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Requiem for a royal star
NEW DELHI: India’s most iconic and endearing big cat, Machhli, died of old age at Ranthambore on Thursday. The face of India’s tiger conservation programme, she was the world’s oldest surviving tigress in the wild at 19. She was given her name by late field director Shri Fateh Singh Rathore as her mother had a fish-like design on her face and ‘Machhli’ means fish. Machhli turned into an adult at the turn of the 21st century and her very best years were spent guarding prime areas below the Ranthambore Fort and around a series of three lakes.
Centred in the area is the Rajbagh Palace, where kings and queens in times gone by lived.
This summer palace became a citadel for her till 2011.
It was her primary day shelter from where she looked out from Mughal arches and chatris at the ramparts of the fort and watched crocodiles glide by and deer graze below. This was the splendid setting in which she lived.
The turn of the century was a difficult moment and poachers were rampant across western and central India. By 2004, Sariska tiger reserve had lost all its tigers due to poaching and Ranthambore half for the same reason.
Machhli survived this crisis and her remarkable reproductive success regenerated the tiger population.
How she managed this feat, I will never know but what she gave back to Rant ham bore at a critical moment of time can never be forgotten.
Till 2012, all her male and female cubs grew to adulthood and started their own families that renewed Ranthambore’s success story. She was directly responsible with her sons, daughters and grandchildren for bouncing Ranthambore’s tiger population by at least 16.
She was also a master predator and left a huge impact in the annals of the natural history of wild tigers. She was the first tigress in the world to attack a 12-foot crocodile that was edging towards her prey and cubs.
The battle lasted an hour and revealed her incredible devotion to her cubs. She ripped the crocodile apart.
She slowly became the star of endless BBC films that were broadcast to millions across the world. There is no other tigress that provided such an education on the big cat’s natural history as she did.
A true campaigner for tiger rights, she ruled the lakes of Ranthambore with an iron fist and tolerated no intrusions. Even big male tigers bore the brunt of her anger and the respect she commanded was legendary.
But slowly age takes a toll and as she crossed the age of 12 her canines were worn out and one of them was broken. She handed her prime territory to her daughters, who over the years fought for the area, while she vanished many kilo metres away to lead the last years of her life.
Machhli from my records was the longest-living wild tigress in the world and when she died on the morning of August 18, she left behind a void.
I celebrate her life for what she accomplished over nearly 20 years that few humans could ever do.
No scientist, conservationist, NGO or forest department has ever contributed to Ranthambore and its success like Machhli.
I was privileged and fortunate to have spent many years following her footsteps and understanding the intricacies of her life and her passing is like losing someone who is really close to you.
Yes, I am emotional about tigers and humanise them. When you are with them, you share long periods of time and emotion as endless encounters unfold before your very eyes, be it the devotion of the mother, the hunting prowess, the warmth and love that are generated for the cubs and the ability to defend your turf — and the connect is not just deep but beyond definition.
Even as I write this piece on the day she died, I am moved to tears at her grace and elegance and amazing good nature especially with the hordes of human observers that followed her life for so many years.
She was never aggressive even to the most intrusive of visitors. I know many that will miss her sorely.
What have I learnt from Machhli’s life? Tigers like Machhli walk on the richest land in India full of nature’s treasures and this includes a wealth of trees and living organisms and endless reservoirs of water that are all irreplaceable. It is this land of the tiger that therefore sustains any quality of life for all humans. Let’s learn to protect it and sustain it for future generations.
These are the areas that inspire, these are the areas that will be providers for the future. New and innovative partnerships that defend these tiger turfs are vital. With the passing of Machhli, an era has ended but what we need is a new thinking in both politician and bureaucrat.
A way forward that respects both tigers and people and where governments learn how to be wise and partner the non- governmental sector with trust and respect. After 40 years of serving wild tigers I am still waiting for this to happen and my fingers are crossed that somewhere the magic of tigers like Machhli will create innovative interventions that secure the tiger’s future.