Tiger Tiger burning bright..

These lines from a poem by William Blake once written in awe of the mighty royal Bengal, now tell the sorry tale of a billion plus nation waking up to the reality "Only 1411 left"!!

Beginning of the 20th century there were more than 40,000 tigers roaming freely in the jungles of India, and then began the inexorable decline; numerous intermittent efforts by the government bodies, some dedicated and ardent wildlife lovers, individuals, but nothing worked.

If I take the liberty of comparing how we Indians fair in terms of protecting our NATIONAL Interests (Read Flag, Animal, Bird, Game etc) with that of people of UK, I feel really ashamed. To start with I almost believe that upon Independence India chose Tiger as the national animal not because it was the king of the jungle, not because of its mighty roar, or not because of its enigmatic air it carries around, but simply because they were in abundance, and could be easily related to India, and not Africa.
Now something that we were not even proud of initially, is made into a national animal, and suddenly comes to brink of extinction, the whole nation goes astir, but mostly superficially. Deep inside, there is more chaos to handle than saving the damn tigers.
On the other hand I was amazed to see in UK how they protected the birds and animals, especially the swan. A female swan had laid 6 eggs right in front of the school, and it became pride and joy of the whole Warwick University. A barbed wired protection (from foxes, and not humans) was given to the lady, notices posted, chain emails sent and resent of the pics, and the precaution one should take when nearing that area. All this not because Swan is the national bird (which is European Robin), but because Queen Mother admires and likes Swans.

We as Indians thankfully don't have to satisfy the ego of a ruler, but at the same time we fail to act as responsible citizens. I initiated serious debates among my colleagues at the work place, on how we Indians feel about the tigers, and what we must as a nation do to save them, and below are some points.

1. To start with, lets us invoke a passion, a sense of belonging and pride in every Indian towards every thing that is NATIONAL, be it Animal, sport, anthem, song, or Flag et al. And this would come from education and awareness. Now this awareness should not be something similar to what we have done in making this nation literate, where literacy means to be able to sign your own name. But this awareness and passion has be kindled in every kid, rekindled in every adult, so much so that this pride feeling about Tigers gets embedded in their hearts, and printed on their brains.

2. Billion plus people to a handful of tigers! What a proportion! Now we don't need the tyrants (poachers and smugglers), what we need is efficient and sincere policing, and fast track courts to nab the guilty and then capital punishment to the criminals. Death Penalty would set a good example of how an Indian feels towards protecting its fauna, and would be a deterrent to an extent.

3. A serious attempt from both entrepreneurs and corporates to commercialise the TIGERS, be it in form of souvenirs, wearable, mascots, or anything.
There are only 4 dolphins at the Sentosa Island Dolphin Lagoon, Singapore, but half the world knows their name! why? because they are commercialised in form of everything that can be sold, picture postcards to hats to baby shoes. It would be a good idea to run a contest among the top B-Schools to devise a Business Model that is self sustainable, which not only touches one and all in their daily lives, but also generates income, which can be utilised towards the protection.

4. Encroachment of the jungle land is one of the biggest issues, pushing the tigers to their extinction, and needs to be addressed on war footing. The local villagers are to be paid in cash for every cattle that is killed by the tigers so so as to dissuade them from keeping the animosity towards the King himself. They should be educated on how their livelihood depends on the Tigers, and the various jobs / industries created around it. A live example of it is GIR where now the population of the Great Asiatic Lion has been brought to 300s from a mere 20, all because of the support of the local villagers.

5. We all know why the tigers are Killed, don't we? because China is the largest importer of Tiger Bones and skins, where they are used for medicines and what nots. Let us confront China through an international lobby, and force them to stop it immediately. Let us keep all the politics and jargon aside, and the associated slow paced processes and procedures of building a case, and then requesting China to Stop it.... Tell Them to stop it RIGHT NOW. We only live once, and refuse to take this shit, not in our only one life.

It really amazes me when sometimes (in India many times) we all know the root cause of a problem, but fail to address it because either we are scared, or turn a blind eye because it doesn't matter to us, or because of political involvement.
But not now, not any more. We don't have a minute to lose. Let us do every small bit that we as an individual can do, and every big thing as a nation to save our pride, Let us all give the GREAT ROYAL BENGAL its due, and treatment of a King, which it truly deserves, and let's let it rule a billion plus subjects. Let the protection of the KING be our utmost duty, and its enigma enshrined in our hearts.
Let's wake up to see this common dream before it becomes too late, and not when the only place Tiger can be read about is in Blake's Poetry :Tiger Tiger. burning bright, In the forests of the night....

Let us make our best attempt to save tigers, now!