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Panditji, do you think teachers can save tigers?
They can. They definitely can. Provided they are able to harness
the power of children, teachers are probably the only ones
who can do this. Every other effort in any case seems to be
failing.
But do we have the time? Will Ranthambhore even survive
20 years from now?
I cannot answer that question. I am a simple man and my
father Harikrishan Das Vaishnav who was an ordinary farmer
taught me to do what had to be done and to not worry about
the results of my labours. But I think, in every generation,
people felt there was no time. Still the tiger has managed
to live, in spite of shikar, forest cutting and all
sorts of problems. I am a teacher. I believe that children
have the power to change the way adults think. Isn’t this
the best way to save the tiger? Anyway, serving nature and
children is my life’s mission so I do not know any other way.
What about your family? Do they support you in this mission
of yours?
Yes, fully. My wife is very happy with what I do and when
I shut my eyes, I can still hear the stories my mother used
to tell me as we sat under a large imli (tamarind)
tree in our courtyard. From her, I learned that religion,
god and nature are one and the same thing. Is it true that
you have written over 300 songs about nature? Yes, I started
out as a child, writing down my mother’s songs and stories
and the habit stayed with me. Even when I think, sometimes
it is in song!
And what was it that actually got you seriously interested
in nature?
I do not know. I think I was born with an interest in nature.
But my involvement probably began when I met Nitin Pandya
of the Ranthambhore Foundation. He was a very knowledgeable
influence in my life and his way of explaining things was
so interesting that I decided to join the Ranthambhore Foundation
in their education wing. This actually became the foundation
of my life! This platform gave me the opportunity to meet
Valmik Thaparji, Fateh Singh Rathoreji and many more who inspired
me. I have been working with the Foundation for more than
10 years, trying to create environmental awareness among the
children who live around the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve through
rallies, camps, songs and skits. We also run nature clubs
in villages with the help and involvement of the forest department.
And do you enjoy watching wildlife?
Bittuji, for me every plant, every tree, every bird, every
insect and every animal, including the tiger, is wildlife.
When I am watching a tree, I feel a part of it. When I was
a child, my mother and father worshipped trees and I worshipped
trees with them. Those feelings influenced me very deeply.
I still feel that every tree is a manifestation of god. When
I see tigers, leopards and other large animals, it makes me
feel very small, but not in a negative way. I feel that I
too am one link in nature’s chain.
Whenever we have asked for your help with Kids for Tigers,
the Sanctuary Britannia Tiger Programme, you have made yourself
available. But what do you do for a living? How do you sustain
your family?
Thanks to Fateh Singhji, I have not had to worry about that.
The Foundation used to look after me and now I work for the
new Fateh Public School, which I think is comparable to the
best even in Mumbai. What do you do there? I am the Hindi
and Environmental Studies teacher. I also look after a special
Rural Environmental Studies Programme that involves children
of the villages living right next to the tiger reserve. We
teach children about nature and explain how tigers, forests
and water are all connected and how they combine to benefit
us in the villages.
Are you making a difference? Are the children you teach
appreciating, understanding and supporting you in your mission
to protect the tigers of Ranthambhore?
You have met Manraj from the village Khawa, who has become
such an active part of the Kids for Tigers team. He is a
living example of the power of children and their involvement.
He is a pucca tiger activist. Every day of his life
he goes about talking to other children and to adults in his
village and nearby villages about saving the tiger and the
forest. He even organises plays and skits on saving forests
and water. Then there is Dinesh Sharma from the village Rawal
who is only 12 years old. He has made tree-planting his life’s
mission. He does not do this alone, but organises groups of
friends, who plant and also water and protect trees in areas
where they were cut (often by their elders). Slowly, these
children are making a difference. I think Bal Kishan from
the village Kutalpura will soon write and sing better songs
about nature than I. Not only does he go about singing, but
also motivates villagers to plant trees. These children are
the future not only of Ranthambhore, but of Rajasthan.
Why songs? How come you hit upon this unique way to win
support for forests?
This is not a new way. Songs are ageless and they have long
been the most effective way for people across the world to
unite in purpose and to celebrate life. If you think about
it, songs exist for all occasions, all moods and they hit
straight at your heart. In our culture, songs are sung when
children are born, when festivals take place, during weddings
and even when someone dies. There is no more effective or
powerful way to spread the message of conservation than through
song. In fact, the two main communities living around Ranthambhore,
the Gujjars and Meenas have strong song traditions
and can be told apart from their styles and we use both styles
to communicate conservation values.
It must be difficult for you to deal with the hard realities
of life, for instance, recently when villagers
entered the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve and threatened
to kill tigers and take over the park.
