On a wild mission

It was in 1961 that Valmik Thapar saw his first tigers at Corbett National Park, and 40 years hence, he says that the journey has been sheer magic. As he puts it, “I didn’t know then that I would spend the rest of my life being mesmerised by wildlife.” Now known as a defender of tigers, and India’s foremost naturalist and conservationist, Valmik Thapar has devoted himself to the cause of preserving India’s flora and fauna. Having authored and edited over 25 books, making films for the BBC and taking on the establishment, he has tried everything he could to serve the cause of India’s fast depleting precious natural heritage. His latest book Wild Fire, published by Aleph, is the second book in a trilogy that began with the acclaimed Tiger Fire, which was published in 2013. And the next and final book of the series, Winged Fire, is on Indian birds, which will be published this year.

Valmik reminisces, “I was eight or nine years old when I had my first introduction to the forest. My uncle was a UP forest official, so our family holidays were often at the Corbett National Park. Later as a documentary filmmaker, I began visiting Ranthambore, which is the root of all my learning. It was there that I met Fateh Singh Rathore, my tiger guru and friend. In many ways, what I am today is because of what Fateh Singh triggered in me. The most remarkable thing about him was that he welcomed me with open arms into the folds of the forests of Ranthambore, and we created a unique partnership, both of ideas and their implementation. He had a quality that few forest officers have today — of welcoming all kinds of people and inspiring them on their missions in the world of wildlife.”

Wild Fire is divided into three sections. The first section, Thoughts from Elsewhere, takes the reader on a quick tour of the country’s natural heritage in the 21st century.  The second section, The Wildlife Chronicles, collects the finest accounts of India’s animals from the first century onwards. It has stories about the great predators, magnificent herbivores, evocative accounts of some of the most striking animals in the country and some reports of rare sightings of river dolphins, bats, shrews and other lesser-known members of the animal kingdom. Contributors to this section include travellers, hunters, writers, photographers and naturalists such as Pliny the Elder, Ibn Battuta, Babur, Akbar, François Bernier, Isabel Savory, Jim Corbett, George Schaller, Kenneth Anderson, M. Krishnan, E.R.C. Davidar, Peter Jackson and Ruskin Bond. The third section, Wild Fire, contains a selection of some of the finest photographs ever taken of India’s mammals, making it one of the most comprehensive book on Indian mammals with some never-seen-before pictures.

I met Valmik, a big burly bearded man with a fierce intensity in his eyes that is so reminiscent of the tigers he loves, in the conference room of his publishing house. The room seemed too small to contain him. He clearly belongs in the outdoors with his tigers and the world they inhabit. He says, “It took about a year to complete the book that is about the splendour of our wildlife. People say that I am only concerned about the tiger, but that is incorrect — the tiger can only exist in synergy with his habitat, and this book is about his world.”

Having been part of many government committees on conservation of wildlife, Valmik is more than a little disillusioned with the establishment, and a fiercely vocal critic of the way it works. Today, his own NGO, Ranthambore Foundation, is dedicated to saving nature. As he explains it, the trilogy will document a period of time when we still had remnants of wildlife. “It will show how people viewed wildlife through history, and how to keep animals like these alive. India’s wildlife is amazing; with 16 climatic zones the variety is astounding.”

Married to Sanjana Kapoor, daughter of actor Shashi Kapoor, Valmik has a ten-year-old son Hamir with whom, for two months every year, he embarks on a journey to discover and celebrate the wild in India and Africa.  It is impossible to be with Valmik and not feel his anguish, or to remain untouched by his passion. “I don’t know if things will improve, but for God’s sake, at least we can try. The Wildlife crime bureau is not as active as it should be. There is a plethora of laws but no proper implementation — the bureaucrats don’t care, there is no accountability and politicians come and go.” Valmik says the corporate world will engage itself in the cause of wildlife conservation if the government engages them as equals or partners. Business leaders like Sunil Mittal, Mukesh Ambani, Raj Salgoankar, Himadri Kothari are passionate about wildlife, and will come forward for the cause, but the government’s attitude has to change. Valmik concludes, “You have to be hospitable. Rathore welcomed me into his domain, today there are none who do.”