By Ashika Thusu, Educator
This masterclass sensitized the audience—mostly 11 years of age—to the astonishing facts of poaching in India and across the world. In her conversation with students, Nayanika Mahtani passionately and firmly put across the disturbing facts of poaching, with a focus on tigers.
The author shared her journey of how she came to write her book, Ambushed. An image from the National Geographic magazine, featuring the eyes of a tiger, moved her to centre her story around the animal. She said, “I was chosen to tell their story,” an instinct which led her to read more about poaching. Her research took her to a tribal community known as Moghiyas.
The Moghiyas get paid a sum of five thousand rupees for poaching the tigers, since they are the world’s best tiger-trackers. However, the poached tiger (or its body parts) are sold for fifteen thousand dollars in the black market by members of organized crime groups. Sadly, wildlife trade continues to flourish, leading to the deaths of more tigers.
The author candidly shared that her first story did not even make it to publication. She realized that she had never seen a tiger firsthand and that was the missing element in her story. The audience was then given a peek into Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, as well as Nayanika’s personal journey of spotting a tiger in its natural habitat. She described in detail a tigress and her three cubs in the Reserve. It was quite apparent in the author’s narrative that she found the experience joyful and humbling.
Over the course of her research, Nayanika reached out to Dr. Dharmendra Khandal, who joined Tiger Watch in 2003, to find solutions that would aid tiger conservation efforts while also assisting the tribal communities in the region. The Moghiyas needed a viable livelihood that could serve as an alternative to tracking tigers. They were offered alternative job opportunities in sewing, handicrafts etc. Improving girls’ access to education also helped the Moghiyas learn the importance of, and find meaning in, saving the tigers.
In Nayanika’s book, the character Satya is the son of a poacher; the story speaks about the relationship between man and nature and the ultimate goal of doing the right thing by the protagonist—Tara.
The students in the session were engrossed and horrified as they learnt more about the plight of the tigers and questioned: why can’t the tigers be free? They understood the consequences of the tiger population getting depleted in an ecosystem, and acknowledged the plight of tribal communities.
This masterclass session awakened a sense of responsibility and awareness among the audience. I walked away feeling grateful that the children had an opportunity to grasp the intricacies of poaching and to understand the importance of saving our national animal.
