Since the last decade or so, there has been a marked rise in the books related to animals, wildlife, forest, environment and conservation. The reason is not far to seek. With rising population pressures, natural resources are under unprecedented stress. Conserving wildlife and nature has thus become a priority, if not entirely with successive governments, surely with those who understand the importance of rivers, mountains, forests, tigers and birds. Yes, the neo-rich class is now more interested in wildlife tourism, a reason for visible and new-found curiosity among people for lapping up such literary works. But there are, truly speaking, very few unputdownable books such as the one under review here.

MK Ranjitsinh is one such extraordinary person who has devoted most of his lifetime caring for all this and much more. He is easily the tallest living legend in the world, not just in India when we talk of wildlife and conservation. Now pushing 80, Ranjitsinh belonged to the princely state of Wakaner in Gujarat and has thus a rich family lineage and strong connection with most of the royal families of pre-independent India. He learnt hunting ( shikar) early in his life from his father Pratapsinh but quickly gave it up to join IAS (1961) and turned to conservation since late 50s and the 60s. It was in Wakaner, the last cheetah was reported in 1907 but in MP it was still alive, until 1947. Author’s grandfather Amarsinghji had killed Indian cheetah in Gujarat.

Abhilash Khandekar
Writer is a senior journalist and writes about environment, politics and urban affairs

Why is his memoir a highly gripping volume that one should have in one’s private library, is simply because it is full of fascinating true stories from jungles and from around the palaces. No one else has this treasure ! There are very few people in India who have such vast, first hand knowledge of the field, how the Maharajas and princes hunted ( he being from the same peer), of how bureaucracy looks at ( or looks away from ) nature conservation and wildlife and how top politicians contributed to the cause of conservation. His delightful narrative and rich content is unparalleled from a reader’s point of view.

An entire long chapter is devoted to Indira Gandhi, easily the most remarkable political leader and the PM who went out of her way to protect nature. There are many stories in the book which talk of her tough decision making ability as far wildlife and forests are concerned.

But before that, a mention of the various Royalties is a must and how they used to be ever trigger-happy and organise grand shikar tours in and around the sprawling jungles under their own ‘ Raj’. Author recounts some of the more famous parks and sanctuaries that were once the hunting reserves of the princes such as Gir, Girnar and Velavadar in Gujarat, Bhadra, Nagarhole and Bandipur in Karnataka; Periyar in Kerala; Radhnagari in Maharashtra and Panna, Bandhavgarh, Sanjay- Dubri, Madhav-Shivpuri in MP and so on. There is a long list. He tells us that Kanha and Corbett were the hunting reserves of the British. Of the 617 National Parks and sanctuaries that currently stand notified, more than half were hunting reserves--87 of the British and 277 of the Indian princes. While the princely states were known for killing precious wildlife, some were also great supporters and conservators in their own right. Junagadh state, for instance, gave huge patronage to Gir lions. In 1880, the lion population was around a dozen but 1891 the official estimate was thirty-one. Now Gir has over 550 Asiatic Lions. The Nawab Mahabat Khan was instrumental in protecting them till the last day before fleeing to Karachi, post India’s independence. The book has umpteen revealing stories but at least two need to be recounted before I end this truly unending review: First is about tiger killing. “ Rewa state’s Maharaja Gulab Singhji and his family had shot about 900 tigers, 100 being accounted for in just 14 months. The adjoining states of Surguja and Korea ( in today’s Chhattisgarh) had many tigers and Korea Royal family had accounted for another 150-200 tigers and the Surguja state’s RS Singh Deo ( who killed the last three Indian cheetahs in 1947) family had killed over 1900 tigers in preindependence era. On the whole, some 3000 tigers ( much more than what India has today) were shot in these three neighbouring princely states from around World War I to the end of World War II.

“ Author has painstakingly given very detailed accounts of how the royal families used to take turns for killing tigers and how would they divide forests for hunting animals of their own kingdoms.

Reading the chapters on hunting tigers may bring tears to one’s eyes in days when tiger killing is completely banned and even a suggestion to such an act can send shudders down your supine but the chapter ‘Indira’s India’ provides the succour in the sense that it amply shows how a well groomed educated politician can come to the rescue of wildlife, as displayed by Mrs Gandhi. That is the second story I want readers to know.

Indira Gandhi had inherited her love for trees, birds, and wild animals from her father Pt Nehru and during her long stints as the PM she did a lot to save habitats, frame laws such as Forest Conservation Act 1980, Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and activate the Indian Board for Wildlife. She was a keen bird watcher herself. Ranjitsinh had closely worked with her in the seventies as a bureaucrat to make new laws and help her usher in the famous Project Tiger. It was way back in 1973 she had realised the need for specialised wildlife management cadre and had written to Chief Ministers also to this effect, among many other exemplary communications aimed at conservation.

Ranjitsinh is credited with saving Barasingha, making efforts to bring back cheetah from Africa in India and shift Asiatic lions out of Gir to MP, though unsuccessfully !