Reviewing ‘The Corbett Story’

By Colonel Satish Singh Lalotra

‘THE BOOK OF NATURE HAS NO BEGINNING, AS IT HAS NO END’—JIM CORBETT.

Life has myriad colours which spread numerous hues in our lives. Each hue has its own stimulus that can be described as similar to or different from each other. Books are one such stimuli that give a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. One such extraordinary book that has within its realm history, conservation, nature, wild life all rolled into one is -‘The Corbett story: unfolding the tiger reserve’. The name ‘Jim Corbett’ is enough in the world to take one into the wilds of the sub-continent and know his intrepid hunter cum conservationist ways that are all imprinted in his excellent books. The sole recipient of the prestigious award of ‘Kaiser -e-Hind’ bestowed by the British on any hunter cum conservationist, ‘The Corbett story’-unfolding the tiger reserve’ is more of a ‘Coffee table book’ unraveling the hunter cum conservator’s efforts in the wilds of India. With dimensions of 12” X 9” & sporting a hard-cover with a white background suitably interposed with a big face of a tiger looming from its center, drawn intelligently is the essentiality of this book. Nape of the tiger starting from his ears blend into the background of forests that seem to be easily forming part of the yellow and white stripes of the body of this beast, personifying the ever straddling of this carnivore in the wilds of Kumaun and Garhwal areas of the present day Uttrakhand.
Covered into 150 pages with a foreword from the ex-scion of  Jammu & Kashmir and MP, Dr Karan Singh the first chairman of ‘Indian board for wildlife (IBWL) and also former head of the world famous -‘Project tiger’ this book is an exceptional piece of work. Carrying an impressive introduction by the famous author ‘Anjali Bhrathari’ she lucidly transposes a reader to the innermost realms of the famous Jim Corbett tiger reserve ( CTR) that has been peppered by marvelous photos of the landscape. It encapsulates the very essence of historicity of this tiger reserve to include its genesis, the necessity of doing so, its legacy that was the hard work of conservation luminaries like F.W. Champoin, E.A.Symthies, Sir Malcolm Hailey, Lord Linlithgow( former Governor General) as also subsequent field directors C.B Singh, V.B Singh, Ashok Singh, A.S. Negi and many more down the line. The intro lays stress on the vastness of CTR that now boasts of an impressive spread of 1288.31 sq kms as compared to its humble origins of 323.75 sq kms of 1936. With a tiger density of 14 tigers per 100 square kilometers it humbles any other tiger reserve in the world with its impressive ratio. Author further candidly admits her entry to the world of wild life and conservation to the WWI and US fish & wild life service as also developing the interpretative facilities at the CTR.
The book starts with chapter dealing with ‘The making of Corbett’, a virtual throw back to the colonial times when forests of India were looked upon as a source of revenue & the official hunting grounds ( shikargah) of the royalty. It has a chronology of events that go into making a magnificent tiger reserve starting with the efforts of G.W Trail’s 1823 revenue settlement known as the ‘Assi ( 80) bandobast. Taking a cue from the western world of setting up of national parks, the concept was ushered in India by Lord Linlithgow( Ex-Gov Gen).He involved conservationists like Jim Corbett & FW Champion who had visited various national parks in Africa to get a hang on this project. It goes on to give a vivid account of demarcation of this national park in 1934, its naming in 1936 as the ‘Hailey national park and thereafter Post-independence renaming it as ‘Ram Ganga national park’ that was further changed to ‘Jim Corbett’ national park to honour the hunter turned conservationist. Containing superlative photos of unexplored and untouched Sonanadi wildlife sanctuary and Kalagarh forest divisions which form Corbett’s core habitat and buffer zone respectively is the high mark of this section.The next chapter titled as ‘The riches of Corbett’ contains luxurious photographs of a raft of flora and fauna that abounds the very confines of this tiger reserve. It records that CTR is home to 1013 species of fauna with many of them endangered too.
The author has deftly constructed Chapter 3 and 4 unraveling the natural treasures of CTR titled as ‘More than what meets the eye’ and ‘Tourism for conservation’ respectively. These two chapters contain issues like various tribal populations residing in the ‘Buffer zone’ and their symbiotic association with the tiger. The spread of ‘Buxa tribe’, their habits and habitats, making use of natural resources for their own livelihood & the human nature interface to sustain this rich habitat too has been very aptly captured in this part of the book. Chapter 4 in particular explains in detail the colonial style bungalows that were the FRH (Forest rest houses) in those days and even today. It throws light on various tourism zones to include the famous ‘Bijrani ‘, Dhela, Jhirna, Pakhro and Sona nadi tourism zone to name a few. The raft of tourism activities, places to visit, the areas to avoid man -animal conflict etc in these tourism zone are another facets for a reader cum visitor to watch out.
‘Securing Corbett’ the penultimate chapter of this book lays stress on the security aspect as well as challenges which are encountered while doing so in this tiger reserve. It takes a reader on a roller coaster ride involved in securing this excellent place by way of various posts, patrolling protocols by the forest armed guards, as also numerous mechanisms set into motion for apprehending the poaching community. The plethora of problems in undertaking such an arduous task regularly and the lessons learnt are all too part of this excellent section. An electronic surveillance called as ‘E-Eye’ has been installed in the southern zone of this tiger reserve that keeps tag of an area of about 400 sq kms which has the capability of detecting any movement of an object of more than 20 kgs in weight. The coordination amongst various state agencies like ‘Wild life crime control bureau, Corbett anti-poaching special operations group ( SOG) etc too finds mention in this chapter for a reader to understand the enormity of managing such a huge nature conservation area of India. The last chapter details the various activities of Jim Corbett in his ancestral place called as Chhota Haldwani which has now been converted into a national museum. Acknowledgements at the end of the book with a detailed ‘Image courtesy’ devoted to the countless photos gifted by the country’s renowned photographers depicts the national connect to CTR. The bibliography too has been meticulously maintained with an exact date and page number for their explanation to a reader.
Published in the year 2020 by Abhimanyu Gahlot for Messrs Bishan Singh & Mahendra Pal Singh, New Connaught Place, Dehradun with Mr Rahul, IFS, as editor who was also director CTR this book with large sized glossy papers is a ‘must read’ and also a ‘must keep’ for a general reader as also for a nature aficionado. I had the opportunity to pick up my personal copy from ‘Moti souvenir shop’ at Kaladhungi a month back when I visited the national museum of Jim Corbett. Priced at Rs 2500/per piece, the cost though a little heavy on the pocket should not deter an avid reader from yet exploring the frontiers of nature at its pristine best. As Jim Corbett has rightly said— ‘THE BOOK OF NATURE HAS NO BEGINNING, AS IT HAS NO END’. Hence why not make a beginning right now and go for this masterpiece.
(The author is a retired army officer)