Friday, February 15, 2013

My experiments with Project Tiger

It has been my sincerest endeavor since last year to capture the Tiger, India's national animal and a symbol of pride on my Camera. But all my efforts till date have been in vain.

Let me recount my experiences for your benefit.

It all started one fine day, in between the soul-numbing work of office life when the wildlife bug bit me. I had just obtained my most prized toy, my new DSLR. With high hopes and enthusiasm, I went to Nagarhole Sanctuary in April 2011, armed with Camera, Lens and other equipment. But all I could see was a hell of a lot of wild deer, Elephants, Bison and other miscellaneous animals. Sher Khan remained invisible.

Not one to be disappointed easily, a few months later I went to Bhadra tiger reserve near Chikmagalur, Karnataka again with renewed hope in my heart, which soon turned out to be a disappointment as our striped friend still remained in hiding. I was rewarded in that trip though by some good photos of various other animals, some small consolation.

If at first (and in this case second) you don't succeed, try try again as the old maxim goes. And so, twice bitten and third time desperate, this time I slunk off to Bandipur WLS once again with hope and spirit renewed. But ..... same old story. No tiger near or far. Not even a cat.

So finally, to satisfy the wild life photographer in me, I ended up going to the Mysore zoo and took snaps of the Tiger settled comfortably in the cage. Sometimes, I seriously wonder whether the 'There are only 1700 odd tigers left in India' slogan by the Save the Tiger foundation is really true. I do wonder if there are any tigers left in India. Probably, the best place to view them at close range would be the zoo.

Now I'm very much like a wounded Tiger myself and hope to fulfill my dream someday.