Aug 25
What's our future, Mom?
“He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword”… Jesus Christ.
“Once you’ve decided to live by the sword it doesn’t matter whether you’re right or wrong. What matters most is whether it’s fun.” … Takehiko Inoue.
Well, no need to introduce the writer (read as creator) of the first quote & the second one is by Takehiko Inoue is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for the basketball series Slam Dunk, and the jidaigeki manga Vagabond, which are two of the best-selling manga series in history. And though the name of sharing is enough to make you about the content, so it is about tigers (rather, a tiger) & of-course Tadoba is there too, yet let me tell you, it’s not about Tadoba & tiger sightings but the attitude of a tiger! As the heading says recently most of the social media (read as wild lifer’s accounts) are full of a name CM & though the name CM has special glamour in politics here to CM is most sought-after tiger of tadoba. CM aka Chota Matakasur, named tiger was/ is in news in print media also for his injuries & as per the final updates by the forest dept now has been shifted to Gorhewada Zoo near Nagpur & will spend his rest of life there only! When I started to write this sharing, social media is already buzzing (for a while) with CM & there are two opinions, one hailing forest dept for not doing anything to treat the injured tiger & another, let the jungle live by its own way! As well, everybody who has visited Tadoba has been posting CM’s images & unfortunately he is beyond all that which anyway he was but now he will be behind the cage forever! I have thought of heading this sharing as “Rise & fall of Chota Matka’ but then I realize it will be unjust with the system named forest or wildlife itself by doing so as there is only one rise & fall nature knows & that’s is of Sun, around which entire lifecycle of wildlife moves, rest all is just survival! Wow, just wow, can’t believe I wrote its (the earlier lines) as they can be posted as some greats in wildlife but I have learned it by just being in the forests & it’s not to get likes but to tell you that even it may be a might tiger as CM yet what has happened is normal in wildlife or say New Normal!
Here is the catch as first let’s hear story of CM though most of you must have been known it by now yet as Disney or our Chandamama stories say, not long ago there has been a kingdom named tadoba in the dense forests of Chandrapur where our stories hero has been born, lol (just to add some dram a poor effort)! Ok, born in July 2016, exact nine years back & having two legend tigers as his parents i.e. Matkasur & Choti Tara, CM was accompanied by his brother Tarachand who was supposedly bigger than CM right from the childhood & once they get separated from their parents & started making their own territory sems that Tarachand became victim of Man-Animal conflict (earlier than CM) & supposedly got killed by electrocution in one of buffer villages towards Navegaon side! This must be some five years back, maybe six years & CM was busy too in establishing his territory by using the god gift of size he has got! That’s the main problem with conservation of the tigers & that does make them special too as they are individualistic animals especially a male tiger & with size of CM it needs bigger territory of its own which means more area of the forest which is fast shrinking from all sides. Here one will say, when there is core forest which is protected, so how can one say forest is shrinking & I don’t blame the questioner! Because here is where our (read as most of the masses & of our rulers too) knowledge of forest is inadequate because the core part of forest may not shrink but the numbers of tigers in this core keeps increasing with every mating season & this space gets a feel of shrinkage for the tigers, got it? Imagine a family of four having a piece of farm of say 1000sqm & it’s enough to fulfil their needs but in a few years the family’s younger two gets married & the family soon grows to ten to twelve from four but the farm producing grains is the same, what will happen? They will find the farm is not enough for them now, same is happening with core forests also as forest area is same but tigers are increasing means lesser space for more number of tigers & outcome is fighting for survival!
And if this is happening on the core side then on the other side of the buffer things are worse as here the partners in the space are humans too, means two fold enemy to fight for the survival & this is why the CM became the way is because it’s what he did to survive, a fighter! It was somewhere 2018 winters when CM & Tarachand started their journey for own territory, as their birthplace which is Eastern Part of Core, majorly Pandharpauni area (it’s a water hole) is being ruled by their father i.e. the mighty Matkasur, the name has been given to him because of his exceptionally large head which looks like a Matka (Clay pot) & no way he would buzz from that position is sure thing. So, both young males started searching for their own space & eventually CM settled towards the Navegaon/ Kolara side strategically where he can have access to both core & buffer. Pandharpauni range was always in limelight due to presence of legendary Maya & her list of lovers i.e. male tigers chasing her & that list is long, Bajrang, Matkasur, Rudra, Tala, Hilltop Male, Balram, Mowgli & many such & the place was a battlefield. The scene during 2020 to 2023 when Maya vanished suddenly, every male tiger tried his luck & either got injured seriously or backed up & result was, most of the cubs of Maya got killed in this because of the blood war between the male tigers here! Strangely, this is somewhat similar to the history of many human dynasties in the world where Kings keep battling over one throne & the entire region suffers for that battle! Tourism also suffered a lot because of this as suddenly there was no tiger getting sighted as tigresses doesn’t like to be in a place where there are many males roaming in & out as each male kills cubs from other male eventually leaving no tiger in that area, this did happen for a while in Pandharpauni part of core of tadoba!
