A deep love for nature, which connects us with the throbbing heart of the planet, is often the reason so many plunge into environmental conservation. Sanctuary spoke to some love-struck people about their formative tryst with nature.
Navya Sarathy, 16, Student
I was six when I fell in love with the tiger! I was at the amazing Ranthambhore Lakes area, watching the tigress Krishna and her three cubs. They nuzzled affectionately, pranced and frolicked around her in the water in an unforgettable, hour-long sighting. I was entranced and hooked. Ranthambhore is now my spiritual home, an extension of my being. Being in the wild has taught me so much, from patience to the beauty of coexistence and balance. Every time I see this incredible animal, I am in awe and feel incredibly privileged to be let into its world. It makes me want to help create a safer habitat, so its legacy can live on without interference.
Tiger cubs in a playful mood. Photo: Navya Sarathy.
Preeti Takle, 62, Kids for Tigers Mumbai Coordinator
My love affair with nature began at the age of eight when I first witnessed fireflies in the woods by my home. The trees were lit up with thousands of blinking fireflies! I enjoyed growing up in Deonar, and was like a little Mowgli, climbing trees, swinging from banyan tree aerial roots, catching crabs, and rescuing owls from crows! I have seen packs of jackals hunting and howling in the night. Those howls used to send chills down my spine. I still live in the same place and have witnessed first-hand what human habitation can do to wildlife. That is why I wanted to learn about conservation.
Preeti Takle first saw fireflies in the woods by her home. Photo: Meeraj Yadav.
Dr. Parvish Pandya, 65, Consultant Director, Science and Conservation at Sanctuary
In 1986, I led a group of 15 youngsters into the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary. A young boy, now well-known as Dr. Ramana Athreya, excitedly approached me about spotting a stunning bird with a black head and bright red front. I suspected it was the Malabar Trogon, a bird I had only heard of through recordings. I began imitating its call, and to everyone’s amazement, it flew to a branch above us. It was my first sighting of the beautiful male Malabar Trogon and love at first sight.
The striking male is often overlooked since it typically presents its entirely cryptic back. The male’s behaviour has taught me a valuable lesson about presenting my best self, while also knowing when to withdraw, blend in and turn my back.
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The Malabar Trogon Harpactes fasciatus. Photo: Public Domain/Vinay Bhat.
Hans Dalal, 44, Wildlife Conservationist
I was introduced to nature early on, as we went trekking in the Himalaya every year. However, in 2007, on a family holiday, Kanha blew my mind! Until then, I did not know there were so many animals in India! My uncle had always spoken about coexistence, but in a tiger reserve, you actually see it happening!
On our third safari, we saw a tiger for five seconds. She stuck her head out of the grass, glanced at us, and moved away. Everything changed inside me. I came back home to Mumbai, but my mind, soul and heart were in Kanha. A year later, I shut my studio and moved to Ranthambhore and began working with Fateh Singh Rathore. I will never forget the first time I saw the tiger.
The grasslands of Kanha Tiger Reserve. Photo: Public Domain/Pratyaksha.
Dr. Anish Andheria, 52, President – Wildlife Conservation Trust
I may be a conservationist by profession but am a naturalist at heart. There is so much to see and unravel that a true student of nature can never claim to know everything. Being in India, every trip to a natural ecosystem makes me feel like a kid in a candy store. I learn new things about species that I have been observing for the past 35 years! And, whenever that happens, needless to say, I fall in love with them all over again. The leopard, with its adaptability, intelligence, and elusiveness, is one of those species that is close to the naturalist in me. As an undergraduate student, I would go to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai, Maharashtra, sometimes every alternate day, for months on end, to track leopards from indirect evidence, such as scats, scrapes, pugmarks, and rake marks. Even today, more than three decades later, I get drawn into doing the same in every forest I walk or drive through.
The Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Photo: Saurabh Sawant.
