Sundarbans – the beautiful Jungle

R Ganesh*

The Sundarbans is a National Park, Tiger Reserve, and a Biosphere Reserve located in the Sundarbans delta spread across West Bengal in India and Bangladesh. It covers approximately 10,000 km2 area, of which 60% is in Bangladesh and the remainder in India.  It is one of the largest remaining areas of mangroves in the world. The area is also known for its wide range of fauna, including 260 bird species and other threatened species such as estuarine crocodile and the Indian python. However, it is the Royal Bengal Tiger, which is the main draw of  the Sundarbans.  The Royal Bengal Tigers of Sunderbans have developed a unique characteristic of swimming in the saline waters. Tiger spotting was one of the main reasons I was attracted to the Sundarbans and once I finished my office related work in Kolkata, I immediately headed over to Sundarbans for a short break. 

I had spoken to the two brothers - Rajesh and Mowgli Kumar - of Backpackers Sundarban Tours for the trip, and they had taken care of all the arrangements for transport from Kolkata /accommodation and safari cruise at the Sundarbans. I was picked up by them in Kolkata and after 3-4 hours of drive, we reached Namkhana from where we took a crowded boat to take us to Sundarbans. On the other side of river, we took a cycle rickshaw - the only means of public transport- to reach a small eco-village, where we were going to stay for the duration of the trip.

 

After having a lovely lunch, we roamed around the village in the summer heat. Call me crazy,  but I loved walking in the village and its solitude even with the harsh sun on my head. In the evening, I went on the little boat ride around the area to have a closer look at the mangrove forest. It sure was exciting to enter the various creeks and experience the silence and stillness of the forest.  I tried my hand at rowing the boat but my technique was all wrong and after many futile attempts, I retired to being one of the passengers of the boat.  Besides me, there were four more travellers - two girls from Hyderabad  and a couple from United Kingdom.

 

The next day, we got up before sunrise and got ready in a hurry. All of us were excited at the prospect of what was in store for us during the cruise around the Sundarbans.  I,for one, was waiting to explore this area for a long time and the D day had finally arrived.

 

Even as we were returning from the Forest Department after obtaining necessary permissions, there was commotion on the river bank. Someone had spotted pug marks of the famous Bengal tiger on the banks and all of us rushed to the area and had a closer look at the marks. The guide explained to us that the marks were fresh and we all were very excited and nervous - maybe it was going to be our lucky day !

 

 

We were joined on the boat by an experienced guide and and he explained to us about the Sundarbans in detail.  The core area is free from all human disturbances like collection of wood, honey, fishing and other forest produces. However, in the buffer area fishing, honey collection and wood cutting are permitted in limited form.  Of course, the villagers venture into the core area and that is when the tiger-man conflict raises its ugly head. It is a vicious circle as the opinion on who is to blame depends on who you talk to - the villagers or the forest department.

 

The only means of travelling the park is to by boat, down the various lanes formed by the many flowing rivers. The habitat is traversed by many narrow tidal channels forming small to large islands. Tigers readily cross these islands and the guide recounted the various stories of his tiger sightings.  As we moved along the narrow channels, all of us were deathly quiet and a bit nervous as well, wondering whether we were walking directly into a trap set by the predator of the forest - the elusive Royal Bengal Tiger. 

 

The Sundarbans National Park also houses an excellent number of reptiles as well. Some of the common ones are olive ridley turtles, sea snakes, dog faced water snakes, green turtles, etc. We sighted deer, monitor lizard and many species of birds during our cruise but the tiger remained elusive. Even though it was hot, all of us were as excited as little school children on their first picnic. The boat kept chugging along the river and our eyes scanned the forest to find any kind of a movement. It was fun and a first hand experience at how the eco system works in this part of the world.

 

 

Sundarban is the paradise of wild life and greenery of dense forest. Photographers from different parts of the world come here to capture the panoramic view of Sundarban. The Englishman with us was busy capturing the nature’s splendor in his splendid SLR camera.

 

Despite not being able to spot the Royal Bengal Tiger, it was an unforgettable experience and it left me craving for more. The trip was very well organized by the brothers and when I left this magical place on Sunday, I was hoping that this trip would be the first of many I make to the Sundarbans.....

 

R Ganesh is a Mumbai based professional and an avid adventure traveler

 

 

 

 

 

Training stray dogs to protect villages from Tiger attacks in Sundarbans

Global Warming has led to an increase in tiger man conflict in the Sunderbans. Due to a 45 cm rise in the water, the salinity levels in the Sunderbans have increased drastically. This has forced the tiger to move towards the northern (more densely populated parts) of the Sunderbans resulting in an increase in tiger man conflict. There has been an increase in the attacks in the Sunderbans lately because of lack prey. Desperate villagers in turn, attack and kill the tigers.

Following the tragic news that three people were killed by tigers, conservationists from the Zoological Society of London came up with a project  to train stray dogs to keep the tiger at bay in the Sunderbans. For the first time, humans' canine companions are being used to help protect man from tigers, and therefore, tigers from man.

Field staff from ZSL working on tiger conservation and research in the Bangladesh Sundarbans had a tough job persuading the locals to protect endangered Bengal tigers, as they gained a formidable reputation as man-eaters.

