Tiger Visa
Very soon if not soon enough, some right wing party will write in its manifesto about piloting a treaty with China for tiger visa for Indians, who believe that goddess Kali rode the Tiger to supervise wars, destroy demons and run errands for her consort Rudra. China would by then be at the pinnacle of a uni-polar world. It may deign to allow Indians to visit its Tiger farms for Tiger Tourism.
Today there are more Tigers in the farms of China, by some estimates 5000, being bred in captivity, four time of those today in the wild in India - 1300. My children have wished to go to Sunderbans to see the Panthera Tigris Tigris before this majestic beast and its habitat are both wiped off the face of the earth.
Eventually the Tiger will be known as an oddity that inhabits China. It may come in all moulds, weights and sizes. Of course Chinese manufacturing has no limits. That it ever did inhabit India would be forgotten just like the world as much as we ourselves today have forgotten that martial arts originated in India. While our Kalaripayattu languishes, the martial arts once practiced by Indian monks, are now an art form attributed to the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans, and Indians go there to get 9 Dan Blackbelts. This is just one of the multitude of testimonies of our expertise in heritage destruction. Yoga would soon be a patentable product coming from the US. I remember, Ranbaxy conducted a yoga course and the instructor was a Dane from the US.
Just like we read about the silk route, our great-grandchildren will read about the Tiger route. Tibet, the autonomy of which India has been espousing, is actually the prominent participant in this pervert poaching. Lhasa is the high seat of this trade. You don’t need to avoid the swarm of Han Chinese police in Tibet or even the under cover police in Lhasa to get Tiger skins and other tiger parts that are so blatantly traded in open market in Lhasa. Vendors are willing to deliver them to your hotel, city country wherever. It is done blatantly and brazenly, and right under nose of the Chinese authorities, who chose to turn a Nelsons eye to the activity. Tiger skins and bones are displayed openly with certificates authenticating its wild origin as the farm tigers never fetch the premium that those from the wild do. Stuffed head are trophy possessions.
Years ago, in 2002, when we holidayed in Sariska ( close to Alwar ) supposedly a tiger reserve, all we were shown were spots where sightings had once taken place. There was actually no trace of the tiger there. I am sure there is some money being spent on the Project Tiger which was started in 1972, but how much of it is going to the actual conservation and how much in venal pockets is something that needs no investigation.
In 2008, coinciding with my joining Ethypharm, we took a holiday to Australia. In a theme park ( I don’t remember where ) perhaps Goldcoast, there was a show of the Royal Bengal White Tiger. He was named Taj. An 11 feet long strapping beast prancing about at the orders of its handler.
We all know the western way of life is full of Declarations and Disclaimers. Pretty much in sync with this mentality, the theme party had both to make. The declaration was that the tiger was the on verge of extinction Bengal Tiger, and the disclaimer was, torture was not used to train it. It seems that the tiger away from its Sunderban habitat was too shorn of his mother love and found the same in his handler and thus meekly followed instructions to jump and climb. A really emotional tiger he was.
The British killed some 80,000 tigers in India. They were primarily fox hunters before the Indian Maharajah trained them in this bravado - hounding the beast seated conveniently on a bedecked elephant, scaring it with the sound of the ludicrous drum beating and killing it with the breach loading gun. The largest one weighing 390 kgs was killed by a joker called David Hasinger in 1967 making a record of sorts.
Very soon if not soon enough, some right wing party will write in its manifesto about piloting a treaty with China for tiger visa for Indians, who believe that goddess Kali rode the Tiger to supervise wars, destroy demons and run errands for her consort Rudra. China would by then be at the pinnacle of a uni-polar world. It may deign to allow Indians to visit its Tiger farms for Tiger Tourism.
Today there are more Tigers in the farms of China, by some estimates 5000, being bred in captivity, four time of those today in the wild in India - 1300. My children have wished to go to Sunderbans to see the Panthera Tigris Tigris before this majestic beast and its habitat are both wiped off the face of the earth.
Eventually the Tiger will be known as an oddity that inhabits China. It may come in all moulds, weights and sizes. Of course Chinese manufacturing has no limits. That it ever did inhabit India would be forgotten just like the world as much as we ourselves today have forgotten that martial arts originated in India. While our Kalaripayattu languishes, the martial arts once practiced by Indian monks, are now an art form attributed to the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans, and Indians go there to get 9 Dan Blackbelts. This is just one of the multitude of testimonies of our expertise in heritage destruction. Yoga would soon be a patentable product coming from the US. I remember, Ranbaxy conducted a yoga course and the instructor was a Dane from the US.
Just like we read about the silk route, our great-grandchildren will read about the Tiger route. Tibet, the autonomy of which India has been espousing, is actually the prominent participant in this pervert poaching. Lhasa is the high seat of this trade. You don’t need to avoid the swarm of Han Chinese police in Tibet or even the under cover police in Lhasa to get Tiger skins and other tiger parts that are so blatantly traded in open market in Lhasa. Vendors are willing to deliver them to your hotel, city country wherever. It is done blatantly and brazenly, and right under nose of the Chinese authorities, who chose to turn a Nelsons eye to the activity. Tiger skins and bones are displayed openly with certificates authenticating its wild origin as the farm tigers never fetch the premium that those from the wild do. Stuffed head are trophy possessions.
Years ago, in 2002, when we holidayed in Sariska ( close to Alwar ) supposedly a tiger reserve, all we were shown were spots where sightings had once taken place. There was actually no trace of the tiger there. I am sure there is some money being spent on the Project Tiger which was started in 1972, but how much of it is going to the actual conservation and how much in venal pockets is something that needs no investigation.
In 2008, coinciding with my joining Ethypharm, we took a holiday to Australia. In a theme park ( I don’t remember where ) perhaps Goldcoast, there was a show of the Royal Bengal White Tiger. He was named Taj. An 11 feet long strapping beast prancing about at the orders of its handler.
We all know the western way of life is full of Declarations and Disclaimers. Pretty much in sync with this mentality, the theme party had both to make. The declaration was that the tiger was the on verge of extinction Bengal Tiger, and the disclaimer was, torture was not used to train it. It seems that the tiger away from its Sunderban habitat was too shorn of his mother love and found the same in his handler and thus meekly followed instructions to jump and climb. A really emotional tiger he was.
The British killed some 80,000 tigers in India. They were primarily fox hunters before the Indian Maharajah trained them in this bravado - hounding the beast seated conveniently on a bedecked elephant, scaring it with the sound of the ludicrous drum beating and killing it with the breach loading gun. The largest one weighing 390 kgs was killed by a joker called David Hasinger in 1967 making a record of sorts.
As usual, "save our tiger" is a fancy rallying point, but affirmative actions still remains a distant dream.
Some estimates say, there are 12,000 tigers in USA and 4000 are kept as pets.
Some estimates say, there are 12,000 tigers in USA and 4000 are kept as pets.
Vimalenduji, this is really too good. Few days back, I was reading Tagore's memoirs in our councils library. He mentioned that how invites to honour him surged in Bengal after he won the Nobel.
ReplyDeleteBTW, we do have 545 farm FOXES... I suggest that we should have special hunting event in CWG-2010 for Brits & others. No extra expense or construction is required.