Wild Tales from the Wild

Saad Bin Jung

Description

For the weary urban dweller, the verdant Mangala valley near the Bandipur National Park in Karnataka,; would seem like a haven of peace and tranquility. Appearances could not be more deceptive, as Saad Bin Jung discovered after forsaking his life in the city for a stone cottage in the valley. If the surrounding jungles were teeming with wildlife of every variety, the life that the human of the area led was no less wild. Here, he recounts the adventures that he had with some of them: the leopard who moved into 'bison cottage', the dining hall cobra, the magnificent Mangala tiger, Torn Ears, the most-photographed gaur of his time, and the elephants whom he loved with a passion, Colonel Hathi, Jayaprakash and even the Rightchipped Tusker with his bullying ways, amongst them. Not to be outdone were the members of the Kuruba tribe and other humans - Mr B, the family expert, the elderly manager with a raging libido, the gorgeous foreign girls who almost saw him booted out of the family - who came to share his life at Bush Betta, the wildlife resort that he set up in 1991. Hair-raising and hilarious, these are stories that anyone who has had a taste of the wild, or wished that they could, will enjoy, as much for their drama and comedy as for the many fascinating insights into animal behaviour that they provide. No less compelling is the message between the lines, the grandeur and beauty of India's forests, and the need to preserve them at all costs.

Sujets

• Special Interest
• Mountains
• Travelogue
• Serene
• Tranquil, Mississippi
• Travel
• Wildlife
• Writing
• Wild Life
• Sanctuary
• Park
• Adventure
• Wild
• Mountain
• National
• India
• Karnataka

Informations

• Publié par: Roli Books
• Date de parution: 06 avril 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9788174369529
• Langue: English