The Sundarbans form the world's largest mangrove forest and are a UNESCO World Heritage site. The forests are dense and rich with wildlife, providing many resources for local communities - and they are also home to one of the largest surviving populations of wild tigers in the world. The tigers are the top predators of the forests, and ensuring their survival helps keep the wildlife of the forest in balance. 

Around 50 people are killed each year by the tigers of the forest, and most at risk are those who have to work in or close to the forests' borders. It is not completely understood why tigers become man-eaters but it is thought that some older, sick or injured tigers may find hunting humans easier than animal prey. The human-tiger conflict in the Sundarbans is escalating and despite tigers being legally protected since 1974, many are still being killed in response or anticipation of attacks. It is estimated that there are only 300-500 tigers left in the area. 

Conservationists Monirul Khan and Adam Barlow from ZSL have worked on various projects to conserve tigers. One of which is training the local stray street dogs to act as a deterrent for any prowling tigers that come too close to the village borders. By alerting the villagers to a tiger's presence, the animal can be frightened away instead of being hunted and killed. Although using dogs to protect humans from animal predators isn't a new idea, it is the first time they have been used in the battle to save tigers from extinction.

The following 48 minute BBC documentary – ‘Man-eating Tigers of the Sundarbans’ - explores the man-tiger relationship and efforts of the London Zoological Society in training stray dogs to protect villages from Tiger attacks.

Man Eating Tigers Of The Sundarbans - BBC

The Uncommon Genius : A tribute to RK Laxman by Rajdeep Sardesai

For the first six years and a bit of my professional life, the Common Man was an intrinsic part of my life. Every morning, a little after 9 am, two individuals would file into the Times of India office, almost like clockwork. One was close to 70, the other was just 23. The generation gap did not matter a jot: RK Laxman was very generous with his time and intellect with a young journalist who looked at him with awe and excitement.

He would walk into office in a trademark white shirt and black trouser with a black bag in hand. He could have been just any other commuter rushing into the Old Lady of Boribunder from the Victoria Terminus station on the other side of the road. But the man who made the common man a household name was anything but common in his genius with a sketch pen. Every morning, for over 50 years, he captured the sights, sounds, and yes, above all else, the wit, humour, sarcasm of India. In a newspaper plagued with negative news, the Laxman pocket cartoon became an oasis of  laughter.

He never ridiculed anyone; his cartooning skill was based on capturing the simplicity of life, notslapstick humour but truly located in the many ironies of public life. A pothole not repaired for years, a broken telephone line, a politician who kept cash under the table, or most famously, Indira Gandhi taking son Sanjay in a pram, Laxman's cartoons were funny but never offensive. He didn't  want to anger the readers, but wanted to take them on a joyride with a quiet chuckle. As he told me once, "My sketch pen is not a sword, it's my friend."

Finding the Common Man

I asked him once how he discovered the Common Man. "I didn't discover him, he found me," he said, with a glint in the eye. The idea, he said, was to reflect on the sheer bewilderment of the man on the street as he explored a rapidly changing world. The common man was the humble bystander who in his checked coat and dhoti simply observed the funnily strange society around him. Laxman liked to lampoon politicians, but he also was friends with them, including his contemporary Bal Thackeray. The story, possibly apocryphal, is that Laxman and Thackeray applied for the same cartoonist job at the Times of India in the early '50s. Laxman got it and a miffed Balasaheb never forgave the South Indians for taking jobs away from local Maharashtrians.

When he wasn't drawing politicians, Laxman would sketch crows. He found something uncommon in the most common bird. "What a beautiful crow is sitting outside my window," he would remark like an excited child. He was tight-fisted with his money but not with the mind, almost arrogant about his skill but not about his craft. Every morning, he would share his thoughts at our editorial meeting. He had a sharp political mind and one which he said had not been "tainted" by Delhi. "Living in Mumbai gives me the benefit of distance, the closer you are to those in power, the more they will corrupt you!"

  

His journalism mantra was simple. "Start each cartoon or each article as if it's your first, and think about your reader before you think about yourself," he would tell me. The simplicity of communication was the hallmark of a durability that is unparalleled in news journalism: he started with Jawaharlal and ended with Rahul.A few years ago, we gave Laxman 

A few years ago, we gave Laxman the CNN-IBN lifetime achievement award. He came on a wheelchair and received the award from Abdul Kalam. He cried on stage. So did I. A man who had brought a smile to millions of Indians across generations was in tears. So was the audience. It was perhaps the final act of an extraordinary life: we had laughed with him, how could we not cry? And now that he is gone, there is a sense of emptiness. Farewell sir. And thank you.

(Article courtesy : Scroll.in) 

R. K. Laxman was born in Mysore in 1921.  His father was a headmaster and Laxman was the youngest of six sons;  an older brother is the famous novelist R K Narayan.  After high school, Laxman applied to the JJ School of Art, Mumbai hoping to concentrate on his lifelong interests of drawing and painting, but the Dean of the institute wrote to him that his drawings lacked, "the kind of talent to qualify for enrolment in our institution as a student", and refused admission. He finally graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Mysore.  While a college student, Laxman illustrated his elder brother R K Narayanan’s stories in The Hindu. His first full-time job was as a political cartoonist was for the Free Press Journal in Mumbai. Later, he joined The Times of India, and became famous for Common Man character. His "common man" character, featured in his pocket cartoons, is portrayed as a witness to the making of democracy.