Man Safari

The idea of other living beings wanting to visit humans in their environment and habitat and watch us as an object of curiosity as we do for Tigers is surely a strange but exciting one. Tiger Safaris are one of the most common adventures of civilised men and women in current times. Can the roles be reversed and can tigers begin observing humans as they are watched in the jungle?
And yet, it is eminently ironic that if a tiger or for that matter any other animal decides to visit a human habitation like a village or a city, they are at once pursued and driven away, and in many cases captured and even killed. By this logic if a human encroaches in the natural territory of a tiger, he should also be meted out the same treatment.  But it does not happen like this and it has never ever offended the human sense of justice or fairness. But well! This is not entirely unexpected or shocking. At the apex of animal kingdom, humans feel entitled to privileges irrespective of its merit, as does many families within human societies.
On a recent visit to Pench National Park, a favourite destination for Tiger Safari in Central India, the increasing craze of tiger sighting and the commensurate disappointment in failing to do so made me wonder whether tigers in this prized destination have decided to turn the tables on humans. In other words, are they indeed using this madness of humans to spot them to befool them in this venture and to enjoy their resultant predicament and frustration. In other words, are they choosing the frequency, timing, and duration of being seen by the impatient and noisy visitors and in turn relish and laugh at their vulnerability and stupidity.
For one, given the density of tiger population in the Park, the relative frequency of their sighting is increasingly diminishing. It may not be an accident. The tigers may have decided to take the matter in hand and make the game both more interesting and bipartisan.
The Tiger may be a large-hearted animal, as so convincingly and passionately established by Jim Corbett, arguably the greatest tiger expert in centuries. But he has also, through his countless narrations on this magnificent creature also clearly established that the tiger is second to none in native intelligence. And while it may be notched behind in terms of guile and deception, it is far from stupid. Banking of Jim Corbett’s assessment, I dare believe that tigers in National parks where Tiger safari has become a full-blown business, have decided to actively involve themselves in the business. They are increasingly going to decide and dictate the timing, the frequency and the duration and the location where they will permit humans to have their darshan.
It is now a common sight in these Parks where scores of Gypsies line up on the roadside laden with a variety of spectators including children craning their necks and desperate to sight a sliver of a black and yellow stripe which the guide animatedly points out far away in bushes. Some of them exclaim ‘eureka’ style although they themselves are not very sure whether the sliver of supposedly a tiger’s frame is indeed it or just a play of light, and the colours of vegetation. After a lapse of about half an hour, the gypsies disperse, with a babble of voices in trail. Some claiming that they had indeed seen a tiger while others dejectedly wondering whether they indeed spotted a flitting glimpse of the big cat.
I am definite that more than anyone else it is the tiger who had enjoyed the spectacle having by now moved to a spot completely beyond their sight.
But occasionally, once in 3-4 days it also decides to strategically take a walk on the road and allow the human laden gypsies to have a long and excited look as it slowly and lugubriously walks in front of them for some distance, pausing several times. A sight that the spectators will describe for a very very long time to come to any one they meet with great nostalgia. It may after a few minutes decide either to slip in the bushes by the roadside or even sit in the middle of the road, giving a damn to the humans still pursuing him. Often it is dusk by then and soon the noisy and graceless humans retire to the comfort of their resorts to spend the following hours animatedly describing with substantial embellishment their great encounter with the tiger. 
More than 125 years ago, a man-cub Mowgli was raised by Akela, Bagheera and Ballu in the jungle. His story is a tribute to the large-heartedness of the denizens of jungle. In return, the least that they expect is to be left in peace and isolation. Mowgli never wished to return to man village because he had experienced the warmth and honesty of the affection that was showered on him.
It is the peace and quiet of the jungle that the humans today invade and violate with increasing avarice and caprice. It is this unmitigated trend getting more and more aggressive, that is likely to see a reprisal that animals of the jungle are bound to take, not willingly but with extreme reluctance and as they are getting forced to the wall. The evidence is loud and clear, with the increasing frequency of these cats venturing into human habitations. 
Well, they are also entitled to a Man Safari.

(Uday Kumar Varma is an IAS officer. Retired as Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting)