T24 grabs headlines; spurs debate
May
12, 2015: Tiger T24 aka Ustaad
is making headlines from last week eversince it killed a forest guard
Rampal Saini at Ranthambore
National Park
and sparking off a debate to shift the tiger to a zoo.
This
forest-to-zoo debate has angered many tiger and wildlife experts who
feel that the tiger should be left alone in its forest habitat and
that attacks were result of growing human interference. However, when
I spoke to one of the leading tiger experts of the country she said
that she feels that it is dangerous to have a man-eater tiger on the
loose in the forest and it should be shifted to a zoo. If not caged,
there is also the danger of losing loyalty of the forest guards, she
said.
But
other argue that a tiger killed a guard and went away and there are
no evidence of eating the victim. So how can the tiger be branded as
a “man-eater”. They want an independent inquiry as they suspect
that it is the hotel lobby which is influencing the decision of the
forest department. They fear that the news would scare away tourists
and affect their business.
There
is another controversy and debates as to who killed Rampal, becase
T24's son Sultan,
dwelling in the same area, was spotted not far from the scene of
attack. Sultan is also very fearless by nature and also very
aggressive like T24.
 |
| Noor and Sultan at Ranthambore National Park |
If
the forest department is to be believed, this is the fourth killing
of a man by T24.
I had also spotted T24 in 2012 in the middle of a
track which stopped jeeps on both sides of the road.
Again in the
winter of 2013, I saw T24 when he had killed two huge neel
gais
and we clicked pictures of him feasting on his kill.
 |
| T24 lazing on the track in 2012 |
 |
| T24 in 2013 |
According
to media reports, petrified villagers have called upon authorities to
shift T24 to a zoo arguing that this tiger has a tack record of
attacking humans having killed three people so far. The proposal is
pending chief minister's approval I am told.
My
weekend was quite busy, especially on
Friday.
In the morning I
went
to attend the funeral of Suresh Neotia, a man who was an institution
by himself.
 |
| With Suhel Seth at the 21st Author's Afternoon |
At
4 pm
there
was An
Author’s Afternoon
with
Suhel Seth at Taj
Bengal
which
was
organized after a gap of more than three months.
The last Author’s
Afternoon
was
on January 13 with Wendell Rodricks.
 |
| With K Mohanchandran and H.E., Shri Keshari Nath Tripathi |
On Thursday, the Governor of
West Bengal, Shri Keshari Nath Tripathi,
formally
unveiled the Book
Rack at
the Taj
Bengal.
The
Taj
Group
of
Hotels
have
been kind enough to provide the space in Chambers
and
the Tea
Lounge
at
the lobby for the autographed books of the twenty authors featured in
the
Author’s
Afternoon
till
now.
 |
| In front of the Author's Afternoon Book Rack at Taj Chambers |
Suhel Seth was the twenty first guest for the event held on
Friday, May 8.
In
the evening, after the Author’s
Afternoon
event,
there was a book release of Suhel Seth in which, again,
Prabha
Khaitan Foundation
was
associated with the Taj
Bengal.
 |
| With Suhel Seth, Sanjeev and Priti Goenka and Sunita Kumar |
The book was released by Sanjeev Goenka and followed by a session of
conversation
with
Suhel Seth in which he mentioned how Sanjeev Goenka had dared to take
on the state's power utility,
CESC,
against the wishes of his father
and
very successfully transformed this power distribution company into a
power generating company.
 |
| With Konkona Sen |
My
Friday evening was not yet over as I hosted a dinner from 10:30 pm
onwards
for
the cast and crew of Kadambari
at
the
Taj Bengal.
I
am staying put in Kolkata for a long time without
travelling
for almost a week, although there is an emergency
meeting
of the Members
of
the Executive Commitee (ExCo)
of
the Indian
Federation of the United Nations Association
(IFUNA)
in
Delhi today evening.
 |
| With Sujoy Ghosh, Aparna Sen, Kalyan Sen and Konkona Sen |
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bee
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