Why Kipling should re-write his Jungle Book

I loved the Jungle Book, I still do. My favourite two were Bagheera and - in spite of being the villain of the story - Sher Khan. When I was younger, the animated series would air every Sunday on the telly and I'd watch with baited breath for the outcome of the story. Sher Khan in all his glory would challenge Mowgli and his gang week after week only to eventually lose the battle. At the end, he was finished. It was a victorious moment. The brave human had triumphed.

Many years later I visited the Bannerghatta wildlife sanctuary in Bangalore, India. After laughing at wild boar and cheering the elephants, we entered an area with huge fencing. As he stopped the mini-van, the driver warned us not to stick our heads out as we were in the tigers lair. It was only last week that a baby was snatched from the hands of an excited father - who ventured a little too close to the animal, he said. At once, everyone stiffened, withdrew themselves from the windows and waited.

And then Sher Khan appeared. This time of course with family, and more. Although I had seen tigers before in zoos, nothing prepared me for this spectacle. Sher Khan walked around the van with an air of nonchalant arrogance. Occasionally looking up at us - some terrified, some awestruck (like me) - he seemed to pity us. His shining coat was clean and impressive, powerful. He was beautiful. In whatever sense there could be! We were locked in a mini-cage and he was free.

That moment made me realise what many wildlife conservationists in India are trying to protect. I always thought animal welfare was really idiotic, when millions of Indians are dying of hunger and disease. But that day changed it all.

A report in The Economist this September says, Bengal tigers in India are being poached for valuable pelts and for use in Chinese medicine, for their bones, teeth and penises. Though the government insists that tiger population is stable at 3,500 (it was 40,000 at the turn of the century[1]) conservationists estimate their population at 1,200-1,500. Sonia Gandhi the leader of the ruling party in India wants to introduce the Tribal Bill, which will give tribal folk/ forest dwellers land rights, in an attempt to ensure votes. This at the cost of losing an endangered species.

There is a national park that runs through Bombay. Over the last two years, panther attacks in the neighbourhood has become commonplace. Usually it is the children of forest dwellers who are killed. Forest land is increasingly being encroached upon. About 13,000 families live in 750 acres within the park (Total area of the park is 103 sq. kilometers). There are no winners here. The wild loses its habitat. We lose our children.

Valmik Thapar, Indian natural historian in his book 'Cult of the Tiger' says "Colonisation by the Europeans marked the beginning of the end of this magnificent animal and so did "civilisation" and the destruction of its habitat."

Non government organisations within India and abroad are working at conserving the tiger. Exxonmobil was instrumental in establising the Save the Tiger Fund (just giving credit, no PR). There were also hopes that America may perhaps argue for a ban on trade in endangered species where tigers are not protected at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. That would hurt India's export of rare plants. However that has not gone through.

When Kipling was writing about the Kanha Reserve/ jungle, it was the era of the great tiger hunt. In one instance 1,200 tigers were killed by one maharaja. Today there are only 100 tigers in that reserve. "For me, life will not be worth living," Thapar says. "If the tiger goes, no campaigner will ever be able to save a forest. He's not gonna save it because of a deer[2]. "

1. Thapar, Valmik. 2002. Cult of the Tiger. Oxford University Press.

2. CBSnews.com

Flights of Fantasy

There were mainly two reasons why I chose to study in the UK.

1. Cardiff's reputation as an excellent school for journalism
2. The desire to travel and explore Europe.

I'm glad that the school has well lived up to my expectations. But the exploring is something I still have to begin. Before leaving India, I had a list of countries I wanted to visit. Some of them being Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Morroco (maybe this in itself is unrealistic but I'd love to visit many more if I could afford it). The biggest draw was ofcourse the fact that travelling from the UK to any of these countries is much cheaper than if I had to do it from back home. Low cost airline tickets seem like such a boon. I secretly always wanted to be a travel journalist - visit exotic countries, explore different cultures and lifestyles, write and make documentaries about them, be as prolific, profound and entertaining as Ian Wright.. ah. It would be a start to the career I've always dreamt of. I'd go for interviews, tell prospective employers about my adventures, bowl them over with my technical, research and journalistic skills (whenever I master those i.e. ). Things would go well, I'd get a job on a travel show with the BBC and life would be perfect.

And then I happened to read Monbiot. In his online portal turnuptheheat.org, George Monbiot criticizes one of my favourite bands, Coldplay. He doesn't say their music is shit, but accuses lead singer Chris Martin of being a hypocritical environmentalist. Twisted logic, one of Coldplay's songs on the album X&Y talks about how people should make right decisions when it comes to treating the planet. However Chris flies home at least 2-3 times between gigs in his private jet, probably hundreds of times in a year, burning 0.68 litres of kerosene per every kilometer travelled. The Airbus A321, a standard medium-haul commercial plane on the other hand burns 0.027 litres per kilometre per passenger (1) . Do I need to say anymore?

