The Hindu Business Line : Meet the desperate forester

FATEH Singh Rathore looks a humbled, lonely man. His tigers at Ranthambhore National Park have an unsure tenure on earth. He knows it too well. The passion for forests and tigers still flows deep in him. When 70-year-old Rathore talks, you can touch his pain and hurt.

It is not the fall in the number of tigers; it is not poaching; it is the uncaring attitude of the forest departments, which bring out the sad notes from Rathore, dressed neatly in a green shirt and dark green trousers with a green scarf round his neck; the white, dense moustache with twirled up ends lends Rathore the brand image of the forester.

The Rathore one met, in November 2000, was more sure as hope for the tiger had not yet been hobbled. One recalls the old man telling this writer, "For me it was the tiger, tiger and tiger. It remains so today." Yet, the man has not lost his gracious manners. He awkwardly blessed Kishore Rithe when Kishore touched his feet; an age-old forester was wishing a young forester the very best. "It is now your turn to take up the job of keeping alive the tigers," was the unstated message. Is anyone bothered about Rathore? Government officials are upset over Fateh going public with the steep drop in the number of tigers dwelling in Sariska and the Park, the first home of Rathore and his tigers. He enjoys tourist status while entering the Park; earlier, he could go in without an official nod. There is a violent disconnect between Rathore and the governments at the State and the Centre. Like all of us, he has made mistakes, but that does not diminish him or his work on keeping tigers in the Park alive. We met him at his office in a farm, richly dressed up with trees and shrubs; one did note an awla tree with fruits.

Tigers are being poached, their forests have been taken over by humans, and Government officials refuse to publicly accept the fact of a drop in tiger population. These facts are undeniable, and there does not seem to be any rescue plan except a move to pass a Tribal Bill, which will do away with the forests and tigers forever and win a few tribal votes for the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh.

In the book, Wild Tigers of Ranthambhore, Valmik Thapar writes: "From 1976 to 1980, I visited Ranthambhore frequently but finding tigers or watching them was the most difficult thing to do.

"Looking back, it is like another era. Most people who visit Ranthambhore today do see tigers — you can see them on the first drive, in the park — and cannot comprehend that twenty years ago just seeing a pug mark or tiger scat was a great source of celebration. It was only in 1980 that I saw a tiger drinking water — tigers were invisible during those years, wary and frightened of man; when they appeared, they disappeared within seconds and sometimes you had to rub your eyes to believe that they were actually there!

"Most of those early years were spent driving at night in the hope of a glimpse of tiger or leopard. The days were for sleeping. The tiger was nocturnal." It's the same in October 2005; or at least that is this writer's view after spending some 10 hours in the Park over two days.

Dr Rudy Rudran of the Smithsonian Institution and his friend Nanda Senanayake decided to extend their stay by a day to spot a tiger. Along with Kishore Rithe, one had a long chat with the two gentlemen from Sri Lanka on forests and animals.

"The tiger is an icon for wildlifers around the world. The Ranthambhore National Park has become famous for its tigers. And today one is not sure," Dr Rudran wondered. He and Nanda have been friends from school days.

Dr Rudran's parents wanted him to take up medicine but he couldn't make it as "one was goofing around," the pleasant doctor recalled. His parents tried to push him into taking up chemistry, but Dr Rudran could not make it, as on the day of filling forms, he was in a forest watching birds. "None could contact me," he said. He was left with the lone alternative to bachelor in biology. From there, it has been a long flight away from Colombo to America, Uganda and Venezeula.

Dr Rudran is an expert in primates having studied the blue monkeys in Uganda, and the red howlers in Venezuela over six years. Now he works at the Training and Education Department of Smithsonian and is the guru of Kishore. His friend Nanda has been watching birds from the age of 10 and could easily identify them in the Park. After a course in physics and accountancy, Nanda joined his father's outfit.

"That helped as one could take leave any time to roam the forests," Nanda told us with a chuckle. At 60, he quit working, and is now into wildlife with some time being spent watching cricket. He came to Chennai with a Sri Lankan school team in the 1960s, and is familiar with the dictionary of the game.

"So who do you think will win the one-day series, India or Sri Lanka," he asked me, and the prompt reply was, "India." "Yeah, there is that Sachin Tendulkar," he mused tugging at a cigarette. It had turned dark and the talk came back to tigers and Nanda asked: "What's your bet on tigers?" None had an answer, including Fateh, when he met the Sri Lankans for dinner.

P. Devarajan

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