Ashish Ravi Joshi
Ph.D., University of New Mexico
Every four years, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate change, conduct a nationwide Tiger Census program. As a part of Public engagement, the Government of India invites volunteers to take part in the initial stages of the census. I was fortunate enough to be selected along with 400 others to be one of the volunteers at the Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Karnataka in December 2013.
The exercise which spanned over a week included carnivore census, herbivore census, and vegetation census. It was here that I experienced the effects of human-animal conflict, the ways of cohabitation, and the alarming effects of global warming and uncontrolled development.
Every morning, armed with nothing but a notepad, I, along with the forest guards, went deep into the jungle. Our job was to look for signs (direct sighting or indirect signs like - pugmarks, scat, droppings, scratch marks, etc.) of diverse wildlife and make a note of it. These notes were to be used later to estimate the population of the herbivores, carnivores, and also the green cover of the vegetation.
For me, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to not only experience the wilderness but also to gain a deeper understanding of the ways of nature.
Now, as a transportation engineer and as a civil engineer, I have made up my mind to try and make a worthwhile contribution towards sustainable development in whichever way possible.
"The forest and I was all there was. In the deep still silence, I could feel the earth's beating heart." - Anon
