news to me, as probably Madhai must be the only gate of the forest where you have to go by a boat ride, at least in Central India & that too in peak summer where most rivers run dry. I hate water (sorry but a fact) & hate boat rides more (you can call it fear, that’s ok for me) & I can’t swim but that is also of no use here as the guide was quick to describe the crocks in the waters, this made my friends also curtail their laughter which came by looking at my face! Yet, forest is the only thing which can make me overcome my hatred (read as fear) for boat ride & I set foot on floating jetty to sit in the boat. One more thing, looking at the river bed span, I asked the guide what happens in post monsoon safari, then he tried to explain me how large the gorge is in monsoon with water depth more than 100ft & width of the river nearly half kilometre, which again has to traversed by boat only! I decided then & there never to visit Madhai in winters (sorry the forest must be super beautiful but to travel in that water is not my cup of tea), at least for now & we entered in STR!

I have seen enough tigers now to lose the counting of the sighting though I clearly remember every sighting (that’s power of a tiger) & yet I have told to the foresters ( fellow friends), not to expect tiger sighting as STR is very large forest, tigers are shy & they can be  anywhere in this forest as most of the forest is surrounded by river & lots of water bodies around, large prey base & all these makes a tiger not needed to show itself to the humans, simple logic! But I have told my friends to enjoy the forest landscape which they won’t get to see anywhere as well birds, deer, gaurs & sloth bears for which these ranges are famous for! And in the past we all have seen tiger very early also at the start of safari (thanks to tadoba) but what happened to STR Madhai gate broke all our records, as we stepped out (read as wheeled out) of the gate in the forest, at 100 ft distance there was a pond on right side of the road & a banyan tree on left side of the road & one gypsy was standing there, all people in it looking at the tree with excitement on the faces of the tourists which can only match with when they see a tiger! Yet, I thought they must be first timers & excited by looking at deer or peacock & when we looked what they are looking at, a tigress was sitting in the shadow of banyan tree, that makes sighting in 35 seconds (half of a minute) i.e. from the entry in the forest & this is Satpura! And from where the tigress was relaxing in water, human settlement (park management quarters) was stone’s throw distance, a heartening thing to watch, this is coexistence! From that movement next two days we criss-crossed most of the STR expand as that was the target & we end up with near eight sightings of the tigers which was not just bonus but jackpot & we missed sloth bear but more than that we tried to store as much of the forest in our cameras & the mind, which was the sole purpose of our trip.

I have seen tigers as I already mentioned & I have seen Indian gaurs as well dear & birds but at Satpura when you see a lone gaur grazing & even one tonner (weighing 1000kg) gaur looks like a tiny dot on the back ground of the forest, that sight makes you realize how small we are in front of the nature! Yet, how dangerous we are to threaten existence of this huge forest just the way a small termite can damage our entire house only because of our numbers which are growing faster than termite! Beauty of STR is 1600 sq. km or core & three side river & backwater & mountains as well meadows created by relocating the villages inside, all of this makes STR is one of the finest habitats for every type of wildlife as it’s a home big enough to accommodate many living species of every type! Agreed tiger sighting is difficult though of late they have increased & the tigers are getting used to human movement around in safaris but things needed to improve is quality of guides & their interaction skills! Rather female guides were more enthu & talkative but most of the guides themselves has seen these tigers for less time so they have yet to understand its behaviour pattern which is very useful while safari & for that right kind of training at least twice a year is must, is what my observation! At the same time make these guides read English as well Hindi writeups, stories about forest as well general, it will help them to know more about the wildlife at large as indeed most of the guides are from local villages & knows forest but to know something & to understand that thing are two different aspects of life, which is true about the forest also! And the madhai gate has one wonderful souvenir shop so we can add a reading room also with it for the guides as well appeal tourists to donate books for this reading room, which can be big support to make the guides at Madhai better with their communication skills!