Yes, it was a difficult time. The atmosphere was indeed tense
and the children with whom I worked found it difficult to
express their true feelings. But children have an inner resilience.
A few days after the incident, we organised a play and all
the children wanted the play to be based on the recent events!
Eventually, it was the kids from Uliana village, the one that
was at the forefront of the ‘invasion’, that played the role
of forest rangers! These kids communicated the rationale for
protection so well with their script that even the elders
in the village admitted that the issue was not simple and
that protecting the forest was also very vital to their own
survival.
So how does the forest benefit the people living around
the park?
The first thing, of course, is that villagers near the park
have water, while far away from the park, water is a real
problem. Also, the villagers know that without tigers and
leopards, wild boar, chital and sambar would finish off their
fields. There are other advantages that are less obvious and
we are teaching the children about these – for instance, the
way soil productivity is enhanced by the forest, how it helps
retain soil moisture, how wild fruits help to feed people
and also how grass seeds from the forest help create pastures
for livestock. Apart from this, the forest department has
done a lot for the villagers including schemes that involve
creating anicuts, lakes and tanks. Of course, many of these
schemes have not really worked, but that is because they were
not executed properly. This is what we convey to the children.
What about tourism? Does this have an adverse effect on
the local communities and their values and customs?
No one can deny that tourism has created jobs and some prosperity.
But some of the hotels are draining groundwater and many farmers
are selling land on which food used to be grown. We need to
have a proper plan. Then tourism can help. Otherwise, in the
long run, it can harm villagers, wildlife and the tourists
who will not experience peace and tranquility, but tension
and the anger of locals.
What can be done to improve the relationship between forest
staff and villagers?
The very first thing is to ensure that there is constant
real dialogue. This means that there must be some way to ensure
that villagers can feel confident to speak their mind. Right
now, such circumstances do not exist and this is why relations
between the forest staff and the villagers is not as good
as it should be. This has to be a responsibility taken up
from both sides. If they cooperate, the solutions to all problems,
the villagers’ and those facing wildlife, can be found.
What about the citizens of Sawai Madhopur? Do they really
feel proud of the tiger and of Ranthambhore, or is the tiger
just another business opportunity?
For the citizens of Sawai Madhopur, tigers are a matter of
great pride. But it is equally true that many people believe
that because of the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, industry has
not come up in the area. So what does the future hold for
Manraj? His future will be the tiger. For a whole generation,
protecting nature will be the best and the most legitimate
livelihood – not only to put food in their stomachs, but also
to save their spirits from the despair and misery that is
fast becoming a part of Indian life. Manraj is a very good
boy and is very interested in nature conservation. If I have
my way, I will encourage him to do a proper course in environmental
science and conservation. With his attitude and his earthy
village connection with nature, he is likely to be one of
India’s best naturalists and conservationists.
On your recommendation, we have appointed him the Tiger
Ambassador for Sawai Madhopur. With support, I think he will
prove to be the “missing link” to carry the message of nature
protection to the villages of India.
We will support him. In fact, the Kids for Tigers Melas
(fairs) that have been held in Sawai Madhopur for two years
have given him so much encouragement that he feels he must
now form a children’s Vanar Sena (like Lord Hanuman’s
monkey brigade) to protect Ranthambhore.
Have the Tiger Melas that we organised helped?
They have been the most effective way I have seen in the past
ten years to communicate the message of protecting tigers
to the citizens of Sawai Madhopur, who once used to believe
that the tiger was there only to entertain rich tourists.
Now they know about forests and water and even take pride
in the tiger. But somehow, the melas seem to have lost some
focus. Rather than concentrate on the tiger, they have started
spending too much time and energy on garba dances and
wrestling, etc. There is no problem with social and cultural
events, but should these too not have a tiger focus if this
is a Tiger Mela?
I think you will find that we all agree with you. Perhaps,
next year we can plan something much better, provided we are
supported by the children, teachers and parents.
This I promise you. I do not think you are really aware of
how much goodwill both Britannia and Sanctuary have
in the city and also among the villages. Children in our culture
do not merely attend events. They come home and talk about
them for days. Parents and children talk with each other and
I think somehow we must use this dialogue to achieve the many
objectives we have spoken about to make stronger ties between
villagers, forest staff and conservation efforts.
Is this going to be your life forever?
I feel that I must have done something good in my last life
because I am so happy doing what I am doing now. If my fortune
remains good, I will do this work, god’s work, till the day
I die. Water and forests are as closely related as body and
soul. I consider myself to be a pujari (priest) for
both the forest and for water. This is my karma and
my dharma.
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