After working for more than two decades in the Indian Forest Service and having experience of more than a decade in the field of wildlife including in tiger and elephant reserves, I finally got the opportunity to work in a zoological park. Before that I had visited and seen many zoos, both in India and abroad, and had witnessed their working closely. Since I also…

In literary works and common parlance, tigers have come to be understood as an elusive, even beastly animal, both due to perceptions of aggression, and the cloak of uncertainty that seems to surround their demeanour. Since colonial times, the shikaar-gathas, tales of tiger hunts, have painted the animal with descriptions of ferocity and ruthlessness. As a result, the hunting of tigers was considered a feat…

For some time now I feel like the moon – waxing and waning and waxing again. By this I mean putting on some weight, and then with or without effort losing a bit. Of course, the moon is the moon and consistent in all her phases. If she wore clothes then she would have sections in her wardrobe for each size during the month. She…

As we walked in a gully between two stands of rock, a shadow fell upon us. The source was moving in leisurely circles across the sky. The easy pace of the bird came from a confidence – the ease of a bird of prey for whom the sky is a playground. A Short-toed snake eagle was in the spring sky, shimmering white against the blue.…