Next two days we were moving through the forests & kept bumping on the tigers also, which I took as sweet bonus. There is one wonderful temple nearly thousand-year-old (as per the guide), this place can get a facelift with information displayed as at present its just ruins! Its great piece of architecture but nobody knows anything about it in detail & we must make use of such spots, as imagine who chose to build a temple at such remote place that too thousand years back, something we must preserve in right way, as well make its info available right at the gate interpretation / reading room also! At the same time STR has excellent buffer forests too which are not know much but has lot of wildlife. Especially the late evening patroling safari is worth going & we were lucky again to meet a tigress in the total darkness around! And could click a Chusinga Male deer clear with its horns for first time in so many years, only because of the landscape, as it didnt noticed us from distance but with 500mm lens I could click it without disturbing it!

Speaking about the forest of Madhai STR, practically most protected & spread we can have but just a thought, can’t there be bridge connecting Madhai village & the main gate as look at waste of time & efforts in ferrying people across all the day long & it’s risky also in monsoon! And one more thing, connectivity from major cities to places like Madhai. The major problem with MP’s most forest is, commuting & money which required for it making such trip very costly for average families & MP forest dept can work out tying up with private companies as well State Transport Corporations of MP & Maharashtra for comfortable & convenient transport system connecting to parks like STR with near by major cities with airport & railway stations! Forests like Satpura Tiger reserve are our real treasures & we must conserve them as well support them (forest dept) to make these forests grow as they should not end-up as dead assets but must be of use to our next generations to make them know how rich we are on nature’s front, I said bye to STR with this feeling with a promise to visit again, soon!

-

An interesting rendezvous in the wilds…

I'm an Indian tiger & not a Chinese tiger to eat a Frog!
Wildlife makes you experience amazing movements about nature & teaches you coexistence in a real practical way by living examples! On a recent visit to Satpura, a young tigress was relaxing in a water body which is a normal sight in summers in the Central Indian forests but while I was clicking at a wide range, I realized a small lump on the paw of the tigress which I thought was some injury. To check more closely I zoomed in on the tigress & to my wonder it was a live frog, God knows what it was doing on the paw of a tiger! Surprisingly the tigress didn't take any notice or offence of the frog's presence which was on her paw & just an inch away from her jaw & the frog jumped back in water after a few minutes! I don't know whether tigers eat frogs or have a taste for frog meat, but this tigress certainly wasn't of frog eating type (Chinese, lol) or must be with a real full tummy but the entire episode showed me one more dimension of wildlife's way of living by coexistence!

-

Sanjay Deshpande 

smd156812@gmail.com

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about finding a Right Home/ Office in Pune, at YouTube link below & share if liked...

 

https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2024/12/right-home-buying-in-2025.html

https://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2024/12/2025.html

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below) 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

www.punecorporation.org

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com / https://junglebelles.in

Living With Tigers!

 

--

--

“Tigers, except when wounded or when man-eaters, are on the whole very good-tempered...Occasionally a tiger will object to too close an approach to its cubs or to a kill that it is guarding. The objection invariably takes the form of growling, and if this does not prove effective it is followed by short rushes accompanied by terrifying roars. If these warnings are disregarded, the blame for any injury inflicted rests entirely with the intruder.”

“A tiger's function in the scheme of things is to help maintain balance in nature and if, on rare occasions when driven by dire necessity, he kills a human being or when his natural food has been ruthlessly exterminated by man, he kills two percent of the cattle he is alleged to have killed, it is not fair that for these acts a whole species should be branded as being cruel and bloodthirsty.”
― Jim Corbett

Though many people frown by mention of a tiger as gentleman, but these words are not written by some amateur or WhatsApp PhD holder (sarcasm) but by the man (Jim Corbett) who has spent more time of his life with the tigers than the humans & has survived with no protections of the modern world. Indeed, he carried a gun but never used it unless it’s for the right cause, on any wild animal & that’s why Corbett’s name is a legend when the subject is tiger! Of-late tigers are again in the news but as usual for wrong reasons as summer was at peak in central India, thanks to our rampant deforestation & encroachment on wildlife but the outcome of which is price paid by the tigers (read as wildlife) & humans staying with them! Reason behind this sharing (no though its tiger but not about tadoba) is news in media, especially of a young RFO (range forest officer) in Ranthambore tiger park, Rajasthan as well humans killed around tadoba & in Assam also by the tigers. Agreed, when its tigers Tadoba you can’t be kept out of the sharing yet this time my main focus is on the news of a young ranger who lost his life in Ranthambore & sole object is how can we save these precious lives of humans as well of tigers! As in tadoba, within span of a week nearly seven to 8 humans got killed by tiger & agitation was so much that the villagers tried to burn the section of forest where majority of these deaths has occurred & in Assam case nearly thousands of villagers hacked one tiger (hope it’s the right tiger, I mean any tiger would have been wrong only, yet) who was supposedly responsible for death of a villager & even ran away with claws & canines of that tiger!