CM was smart & though he has his share of battle over core area with Mowgli & Rudra as the father Matak surrendered to age & he also vanished, nobody knows his whereabouts, but CM retreated towards buffers of Navegaon & there he thrived on domestic cattle as well large territory covering nearly three buffer zones, Navigant, Allianz & Nadella. Here is a really interesting thing which I have observed during my so many trips to tadoba, the behaviour pattern is totally different from the tigers in the buffer & that in the core. Because the core tigers are used to total privacy as except forest staff & tourist gypsies there is no human movement in the core but in buffer lots of human movement is there as well people actually live here. So, the tiger in the buffer can display two types of behaviours, one is very shy & cautious & move strictly in non-human hours i.e. in darkness or too bold & move fearlessly with humans as part of life. CM chose later way of living & full marks to tadoba’s residents (villagers) as they know this big tiger moving fearlessly on roads giving full show to the tourists any time of the day means more tourists & that means money which is livelihood & for that they are ready to pay price of cattle kills. Of-course the forest dept also has been improved a lot in reimbursement of cattle loss & yes occasionally there was loss of human life too but, yet nobody complained, this coexistence is biggest gift of CM to Tadoba & that’s why he has been talked so much as he was loved that much by the locals also & not just the tourists! This I have witnessed by myself as in one of my trips when I came to know recently a farmer has been killed by a tiger in the field, I casually asked, whether it was by CM as the place mentioned in the news was near to his territory. At first there was silence then the reply was, we don’t know Saab, koi naya tiger tha, (some unknown tiger must have done that) & when I said naya Tiger, CM aane dega kya, then there was a smile which told the truth that it was CM but they don’t want to disclose it as they feared forest dept will put him away & their star sighter will be gone!
Guys this is what CM could do as I always say sitting in comfortable gypsy, clicking photos of tiger walking on road & then editing them after going back to your secured homes is very easy but imagine a tiger which ways nearly 300kg & he is walking around your farm, your home, watching you when you or your family members walk to places alone on feet, just the thought gives me goosebumps & yet here the villagers worshipped a tiger with all this as tribute to what he is doing for their families. And indeed, CM is a gentleman, at least for humans, as he has never attacked a human deliberately for sure or else he could have killed hundreds of them easily but he was smart also as that would have meant enmity with the humans & that’s not the way you rule the forests of buffers, which CM has learnt & followed till end! Though this gentleman mask wasn’t for other male tigers & this is where the Jesus’s quote comes in the picture with CM as with so large territory under single control & three to four tigresses & their cubs as family to protect, the king had to be always on alert for intruders & there were many! So, the battles continued & CM fought each battle with only one intention, leave my territory or die & outcome was two sure known kills, Bajrang & Bramha & two fatally wounded male opponents. But no battle has been won without getting bleed (exception, you have to be a Rajnikant, lol) & CM also was no exception to this basic law of battle. His first major injury happened in Aug or Sept 24 only as he took a blow on front left leg & paw & for the first time since he started ruling buffers, the locals witnessed a limping CM walking around. He was unable to walk & with his heavy weight which is a weapon in battle, is the worst enemy when you are injured as well the large territory to protect is another problem as you have to be on move continuously. Luckily cattle are an easy prey to catch even when you are injured & with the power of three hundred kilo, one slap also can break the neck of a cattle so CM survived but never recovered fully. Rather at that time only his injuries should have been treated or looked after as in that situation he kept walking & the aggressive attitude. Outcome was final battle with Bramha named young male in May or June 25 which must have completely broken his already damaged front left leg & canines’! And problem of being a tiger is, nobody cares for you in the forest rather this is the time when you are most vulnerable & fortunately with the reputation of CM even when he was so badly injured no other male tiger tried to venture in his territory yet tourists & locals could clearly see the end as this time he was not just limping but jumping on remaining three legs, yet trying to mark his territory & ready to fight for it. I think my friend Nikhil Abhyankar has his last of the footage before the Hon High Court intervened (again a matter of debate) & forest dept tranquilized CM for treatment. I remembered, when the Super-Star Amitabh Bachhan got injured in a shoot on the set of the movie Koolie, the entire nation was waiting to get an update of his health, same was with the wildlife world about treatment of CM, which shows what he was for not just Tadoba but for entire wildlife! Unfortunately, the bad news came that CM won’t be physically fit to enter into the forests as that can be a threat to him as well the villagers as hunger often leads to desperation, is we all know, so he has been shifted to Gorewada Zoo in Nagpur! As I said the social media was & is full of stories about his rise & fall but forest knows no such things, all it knows is survive or leave!
About the debate of whether humans should intervene in such nature’s process, my opinion is, we need tigers like CM as they are true Super Stars & Brand Ambassadors of wildlife along with making many families survive & prosper because of them. And we have already intervened enough by reducing spaces for the entire wildlife which is main cause of such battles which are getting more regular, so we must protect in every possible way when such injury happens to tiger like CM just lay a permanent policy so the delay won’t be too much & every time High Court doesn’t have to intervene for treating any tiger & time is the essence in the forest! There are many famous tigers & there will be, in Tadoba as well in other forests yet CM’s place will be like the Dhruva tara in star studded sky, permanent & steady, just like his attitude towards life!
I have clicked CM & Tarachand when they were toddlers with their mom Choti Tara but somehow missed CM to watch & click him as a grownup male but in October 24, he did give me a full show with some candid moments with his sub adult son Kalua, & it was very low light when I last saw him walking behind my gypsy. It was a painful walk as then & there only I realized the graveness of his injury & scarred face but in that low light, two things were very clear, the burning bright & steady eyes & the firmness in every step! That’s why CM is not just a name, it's an attitude to take on the entire world & live by only one way, My Way! I will be visiting CM in Gorewada Zoo, it will be painful to watch him in confinement but I want to tell him, a King even in a cage, still gets acknowledged as a “King in Jail,” which you are & you will always, adios with this wish!
--
Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
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