THE BOOK

‘Ranthambore Adventure’ is about tigers. It is the story that is inspiring children across India to work towards saving the tiger and the country’s rapidly dissapearing forests.

When Aditya attempts to lay his hands on the diary of a ruthless tiger poacher, little does he know the events his action will trigger. His ill-fated endeavour plunges Vikram and Aarti into a thrilling adventure that climaxes at the magnificent
game park of Ranthambore.

‘Ranthambore Adventure’ also narrates the story of the tiger, Genghis. Brimming with tiger-lore, it traces the moments of Genghis’s life - from his birth as a fluffy, helpless ball of fur - to his emergence as a proud and powerful predator. But vicious, greedy humans infiltrate his kingdom, seeking his skin and bones...

 

EXTRACT from Ranthambore Adventure

...So entranced was the Vikram that he did not notice the parting of bushes ahead. A huge golden-striped animal walked casually into the clearing. A partridge scurried noisily through the grass, moving hurriedly out of its path.

Hearing the partridge, Vikram turned and gasped audibly. Alerted by his sharp intake of breath, the tiger looked up. Their eyes met.

Both Vikram and the tiger were equally startled at each other’s presence. So silent and so unobtrusive had been the animal’s approach that had it not been for the nervous partridge, Vikram might have remained oblivious to the passage of the predator. The tiger too had not sensed human intrusion.

Vikram’s chest heaved. The animal was near enough to smell its strong body odour. Only in a zoo, with a solid barrier in between, had he ever been so close to a tiger.

The tiger's eyes narrowed. His ears pricked and his body tensed.

Tentacles of fear clutched at Vikram’s heart. There was no hope if the tiger decided to attack.

The striped animal stared. In a daze, Vikram gazed back. At this proximity he saw features on its face which he had never noticed before. Its eyes were green, not red as he had always believed the colour of a tiger’s eyes to be. Its snout was golden-brown. There were white patches on the tiger, two prominent ones behind his eyes, and another one below his snout, where his whiskers sprouted. There was white on his chest too, crossed with thick, black stripes.

The tiger twitched its tail. His head tilted forward as a massive paw was lifted from the grass...


1411 and Sinking...

Not long ago – just three to four hundred years back – tigers flourished on our planet. But humans changed all that. Of the seven species of tigers that roamed the earth, the Caspian Tiger, The Javan Tiger, The South China Tiger and the Sumatran Tiger are virtually gone. The Siberian tiger is down to a few hundred. Our Indian tiger – the Bengal Tiger – has the largest surviving population. 1411 was the last count (2008).

Ten years ago, the number of our tigers was estimated to be 4000 or so. There is a tiger census being conducted across Indian forests today and experts believe that number will be less than a thousand when the counting is done. The number 1411 is already a measure of the past. Our tigers are sinking, and sinking fast.

It’s not just for its beauty, its grace and its majesty that we must save the tiger. It’s for the health of our forests, for maintaining our biodiversity and for strengthening the web of life on our planet that we must.

The story ‘Ranthambore Adventure’ tells you why our tigers are disappearing. But it isn’t only for the sake of telling the truth of our forests that I have written this book. The book was written to inspire you with the beauty of our forests and our wild places, to create a connection between you and all things wild, and to understand the reason why we must protect them.