What you make out of all these incidents (many will ask, what we have to do in the first place for such incidents) & I am asking this as a common logical (lol) thinking human being & not as wildlife expert, which I am also not one. Answer is simple, tiger’s numbers are increasing which indeed is a good thing but we are unable to adjust ourselves to live with the tigers! And the outcome is, increasingly deaths of humans as well of tigers because we can’t expect the tigers to change or train themselves & live in the harmony of the humans, which actually they are trying to do in much better way than the humans but tigers have their limitations. First, a tiger is equally intelligent (rather more) in comparison with a human & that’s why it avoids humans in the best possible way; in the same way that we avoid conflict with stronger enemies or say we avoid our creditor when we have no money to repay back (ask the builders)! I have seen in my many trips, a tiger hiding in the thickset whenever it senses humans (especially on feet) which is a common thing in the buffers & coming out only when it feels humans have gone away. Even when a tiger is walking on forest roads which it prefers more than to walk on dry leaves or grass & if it sees or hear human even from long distance (which a tiger is master doing at), it will silently walk inside the forest along the road & all you will see is its fresh pugmarks in the dust! It’s the humans which do exactly the opposite as they will try to block tigers’ way or shout or do things which a tiger will get disturbed or even afraid & in that mode it attacks the respective humans. At the same time tigers avoid the timings of the day when humans are out in the open in more numbers but humans don’t follow even such simple rules. They wander in tiger’s areas on the time of the day or night which is its hunting time & accidently get killed by the tiger! If you check in all the above three incidents which are core subjects of my sharing then it’s the humans who ventured in the tiger’s area without any protection of right knowledge of doing so & eventually got killed is a fact!

Yet, lives have been lost & somebody is going to pay price as somebody has paid a price & that to be paid one is needless to say the tiger, that’s why this sharing. Coming to Ranthambore RFO case, which is more alarming as villagers I can understand are not aware enough even though they have been born & brought up around a tiger & this makes them over confident or many a times their needs for living overcomes their fear & makes them exposed to tiger at wrong time in wrong way. But, a trained RFO doing so & losing his life, is definitely indicates something is very wrong the way we are training our forest staff ( Its applicable to all States’) as  they are supposed to know how to behave in the presence of a tiger or any wild animal & a RFO is a senior position in forest dept rather most important link between ground staff & upper ranks, & this can send wrong message about safety of the ground staff working with bare minimum protection in the forests where tigers, leopards, gaur & sloth bear roams! Many stories are roaming about the incidence of Ranthambore & one includes, respective forest dept feeding an injured tigress with cow/ buffalo calf as the tigress can’t hunt in present condition & it has small cubs. So, the other tigers in the locality came to know of this feeding thing & they too started waiting around this tigress & while transporting such food, a tiger attacked the RFO which was walking unarmed around! Whether this is true or not I don’t know but it’s possible & most importantly before this incident happened social media was flooded with reels of tigers roaming around right among parked gypsies at very same spot means they are no more afraid of humans around, a very alarming signs which most of us has ignored but not excepted from the respective forest staff of which the said RFO was very much part of! I am not blaming or naming any system & have full sympathy for the deceased RFO but with the right training, this could have been avoided is my sharing’s subject.

In the recent past during my forest trips in various States’ I have met many young forest-guards & RFO’s & many of them come from city/ urban life & has joined forest dept as it’s a govt job & nothing wrong in it. But this job is not like joining some municipal corporation or public work dept, or a bank, this is forest & just like military here a mistake can cause you your life & one must be extremely disciplined & trained in the right way to deal with wildlife, is this being taken care, is my question to all the concerned? As earlier most of the forest guards, Dy. Rangers posts which are supposedly the ground staff & has most exposure of the forests directly used to get recruited from the natives which are well versed with the forests. At the same time a fresh graduate from college who has cleared some State exam & has become RFO, how can you put him in-charge of core or buffers of project tiger as he or she has never seen even a wild boar or sloth bear leave apart a tiger in life, something which forest depts’ top bosses must think & act on!  No wonder these youngsters with stars on their shoulders (rank) walk in the forests just the way they walk in some mall or city roads, & I have seen this!