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Wild Tales From the Wild
SAAD BIN JUNG
Foreword Mansur Ali Khan, Nawab of pataudi
Lotus Collection
A9 Text Photographs : Saad Bin Jung, 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the publisher.
First published in 2005 The Lotus Collection An imprint of Roli Books Pvt. Ltd. M-75, G.K. II Market, New Delhi 110 048 Phones: ++91 (011) 2921 2271, 2921 2782 2921 0886, Fax: ++91 (011) 2921 7185 E-mail: [e-mail] Website: rolibooks.com Also at Varanasi, Agra, Jaipur and the Netherlands
Author picture on back cover : Sangeeta Jung Cover design and layout: Arati Subramanyam, Narendra Shahi
ISBN: 81-7436-358-0 Rs. 295
Typeset in Fairfield LH Light by Roli Books Pvt. Ltd. and printed at Syndicate Binders, New Delhi
To the three most wonderful, beautiful, loving and selfless people in the world, my parents and my wife, for having sacrificed their lives to me.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction
Map and General Information on Bandipur National Park
Mangala
A Difficult Welcome
A Tigress Family for Neighbours
An Unpleasant Bully
The First Safari
Torn Ears and Other Animals
The Sloth Bear of Kardi Betta
Killer
The Bandipur Elephants
The Mangala Tiger
Snakes and Other Anecdotes
Shampoo and Chocolate
The Human Jungle
Mr B: An Expert in the Family
Narrations of a Tribal Smuggler
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I have to say that no woman would be mad enough to have lived with me in the bush the way my wife, Sangeeta, has done. I took her away from the comforts of a well-to-do family in the city and threw her into the jungles of South India. That Sangeeta has survived both the bush and me and we have managed to raise two wonderful children, is solely due to her efforts. Bush Betta, our resort, and the time I have been able to spend in the jungles, could not have been accomplished without her incredible and selfless support that has made this book possible.
Zoha, our daughter has patiently typed and corrected more than two hundred pages, adding some of her own. Shaaz, our son and firstborn has an uncanny knack of simplifying everything. He has helped me understand the simplicity of life and I have tried my best to take his advice on keeping the book simple and to the point.
My parents need a special mention, for it is they who came up with the idea of a book. I would come home and narrate my latest experiences in the jungle, and my father would always say that I should write a diary, else I would forget.
My maternal uncle, Mansur Ali Khan, the Nawab of Pataudi would insist that I be his bearer, whenever he would go into the bush. Needless to say we have had some truly amazing moments together that further solidified my desire to live in the wilds.
I am also indebted to Nanjundiah our faithful friend and staff member. The amount he has taught me in the jungles surpasses belief. Together we have spent many nights out and have faced grave dangers. He has always stood by me.
Special thanks are due to M.K. Appayya, the retired Chief Wildlife Warden of Karnataka. He gave me the opportunity to go into the forests for the first time and would always make time to explain the problems that beset forest management to me.
I also thank K.S.N. Chikeroor, the IGP (CID) Forest, along with his friends, the heads of the Special Task Force. Even though they could do little to support the ban on visitors, they at all times ensured my safety above all through the frightening Veerappan era.
No acnowledgement would be complete without the mention of a truly loyal friend. I would like to state that if it had not been for Gurupadappa Nagmarapalli, Minister for Forests in Karnataka, I would not have been able to spend as much time as I was able to do in the forests of this state. It was because of him that I was given the opportunity to work on the Wildlife Board of Karnataka.
No book would be complete without mentioning our staff and officers of the forest department, especially at the Bandipur forest office and at our home in Mangala. Srinivas, our lifeline to the kitchen, has worked at every bush camp that we have had. Sharad, Kumar and Jaga have supported us through thick and thin.
Apart from Nanjundiah, the people who have given me a lot but taken very little in return are Narendar, my friend, partner and director in business, Gundu the Kuruba and Pradeep our Malayali tribal boy. Syed, who ably looked after the office whilst I was on the computer, and Subhan, who handled our angling camp not to forget Mallesh, our camp manager, who is the only person I know who has survived the kick of a furious wild elephant mother, released me from the chores of business that enabled me to write this book. I have spent hours in the forest with Nanju, Gundu, Pradeep and Subhan and they were the ones who taught me everything in my formative years in the bush.
I thank my brother Aamer Bin Jung for being such an able elder brother and my companion on many of the earlier adventures of the Jung brothers in the bush. I have not included them here, because you would never believe them. Like the time when he drove the jeep into the Bada Talab, the big lake in Bhopal, one night, in pursuit of two eyes that suddenly disappeared, but not before we were chest high in water! He thought it was a jackal that we were following and it turned out to be a crane!
It would take another book to mention the name of every person who has helped me and supported me in my quest to be in the wilds and in writing this book. It does not mean that if their names are not listed here, that I am not thankful to them. I am eternally grateful to one and all.
Finally this book would never have been possible had it not been for the timely support of M.J. Akbar, Editor-in-Chief, Asian Age , and Roli Books. Pramod Kapoor, Roli s publisher, agreed with MJ that maybe something could come out of the messy manuscript that I sent them and Renuka Chatterjee, my editor, worked overtime to ensure that the chaos got transformed into a book. I thank the three for believing in me and supporting me through every step of writing and editing this book.
Foreword
Saad Bin Jung is the second of four boys my sister brought into this world over a period of fifteen years. All four brothers were into sports, especially cricket, and jungle camp life in a big way, but only Saad and Aamir, his elder brother, got a glimpse of the variety and extent of wild life that existed even outside the sanctuaries and the game parks of this country. Today the pressure of population and destruction of their habitats has localized most of the wild animals in India within restrictive areas. I suppose some of this was inevitable, though a lack of concern and further surrender to the greed of the poacher/smuggler mafia will destroy forever some of the finest forests and wild life in the world.
In the years before 1972, it was possible to book a forest block in UP with one of those quaint dak bungalows built by the British for ridiculously low prices. The package would include a cook, a cleaner, and a forest guard to show you around. This I did for a few days during the winter months, and took along sundry nephews and cousins for a bit of family bonding. One also took along a gun, but this was mainly for protection, for by the late 60s, the game had virtually disappeared from these public blocks. The incident with the tiger and myself that Saad writes about, which is not inaccurate, happened on one of these excursions.
Saad often came on these annual forays and even as a child, he was curious and interested in the relationship between man and animal when they shared the same space and lived in close proximity to one another. This interest was to turn into a passion. Meanwhile as he grew older, Saad also developed into a first class cricketer with his efforts culminating in an eyecatching hundred against the West Indies at Pune in 1978. He then fell seriously ill, which put him out of the reckoning for serious cricket. I have often been asked if he was good enough to play for his country. I am not sure but I do know of lesser players who have managed to represent India.
After his marriage in 1986, Saad somehow convinced his wife to move to Bangalore and set up a camp in the forest of Bandipur, a good five hours drive away from the city. There was no road, no electricity, no telephone and no water, but there was an abundance of animals and several tribal hamlets. Although I never