Now, I've always considered myself an environmentalist too. But I realise that I'd probably do anything to 'save the planet' but not give up on travelling. Though I wouldn't travel in a Learjet like Chris, but for every additional touristy flight I take, the carbon emissions would probably exceed my entire sustainable carbon ration for a year (15per cent of carbon emissions in Britain come from aviation). Richard Dyer, of Friends of the Earth has said: "What's happening with low-cost travel is that it's setting up unsustainable patterns of behaviour, so people are buying property in France that they wouldn't otherwise and flying to Prague rather than taking the train to Edinburgh for stag dos. Ending or changing these patterns of behaviour is all the harder to do once they are established (2)."

So what do I do now? Abandon my flight of fantasy? Give up on my secret ambitions? Though ofcourse it still remains to be seen as to whether I can really do all the travel I want to, but one thing is for sure, everytime I board a jet, carbon emissions, climate change and global warming is always going to be on my mind. I hope I can find a way to balance pleasure and purpose out or else find the courage to deal with it in a positive manner.

1. http://www.turnuptheheat.org/?page_id=16

2. http://ff.org/centers/csspp/library/co2weekly/20060206/20060206_04.html

3. Image: www.cartoonstock.com

Salaam Bombay!

I don't think I can begin my blog without talking about Bombay. These days its called Mumbai, but this is my blog so I'll call it what I want to. It has a nice ring to it. Plus, the name suits it well, considering the fact that it has been bombed so many times. However, all silly reasons aside, the name Bombay has debatable origins. It either comes from early Portugese settlers, who called is the 'good bay' hence Bombay or from the Hindu goddess Mumbadevi and so now eventually Mumbai.

Bombay was actually a cluster of seven islands, which were eventually merged thanks to engineering projects by the British Raj. With a massive population of more than 15 million, land reclamation (from the sea) continues. It is the commercial and entertainment capital of the country and also has Asia's biggest slums! (Dharavi as it is called houses one million people and has a black leather market. The white market generates $1bn in revenue annually.) This is perhaps one of the most fascinating facts about Bombay. The co-existence of extremes.

I used to work in South Bombay, where most media companies were located. Since I lived in the suburbs, I'd have to endure an excruciating one and a half hour journey via the train and bus to get to work. Driving to work would be unthinkable. However, without a traffic nightmare, it would take just about 20 mins to cover that distance. So anyway, every morning I'd get into a packed train, stand sandwiched between fat aunties with smelly underarms, horribly boisterous machi walis (ladies selling fish in big straw baskets with fish water dripping all over) and the rest of the conscientious middle class junta. Not a pretty sight and definately not comfortable. (Seriously our government has to do something about our population!) And yet the trains are perhaps the most reliable means of transport in the city. About 6 million people travel by train in Bombay daily. Of course, after the seven consecutive bomb blasts that occured in various trains this July, these numbers might have dwindled, though however I'm sure by just a trace. The city and the railways were back on track the very next day. Bombay has seen so many such incidents though that sometimes I wonder whether we've just become immune to death and disaster.

When the big cloudburst took Bombayites by surprise on 26th July 05, a spirit of amazing kindness took over the city. I clearly remember it being my first day at my new workplace. After a three hour long meeting, my bosses and I got out of the clients office only to find the water level in the compound to have risen to an amazing 2 feet. Initially we were really amused by the madness, but when the car refused to move we realised, as had the hundreds of others on the street that it was going to be a long walk home. We (me and my boss) walked hand in hand (it was really funny) till we had to part ways. That evening however confirmed my belief that Bombay is one of the more safer places to live in. I was escorted to a friend's place by a complete stranger, without whom I may have probably fallen into one of the various sewage drains that are carelessly left open. Water levels around my house had reached 6 ft. The suburbs recieved 944 mm of rain that day, the norm usually being 93mm. Almost 1500 people died in the flood and related diseases.

So, Bombay is not perfect. But that's where its beauty lies. Every nook and corner in the city has its own story. Right from Khau gully (eat street) where you can sample a huge variety of Indian dishes all on the street and for less than 50p to Oh! Calcutta where you can have the same food for twenty times the price; from Churchgate's fashion street where you can buy your favourite designer wear cheap (hehe) to the GAP's and D&G's of the world; from polluted factories to pure nature, beaches and mountains, hot weather, dirty streets, haughty celebs, pretty faces, extreme poverty, disgusting wealth, Bombay has it all.

And so, if you can live in Bombay, I bet you can live anywhere in this world!