Just few years back I was waiting in gypsy in Tadoba near Telia lake & the Big Boy Baghdoh (male tiger) was relaxing in grass & two guards came on bike, parked their bike at some distance & started walking where the tiger was sleeping casually just to show off, even when tourists were yelling don’t go ahead. Fortunately, the tiger got up by their movements but walked to the opposite side of the lake, gentleman it is but imagine if the tiger was in mating or the tigress with cubs then things would have gone bad. What I wanted to share is the attitude of forest staff that could make them fall in trouble in the forest & this is only because one, the city background & two, some lacunas in training while they get posted in real forest like project tiger! I repeat, I don’t doubt intelligence, smartness or commitment of these young forest officers or guards but somewhere we can’t ignore the importance of experience in any job & unless it’s there we shouldn’t post them at such position is what I feel & this could have avoided life of the young RFO in Ranthambore!

At the same time the dangers in the forests are not only tigers but snake bites, flash floods of rivers. Animals like wild-boar, poachers & many such. The training of every forest person must have exposure to all these threats as well dealing with them. I don’t know whether climbing on any tree is part of training in the forest dept but it must be, is what I feel. At the same time why are we not giving guns to every forest staffer, is my sincere question as poachers won’t think once while attacking the forest people & you can’t expect to handle poachers with a stick, right? And in case of attack by gaur or wild-boar, firing in air can scare these animals away, yet for reasons known only to some seniors in the govt as even RFO rank officers rarely carry a gun in the forest, is my observation! 

Now coming to another aspect of experience which is the case of tadoba & Assam incidences, those who are beyond fifty year of age, & are natives of villages around project tigers, they have grown up seeing tigers around men & women, both & knows how to live with a tiger. But a generation whose villages have been moved out of sanctuaries or core areas, they now are not allowed to go inside these forests the way seniors in the village have done in the past & this has made the younger generation to lose the exposure of living with tigers for a while. And now, tigers’ population has increased, they are roaming free not just in the core but in the buffer forests as well outside of it but the humans are not used to the freedom of the tigers & unable to accommodate them & outcome is death of humans or the tigers! This is sheer analysis by going through the various mishaps as most deaths of the humans by the attack of a tiger has happened in late evenings or early hours of morning & those which have happened in day time that too alone person working in the field types. Where is the training to the locals, especially the younger lot to behave when a tiger is moving around, is my question, keeping full respect for the forest depts’ efforts. And do mind any coexistence is achieved only by setting certain rules & following them to the fullest which I call discipline & at which we the Indians are very poor is a fact, may it be obeying red signal in the city or walking alone in the areas where tiger moves! The concerned depth (forest) & others must focus on making people aware about the way they should change their lifestyle where tigers are part of it, & I know it's not easy but that’s the only logical & right solution! As even tigers follow rules of coexistence & try to live by them as I have already mentioned above but it’s like dealing with a small child or an old man, above certain limit you can’t expect a tiger to improve its behaviour but we the humans only has to do it, if we want the tiger to survive, right? We can (read as, must) take help from the right people to achieve this objective of coexistence & for that training, training & training is the only way! Let’s think over this aspect of the deaths which tigers have caused (vice versa too) & work together for the right outcome which will make both humans & the tigers live with each other at peace, adios with this dream!

* Interestingly, there was news about a lady farmer being killed by a leopard in Junnar, Pune which actually was murdered by her relatives over property dispute, is what came to light in the police investigation. The relatives thought they could fake her murder as a leopard kill observing increased leopard movements around the village; just wow, we humans are, aren't we!

-

Sanjay Deshpande 

smd156812@gmail.com

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about finding a Right Home/ Office in Pune, at YouTube link below & share if liked...

 

https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2024/12/right-home-buying-in-2025.html

https://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2024/12/2025.html

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below) 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

www.punecorporation.org

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com / https://junglebelles.in/