From Frozen Thoughts magazine

IN THE LAP OF NATURE

- A S Gopal

“What most of us want above all is ‘quality of life’. By this I don’t mean the latest car or the biggest television, but fresh air, clean water and a green world - things that are becoming increasingly scarce. It is vital that each one of us works to reverse the present situation. Every person is a potential conservationist, but what’s important is action. One doesn’t have to give up everything to become a conservationist. Even small actions in everyday life can make a difference. Conservation can be saving water, power, nature…it can start at home. It’s really a shift in attitude on how we use the finite resources of the earth. A great bonus is the feeling of satisfaction that one gets from doing the right thing - more joyful than anything money can buy”. These are words straight from the heart of a globally acclaimed wildlife filmmaker. In 2004 he won the Rolex Award for his work in conservation filmmaking, becoming the only wildlife filmmaker to win this coveted award. For over a decade he has joined hands with NGOs in making films on conservation. His films on wildlife have been widely telecast on international television channels such as National Geographic and Discovery. His film on conservation of the rainforests of Kudremukh played a pivotal role in stopping mining operations in that region. His camera has captured the beauty of nature in the far corners of India. Meet Shekar Dattatri.

Wildlife filmmaking requires patience as well as alertness. When asked how one can develop these paradoxical traits Shekar says, “If you are passionate about wildlife, you don’t think of the waiting as patience. The longer you wait, the greater the chances of success. As in any aspect of life, one needs perseverance, as the rewards tend to accrue only beyond a certain threshold. Some of my most wonderful moments have come from sitting in a ‘hide’, which is a small camouflaged enclosure of cloth or leafy branches set at a strategic place in the forest where I often sit from dawn to dusk to film wildlife. Sitting in a hide requires tremendous discipline and your senses have to be on alert every minute of every hour, as you scan the forest. You can’t read a book, listen to music or take a nap, because if you do so, you will miss what you came to film. I love being a fly on the wall in the jungle. Every moment is filled with anticipation, and If something incredible happens, it is a bonus.”

Shekar tries to carry over the simplicity of jungle living into his daily life, preferring a minimalist lifestyle. He says, “For me, money is not the all important thing. And in any case the best things in life are truly free. The forest, the trees, the birds, the tiger, my walk at the Theosophical Society, the peace I get from watching the waves in the ocean – you don’t need money to enjoy all these. The greatest gift I’ve given myself is to not do anything that I don’t want to do, irrespective of the potential rewards. In that sense, my life is extraordinarily rich. Being one with nature is the ultimate spiritual high. Every blade of grass, grain of sand, and snowflake represents the pinnacle of perfection. But to be a conservationist, one has to learn to be ‘passionately detached’, because the results are often not in one’s hands alone. You have to put in your utmost every time and hope that the rest of society can see the value of conservation.”

Speaking about his beginnings, he says, “At the age of 13, I joined as a volunteer at the Snake Park in Chennai. Those days, most parents didn’t allow their children to do such things. I was exceptionally lucky. In India most parents are either too conservative about what they want their children to do or needlessly pushy. Whereas, all that a child really needs is some encouragement and freedom to pursue his or her interests. Today, many of my contemporaries enviously say ‘if only my parents had allowed me to do what I wanted to, my life would have been different’. In my case, there was no pressure to excel in academics and I was able to concentrate on the things that made life interesting - like reading books and exploring the natural world around me”.

While filming animals does he feel for the hunter or the hunted? Shekar says, “I am naturalist and an unsentimental observer. Predators have to kill in order to survive and it is foolish to interfere. If you rescue every hunted animal, who will feed the hunter? If you rescue every dying animal, who will feed scavengers like vultures and hyenas? A natural ecosystem finds its own balance”.

Tourism is on the increase and when asked what his suggestions are to the common man to enjoy wildlife he says, “Today wildlife tourism is a booming business and we are converting what should be temples of peace into chaotic amusement parks. The moment a human enters the forest, there is pressure on it. The mostly urban consumers who can afford safaris in jungles, take all their city-bred bad habits with them, talking loudly, littering the forest with food wrappers and giving tips to drivers to go closer to animals than they should so that they can have an ‘exciting adventure’. The resorts that cater to these customers often throw their garbage in the forest and let their sewage into the streams and waterways. Irresponsible tourism is destroying the very beauty that we want to enjoy. When people enter a place of worship they go with silence in their hearts. If they go to a forest with the same attitude they are likely to see and absorb more and have a more fulfilling holiday. My advice is, go to a forest to enjoy it in its entirety, and not to compete with other tourists about how many animals you saw. Be proactive and ask your driver not to disturb animals by going too close or revving the engine. Ask the resort managers how eco-friendly they actually are and how they are dealing with the waste they generate. If more and more people start demanding the right actions, the people involved in the wildlife tourism business will change”.

