ABOUT THE BOOK

The book is a simple rendition of a lifetime of memoirs, anecdotes and stories about wildlife of the beautiful Indian panorama of species of animals and birds and some of the jungle lore. The stories are made more interesting by the accompanying sketches by the author, as is said ‘’A picture speaks a thousand words’’. Main stories are of a man eating panther near Nagpur, shot by the authors father in 1944, whom he had accompanied as a boy. The honeymoon tiger is about his own unique honeymoon experience in Sarguja, M.P. in 1964.Wildlife on the Pakistan border after the 1965 war. Other episodes cover wild places from all over India; Nagaland, Mizoram in the East; Maral Kanda near Shimla, the high altitude block famous for it’s Thar mountain goat; bharal or blue sheep on the Indo- Tibetan border near Harsil, and the Thar desert ahead of Jaisalmer with it’s unique wildlife. There are some old vintage true stories dating from pre -1935 -1957 days, along with some sketches by the author, adding spice to the thrilling and interesting stories. The author being a staunch conversationalist of wildlife has also given his views on the subject, which may be of interest to persons willing to learn from some practical suggestions by the author as his personal views.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A life - long romance with nature and the wild and many short stories , is Col. (Retd.) Vijay Verma’s second book on wild life in India. He retired from the illustrious Rajput Regiment of the Indian Army, after 32 years of commendable service in September 1989. He was awarded The Army Chief of Staff Commendation in 1988 by the then Army Chief for the outstanding contribution of educating the Army Personnel in how to save the environment and persevere the Ecology in the country and How they were to contribute towards this enormous task; he did this by organizing talks, camps and printing of Endangered Animals and Birds posters with appropriate literature, for the fist time and distributed them down to the unit level; 1988-89 as the officer in charge of the 'Ecological Cell, Eastern command' in Fort William Calcutta. His recommendation for raising TA-Ecological Battalion in Mizoram and Nagaland to help restore the vegetation, degraded due to the practice of Jjoom cultivation, was much appreciated. The book is a simple rendition of a lifetime of memories, anecdotes and stories about wildlife of the beautiful Indian panorama of species of animals and birds and some of the jungle people with an amazing knowledge of jungle lore. The stories are made more interesting by the accompanying sketches by the author, as is said, “A picture speaks a thousand words”.

CONTENTS

List of Color Photo 11 Introduction 15 Preface 19 Foreword 21 1. Romance with Wild Life and Forest and Real Vintage Stories 23 2. Espirit-de-corps 29 3. Vengeance will be mine! 35 4. NAWAB (Jabalpur 1942-43) 43 5. The Cobra in the Pee Pot! (Katni 1944) 51 6. The Man Eating Leopard of Jhilpa (Near Nagpur 1942-43) 55 7. Haidar Mian–The Forest Wizard (Kolash, Nanded 1950-51) 69 8. Survival of the Fittest (Nagaland and MP 1958-59) 77 9. Bilaspur Days (Bilaspur, MP 1959-60) 81 10. A Tiger in the Mines (Baitul, MP 1959) 89 11. The Leopard in the Storm (Baitul, MP 1960) 93 12. The Honeymoon Tiger (Sarguja, MP 1964) 97 13. Elephants, Elephants Everywhere (Dehradun, UK 1964) 113 14. The Ones That Got Away And Some That Did Not 119 (Dehradun, 1963-72) 15. Outings in the Shiwaliks and Khadar of Ghaghra River (Dehradun, 1963-64 &1975-76) 131 16. Wildlife! On the Pakistan Border 137 (Alhar, 1965) 17. The Brow Antlered Deer 143 (Lungleh, Mizoram 1966-67) 18. The Dhol/Sone Kutta – The Wild Dog of India (Mandla, MP) 147 19. The Rajasthan Experience (Jaisalmer, Rajasthan 1981-84) 151 20. The Bird Sanctuary of Bharatpur (Rajasthan, 1989-94) 155 21. The Boar which had Nine Lives 165 (Dehradun, 1999-2000) 22. Some Thoughts on Wildlife Protection 173 23. Some Suggestions for Protection of the Tiger 177 Jungle Sketch Book and Vintage Photographs 183 24. Khatawli 195 List of Color Photo Fig. 1 : Tiger stalking his prey a Sambhar Stag. Fig. 2 : Tiger Killing the Sambhar Stag. Fig. 3 : Tiger eating its kill. Fig. 4 : Tiger walking past the Sambhar herd after having fed on its kill. The deer are not afraid of him as they know that he has just eaten his prey and will not kill again for a few days. Fig. 5 : A Peacock calling from a tree before Roasting down for the night. Fig. 6 : The cattle lifter of Kinor- is on his killbuffalo killed by him. Fig. 7 : One of the tigers rear broken leg is but he is charging my father who can be seenshooting him. Fig. 8 : The cattle lifter of Kinor being carried to the car when enroute another tiger was seen. Fig. 9 : The tigeress was wounded in the jaw therefore could not bite Maj Gehlot, who is pinned down by her Maj Gill is Seen loading his weapon before finally shooting the wounded tigress. Fig. 10 : The buffalo hiding behind the spaces of creeps before attaching the hunter Fig. 11 : The buffloe (Kana) sitting among the bull rushes Fig. 12 : The buffaloe getting out of the pond and heading for the forest when it was shot and wounded. Fig. 13 : The buffloe going and killing the hunter, the tracker can be seen having climbed a true to save himself. Fig. 14 : Difference between African buffloe and a Indian buffaloe Fig. 15 : Cobra can he seen in the pee-pot