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His tryst with tigers

Ashutosh Mahadevia, businessman and conservationist, on the role of Tiger Watch, which conducts studies at Ranthambore

FELINE FIXATION Ashutosh Mahadevia PHOTO: K. V. SRINIVASAN

Ashutosh K. Mahadevia and wife Meera went to the Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal, hoping to see tigers. But they returned disappointed. That they stayed in a star hotel called "Hotel Tiger Tops" only rubbed it in. This was back in 1984, when the Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan was teeming with tigers. So much so, the cab drivers attracted tourists with money-back guarantees — "Take the cab. If you do not see a tiger, take the money back!"

Memorable encounter

That very year Ashutosh and Meera heard about Ranthambore's cabbies and tigers and set out to check the information. The over-confident cab drivers were there, so were the big cats. Ashutosh's first encounter with the animal is etched in his memory. For three hours in the morning, he watched a tigress lavish love on her three cubs. In the evening, he went back to the spot with Valmik Thapar and Ravi Singh. Now, the tigress displayed ruthlessness and raw power as it brought down a full-grown sambhar and sank its fangs into the hapless herbivore. "The kill got me!" From that day, he has been filled with a compulsive desire to see tigers in the wild. "What better place for tiger-watching than Ranthambore?" Ranthambore became a second home, after Mumbai. These regular trips earned Ashutosh the friendship of Fateh Singh Rathore, once in-charge of the tiger reserve.

"In elaborate jungle wear and a Texan hat, Fateh looked as wild as the big cats he loved. With a tongue that called a spade a spade, he was just as feared. And his knowledge of the Ranthambore tigers was simply mind-blowing; he passed it on to me."

Fateh taught Ashutosh a lot more. He impressed upon Ashutosh the need for "a private eye" to watch over the tigers. Ashutosh, who hails from the Mafatlal family and runs a textile business, which supplies clothing to the Indian armed forces and the police, responded to this challenge. He launched the non-government organisation Tiger Watch, which conducts independent tiger studies at Ranthambore, often blowing the veil off "disheartening truths". When Tiger Watch took off, Fateh had lots of time for it because his candid comments had already caused him to be sidelined and finally shunted out of Ranthambore.

"It was a blessing in disguise; the disillusionment turned Fateh into a man of steel and got him to fight harder for the big cat. Until 1989, people thought Project Tiger, which Indira Gandhi launched in 1974 to save the tiger, was a roaring success. It was in 1989 that Fateh made a complacent world wake up to the fact that the big cat was not as safe as believed to be. He challenged the Wildlife Department's announcement that there were 45 tigers at Ranthambore. He said there were only 18. When the Field Director said the big cats had gone up into the hills because of the rains, Fateh countered, `Yes, they have gone up - not into the hills, but the Milky Way.' A snap census proved Fateh right."

Man-animal conflict

To save the tigers of Ranthambore, the tribals who live in Ranthambore must be taken care of, says Ashutosh. To this end, Fateh's son Goverdhan Rathore and he formed Prakritik Society about 11 years ago. Addressing the man-animal conflict, the society has set up biogas plants, runs an artificial insemination programme to improve the breed of cattle and plants trees.

It also reaches medical services to these villages and educates the children there. It even watches out for the lower-level staff of the Wildlife Department by providing them with insurance cover." Ashutosh believes education, alternative careers and a steady source of income have all kept these villagers from abetting poachers.

Ashutosh says the Wildlife Department does not see the NGOs working in Ranthambore as allies in the fight against poaching.

"Numerous hurdles are placed in our path. In May 2004, we made public our census, which put the tiger population at 28. This was at variance with the Wildlife Department's claim that there were 45 tigers.

"As expected, there was a backlash. In December, we found out that the tiger population had further dropped to 18. When we told the world so, the worst happened - the park was made off-limits for us by revoking all permissions previously granted to us."

PRINCE FREDERICK

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