When asked if he feels that we are fighting a losing battle to save the forests, Shekar says, “if I was a pessimist I wouldn’t be taking the trouble of talking to you. As much as I am realistic, I am also cautiously optimistic of the future. I believe that the human species will one day stop being a parasite on the planet and learn to live in better harmony with the earth’s other inhabitants. We have been inflicting wounds on nature that will take time to heal. By recklessly multiplying we have far exceeded the carrying capacity of the earth. The rest of nature works on an intricate system of checks and balances, and no other species destroys its own habitat. Our assault on natural ecosystems will exact a heavy toll if we don’t start applying the brakes now. When basic resources like clean water become scarce, large-scale social unrest will become inevitable. Everyone can make a difference by using the earth’s finite resources as frugally as possible. To waste these resources just because one can afford to pay the bill is foolish.”

Asked if he had a final message, Shekar says, “We must rid ourselves of the notion that conservation is an act of charity towards nature, because nature doesn’t care. Our planet is four billion years old and it will continue to rotate on its axis and revolve around the sun for billions more. We are privileged to have been handed a Garden of Eden, and our species can continue to reach greater heights if only we can rein in our tendency to destroy everything around us. When honeybees started dying mysteriously by the millions In the US a few years ago, there was a sudden realization that without them to pollinate our food crops, famines would ensue. Even the humblest of creatures on this planet plays a vital role in keeping us alive and we need to be conscious of this fact. We are not the masters of the planet; it is the trees, the animals, the birds and the insects that keep everything going. The sooner we realize this truth, the sooner we can set right the mess we’ve made. In ancient times, people worshipped nature because they knew that everything came from nature. Today we would do well to remember that we are still completely dependent on nature for everything. It’s time to shed our foolish arrogance and show some reverence again”.

Tiger hunt

Received this as a forward from a friend; origin unknown. Enjoy!
(apparently a poem written by a Bengali school teacher. Believe it.....or not)

Through the jongole I am went
On shooting Tiger I am bent
Boshtaard Tiger has eaten wife
No doubt I will avenge poor darling's life
Too much quiet, snakes and leeches
But I not fear these sons of beeches
Hearing loud noise I am jumping with start
But noise is coming from damn fool's heart
Taking care not to be fright
I am clutching rifle tight with eye to sight
Should Tiger come I will shoot and fall him down
Then like hero return to native town
Then through trees I am espying one cave
I am telling self - "Bannerjee be brave"
I am now proceeding with too much care
From far I smell this Tiger's lair
My leg shaking, sweat coming, I start pray
I think I will shoot Tiger some other day
Turning round I am going to flee
But Tiger giving bloody roar spotting Bengalee
He bounding from cave like footballer Pele
I run shouting "Kali Ma tumi kothay gele"
Through the jongole I am running
With Tiger on my tail closer looming
I am a telling that never in life
I will risk again for my damn wife!!!!* * * * * * * * * *

Encounters with a cobra

In the eight years that I've been walking in the Theosophical Society's grounds in Chennai I've come across snakes only 3 or 4 times. This doesn't surprise me much because wooded areas have far fewer snakes than most people imagine. Also, being well camouflaged and alert, most snakes detect an approaching human early and move away before we can spot them.

A few days ago, while walking on one of the quieter paths in the TS, I startled a cobra that was resting in the grass beside the trail, noticing it only when it rose up with its hood spread. As is typical of these shy snakes, the cobra wasn't facing me, but was showing me the back of its spread hood, with the lovely spectacle marks on it. This is a typical warning display that means, "watch out, I'm here". A bit startled myself, I stood stock still and watched the beautiful reptile. A few seconds later, putting its head down, but with its hood still spread, the snake started moving in my direction. A non snake person would have taken this as a show of aggression on the part of the cobra and fled, thinking that the snake was chasing him. However, it was clear to me that the snake was probably just trying to reach its bolt hole beneath the vegetation. I saw it slide into the grass and disappear. When I went closer to investigate, I could see a number of holes in the ground comprising a low termite mound. The cobra had obviously found a nice 'apartment' to call home.

A couple of days later, walking on the same path, I intentionally slowed down to see if I could spot the cobra before it spotted me. As I approached the termite mound, a grey mongoose leapt away, it's hair standing on end, quickly followed by another one. Their body language indicated an encounter with the snake. I quickly moved forward, fearing that they may have killed it, but there it was, standing a foot off the ground, with its majestic hood spread wide. It was obvious that the mongooses had been hassling it. The moment it spotted me the cobra put down its hood and, in one fluid motion, dived into a nearby hole. Had I even blinked, I would have missed this amazing vanishing act.

I couldn't help wondering whether I had saved the snake's life by appearing at that crucial moment. Mongooses are famous for their snake killing abilities and, while the cobra could have escaped from a single mongoose, a concerted attack by two of these intelligent and lighting fast mammals would be quite hard for the relatively slower snake to evade. But why hadn't it dived into the hole in the first place when the mongooses appeared? Perhaps being an adult, venomous and five feet long, it felt well able to defend itself against adversaries somewhat its own size. When it saw me looming over it, the fear of humans that seems to run deep in all animals, sent it diving into the hole without a moment's hesitation!

