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Big Cats – The most ambassadorial and most beloved of all the species. Sadly, they are listed as Threatened or Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, with the tiger like Machli (T 16) here from Ranthambhore, categorized as Endangered.
They are not just the apex predators, they are the individuals – the essence. Come, let us rejoice with the ambrosia of their enigmatic legacy on this coming trail of temporality, with all the sincere wishes for 2022…
Download the digital copy from here: One Planet – for the Coming Ones 2022, Series 2
Note: Access the link using your Google account. In case of any error, contact me in the following e-mail ID or phone number (WhatsApp) for the digital copy (absolutely free) —
📧 mahapatrapratik678@gmail.com
📞 +91 7602157355
"In Memoriam," the tribute to Amitabha Guha, rendered by Dipanwita Rakshit
A JOURNEY was eventually commenced last year in the month of December to be evergreen in its flow. As far as I can remember, it took as many as eleven sittings to complete the first series of One Planet – for the Coming Ones. Meant to be the beholder of the essence of Amitabha Guha, our beloved Ujaan Pathik (the Upstream Voyager), One Planet rendered itself to be unique in its first appearance by incorporating holistically almost all the environmental days and weeks, supplemented by the information on special environmental years and decades as well. This time, however, the weaving of the series turned out to be completed within a conspicuous range of five sittings.
Destined to incorporate a number of conservation-based themes and ethos, this year's rendering of the series is essentially oriented on the lives of some of the legendary big cats from the Indian subcontinent, as well as from several African provinces – the iconic tigers, lions, leopards and cheetahs. The theme, being close to my heart, tremendously inspired me right from the beginning of executing the deed. At the very outset, it should be said that there is indeed a galaxy of big cat characters, who, in their own rights, are the deserving individuals to be featured in the worthy projection. Keeping the stipulation of the format of this calendrical presentation in mind (a 16-page deliberation each year), I decided to entune the saga of sixteen individual big cats as the stars of this series. While the front cover of the presentation resonates with the ethos of Machli (T 16) from Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve in the Indian state of Rajasthan, the epitaphial page (since this is an enhanced memoir) relishes the memories of magnanimous Notch, one of the most successful pride males from the wilderness of Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. Both are indeed the heartthrobs of wildlife enthusiasts and big cat lovers all around the world. I sincerely thank Sandeep Aggarwal and my old friend Rich Smith for the respective shots of the front and the back cover of the projection which you may eventually find out from the aforementioned link.
The first one of the twelve core pages, which represent the twelve months of the year, proudly resonates the ambrosia of Ustad (T 24) from Ranthambhore, perhaps the most debated male tigers of an Indian Tiger Reserve and whose mentions are now to be figured out in orientations of some conscientiously concerned activists. Nilanjan Roy Chowdhury, being a regular visitor of Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, has closely followed the rise and fall of Ustad ever since he was a small cub back in 2005. Personally, it is a great feeling for me to incorporate his shot over here in this presentation. The next two pages, respectively, focus on the notorious and Satanic Mapogo Coalition of male lions from Sabi Sand National Park in South Africa, and Kamli (T 11) the tigress from Sanjay-Dubari Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh. I rendered an enhanced article on Kamli this year on International Tiger Day in my blog The Wild Tales: Secrets of Sylvan Eyes. Jairaj Singh Parihar turned out to be the person who thoroughly guided me about all contextual information about Kamli. Thanks again to him for extending his solidarity again in terms of sharing one of his clicks of Kamli, the real survivor. However, the shot of Mapogos is from a website of Pembury Tours (reusing permitted).
In all these months of conspicuously concentrating on the series review of Big Cat Diary over there in The Wild Tales, one person from the core of this massive endeavour turned out to be the most desired beacon of inspiration – Jonathan Scott, who himself was one of the presenters of the series. Earnest thanks to him and Angela Scott, whose spell bounding frames have been enchanting me ever since I started to be engrossed in this domain of wildlife and conservation as an enthusiast. Three of the cats of Mara, who happened to be the essential part of their life, are here in this series of One Planet – Half-Tail and Zawadi (who is rather known as Shadow for Big Cat Diary audience), the iconic leopards and Kike the cheetah, the "Mother Courage" of Mara. All are stunning individuals in their own rights, tenacity and tenderness.
We are destined to figure out the representation of Legadima the leopard from Botswana's Okavango Delta, Mataram or Collarwali from Pench Tiger Reserve and Lady Liuwa from Zambia's Liuwa Plains National Park, and Maya the tigress (T 12) from Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra. All of them essentially turned out to be the trendsetters of wildlife conservation. Humbly acknowledging here the contributions of Derek and Baverly Jourbert, Omveer Choudhary, Archive Legend and Legacies (reusing permitted) and Advait Sakhalkar. Furthermore, the parallel contributions of two pioneering pillars – John Varty (JV) from Londolozi Game Reserve in South Africa and Billy Arjan Singh from Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in the Indian state of Uttarakhand taught us the dimensions of rearing big cats and relocating them into the wilderness. The 2022 series of One Planet is embellished with the incorporations of Shingalana the lioness and Harriet the leopard too, highlighting their ethos of resilience. Finally, thanks to Surendra Singh Chouhan for gladly allowing to incorporate his magnanimous frame of Tano Bora, the famous Five Cheetah Boys from the Mara. All the characters indeed made this series of One Planet to be really special! This year, it is more special since through the presentation of each cat, a coherent literary scenario (fictional and non-fictional) is duly captured.
Finally, the mention of the two persons – one happens to be the genesis of this entire endeavour, Dipa Aunty (Dipanwita Rakshit) and Sneha (Sneha Biswas), who set forth the emblematic identity forever. The bridge up that we three had for this series and the last one is truly remarkable!
