The Hindu Business Line : Honouring the true wildlife enthusiasts

K.M. Chinnappa (left) receiving the Sanctuary-ABN AMRO-2004 Lifetime Service Award from Romesh Sobti, Executive Vice-President and Country Representative, ABN AMRO Bank N.V. (India), in Mumbai. — Shashi Ashiwal

ACCEPTING the Sanctuary-ABN Amro Wildlife Award 2004 for Lifetime Service, K.M. Chinnappa, quoted a Sanskrit verse. This is the English translation: "Those who plant in their lifetime a peepul, two banyan trees, three neem trees, five amla trees and a few vilva trees along with other varieties will never go to Naraka."

The full house at the Tata Theatre, National Centre of Performing Arts, in Mumbai stood up in appreciative applause. For a few moments, Chinnappa was lost in the buzz coming off the roof and the floor of the Tata Theatre and he deserved it all.

The tall 63-year-old, along with other award winners on Friday evening, will surely not go to Naraka as they make the earth resemble heaven.

For 30 years, Chinnappa has fought away poachers and politicians from the Nagarhole National Park in Karnataka, even as they burnt his home and forced him to quit forest service early.

In an interview to Sanctuary, he has talked of starting with, "only two watchers, one guard, one elephant and one gun to patrol an area of 100 sq.km. But we persisted and it paid off."

For this correspondent, Manglu Baiga of the Kanha jungles, who was presented with a Wildlife Service Award, made the day.

Onemet him in the green room of the Tata Theatre sitting quietly on a plastic chair sipping tea. Many suns, moons and monsoons have tanned the tribal who still walks the Kanha National Park with delight to understand tigers, birds and trees. "Hum ko jungle mein sub kuch accha lagta hai (I like everything in the forest)," he told me in broken Hindi. Kabiruddin, a deputy ranger, acted as Manglu's interpreter. When one asked him his age, Manglu asked Kabiruddin, "Kya sat ya sattar (60 or 70?)".

Belonging to the Baiga tribe, Manglu was born in Kanha village and now belongs to the Kanha Tiger Reserve.

Some years ago, one night, Manglu and a few others were sleeping in a forest camp when a leopard broke in and caught Manglu by the throat. A stunned Manglu struck the predator with his arms and threw him on to the wall of the camp. The animal escaped; and after a few days of hospitalisation, Manglu was back on the forest trails.

The best of wildlifers today cannot do without Manglu in Kanha, who has three girls and a son. As a trekker, Manglu earns around Rs 4,500 per month.

At the awards function, he made a brief acceptance speech in Hindi: "Hum jungle ka hoon; hum ko ye shahar (Mumbai) achha laga (I am from the jungle but I like this city)," and walked off the dais with a strong ovation trailing him.

Sitting next to Manglu was Ratan Singh who was also given the Wildlife Service Award. "Sir, mere liye Paradise Flycatcher hi sub kutch hai (For me, the Paradise Flycatcher is everything)," he told me. One could appreciate Ratan's feeling as this writer stood watching the bird for minutes one afternoon in Tadoba.

Moving up from being a cattle guide to a rickshaw driver in Bharatpur, Ratan Singh has spent about 32 years in the bird sanctuary. He met Dr Salim Ali when he was 18 and that probably inspired him to become a birder. Bikram Grewal fed his passion with bird books and binoculars and, today, his second son Lokesh Kumar has catalogued 450 hill birds working in Nainital.

Of the five who won the Young Naturalist Awards, one knows Indrapratap Thakre of Amravati and the heir apparent to my friend Kishor Rithe well. The villagers in Tadoba and Melghat Tiger Reserves fondly describe him in Marathi as `The porga kati levun phirtho (That kid always with a stick moves in the forest).'

This writer has been in the forests with him and he has class. My bet is in another 20 years, he should be one of our best wildlifers.

For hours he walks the forest, taking time out (sometimes missing) of college studies as the two tiger reserves cannot live without him nor can he without them. He is a shy 21-year-old and was introduced to the forest floor at the age of 10 by the Kids for Tigers programme initially run by Britannia Industries.

He now helps in the rehab of six villages from the Tadoba Tiger reserve.

And one cannot miss our own Lyla Bavadam of Frontline who was mentioned on the `Spotlight' list.

She has been expertly writing on environment and forests and when the lights dropped on her in the audience, she gracefully stood up to accept the honour with a Colgate smile.

Every year one waits for the event, which is always well organised and is probably only one of its kind.

Sanctuary has done well what it has set out to do: Offering a pat on the back every year to men and women who in small ways do something to keep India green.