Photos by Belinda Wright

Monitoring Tigers and their Prey

One of the biggest problems of tiger conservation in India has been the general lack of science in the management of Tiger Reserves and other Protected Areas (PAs). This lack has also been a chronic problem in the enumeration of wild tigers. For decades, the establishment followed a highly flawed and unscientific method of counting tigers based on the imprints of tiger pugmarks in the dust. The tall claim that each pugmark was distinct enough to identify the tiger that left it, was widely accepted. This was a convenient technique to inflate tiger numbers and claim that everything was well. It was also a fig leaf, as in the case of the famous Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan, which lost all its tigers to poaching. Even when tiger numbers had been reduced to just one or two individuals, their paw prints were counted repeatedly to claim that the tiger population was shipshape. It was only when all pugmarks vanished that alarm bells started sounding, by which time it was too late. Had there been a robust, scientific system in place to monitor the number of tigers, the depletion of numbers in Sariska could have been detected in time to avert the catastrophe.

Such a scientific system has been available for over a decade, refined and perfected by renowned tiger biologist Dr. Ullas Karanth in the forests of Karnataka. Using techniques like Line Transect surveys to enumerate prey populations and Camera Trapping to get reliable estimates of tiger numbers, Dr.Karanth has repeatedly demonstrated the robustness of his methods. Fortunately, thanks to the Prime Minister's Tiger Task Force, chaired by Sunita Narain, the old pugmark method has been officially abandoned by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, and scientific methods have been instituted. However, what I've noticed is that a lot of people have learnt the buzzwords without understanding the underlying principles. Thus we have people setting just 4 or 5 remote cameras in the forest and claiming that they are enumerating tiger numbers scientifically through camera trapping. Then there are park managers who send teams of up to 8 people into the forest and claim these to be line transect surveys.

In order to make people aware of these techniques and to enhance their understanding of the nitty gritties involved, the Wildlife Conservation Society's India Program commissioned me to produce a training video to accompany the acclaimed manual "Monitoring Tigers and their Prey' edited by K.Ullas Karanth and James D. Nichols. I'm pleased to say that the training video is now available for viewing on you tube. The link is www.youtube.com/monitoringtigers

Now everyone can at least be aware of the proven scientific techniques that are available to estimate the numbers of wild tigers and their prey.

Amazing tiger-bear encounter

Nature has a way of cutting one down to size. Any time you think you've seen it all, there's a new revelation that shows you how little you actually know!

In February this year, tiger biologist Ullas Karanth, a few other friends and I witnessed an astonishing interaction between a sloth bear and a tiger in the Nagarahole Tiger Reserve in Karnataka. I'm sure this sort of thing happens all the time in forests and that the incident wasn't 'astonishing' for either the tiger or the bear. It's just that one has to be incredibly lucky to actually see something like this unfolding. What's more, I even got some pictures! I've posted the story and a series of pictures on my revamped (finally!) website, so do have a look at www.shekardattatri.com

Edberg Award

The Perils of Telephone Interviews!

A few days ago, I got a surprise mail from the Edberg Foundation in Sweden saying that I had been chosen by the Board for this year's Edberg award for my work in conservation and conservation filmmaking. Subsequently a Press Release was put out in India. Following the press release, I got a call from a senior journalist from a news agency, who wanted to ask a few additional questions. Normally I'm extremely wary of telephone interviews and insist that questions be sent to me by email to enable me to give precise answers. Unfortunately that day, the gentleman caught me as I was about to go out. Also, there was a power cut and my modem was dead, so the email thing could not be done that instant.

I patiently answered all the questions in detail and, at the end of the interview, requested that the copy be mailed to me for fact checking before publication. To this the journalist insisted that he had taken copious notes and was not in the habit of making mistakes. I had to leave at that.

Horror of horrors, when the report came out, I was shocked and embarrassed to find a plethora of mistakes, major and minor. The report made me sound boastful, put words in my mouth that I had not spoken and ignored all the details I had given about important environmental campaigns of which I had only been a part. The report made out that I had done things single-handedly and implied even that important court decisions had been made on the basis of my films alone, which is rubbish.

Upon seeing the report I immediately wrote a polite email to the journalist pointing out all the errors. To his credit, he called me very soon thereafter and agreed to do another piece "in the near future" setting right all the mistakes I had pointed out. Unfortunately, once a report has been released on the web it's like a genie out of the bottle; you can't put it back. Now hundreds of websites have reproduced this report and it will stay on the net more or less forever.

I can't believe that with all my experience in dealing with the media in India, I could have made the mistake of giving a telephone interview to an unknown journalist. I've been kicking myself since!

An astounding film

Mountain Patrol - Kekexili

If you haven't seen this film yet, I strongly recommend it. However, be warned that it is not for the faint hearted!

Gripping and poignant.

Read the review at this link http://www.beyondhollywood.com/kekexili-mountain-patrol-2004-movie-review/