This is serious. This is not a time-pass post for me. First and foremost, please update the R.O.T. (Remember Only Temporarily) registries in your hippocampus. Now, for those, who do not feel like doing a Google search at this moment and above all, are thinking what-the-hell hippocampus is; well, it is the part of brain which stockpiles the short-term memory, in layman’s lingo. I do hope you are adequately gifted to figure out that this post is about the ‘Save Tiger Campaign’ and the numeral, burning in the air akin the devil’s number, 1411. I refer to your short-term memory here because none of us gives a shit about conservation stuff seconds after the ‘advertisement’ video by Aircel, of a cute and helpless cub, who is shown wailing for her mother to come back, is over because you just want to know which movie is going to be aired next. Maybe, she isn’t.
The famed count of 1411 tigers, strictly speaking Royal Bengal Tigers, isn’t so anymore. Yeah, true, it was anyway a loose estimate put up after the monitoring surveys by the Wildlife Institute of India in association with NTCA, Govt. of India. But, my dear it was back in the murky 2008, the year of ominous Mumbai attack. Of course you remember that, don’t you? The ad is powerful; it catches the nerve of our emotions. But, isn’t everything temporary.
At least 127 tigers died in 2008 and 2009. In addition, 11 have been reported dead after the start of 2010. Some taken away by mother nature, some lost their battle with poachers and some thanks to the entity which constitutes ‘us’ and ‘the government’. I’ll come to the role of last group later. The believers in statistics can help me with the result here.
1273.
Still, it is an unauthenticated figure. I cannot tell, maybe no one can. ‘They’ printed 3642 in 2003. ‘They’ advertised it to be 1411 in 2010. At this rate, my kid wouldn’t be able to tell what a tiger was. Whom am I blaming it on, who are ‘they’? This is the time to reverse back a few lines.
The ad. The intention was good. The idea was great. But. It was incomplete. The real deal was never shot. The solution was never aired. Everybody knows and blah-blahs about the government’s fault. Take a note of ours. We, the most intelligent species ever identified to exist in the whole of universe till now, are clueless about what to do.
Seriously, as an adolescent, what can I do? I have no guns to fight the hunters; no authority to make death-laws against the poachers. Even not enough influence and skill to start another campaign. Some ask me to speak up, support them on facebook and twitter; some ask for money. I blog about it; this person questions me how by becoming fan of ‘Save Tiger’ pages and writing blog would tigers in India be saved. I have no answer. At least you won’t be saving a life by questioning others, you asshole.
I don’t have the answers. I am writing this to find the solution myself. I can only know that the government plans to spend $153 million to create new tiger reserves to give the poor endangered species some territory to roam about, another $13 million to give birth to a new ranger force to protect the big cats and what not. Where do I come in the picture? I still don’t have the answer. I concur that I also can give any solution.
On a lighter note, I can surely jot down things that I shouldn’t do:-
• Take it as a joke and make fun pages like ‘Eat Parle-G … don’t eat Tiger … only 1411 left!’ Please, humble request, don’t make a gag out of it.
• I am also not an ‘asshole’ who would resent the idea of joining pages etc. but please don’t just click on the Like button and then head back to your home page in a snap. Try to gather some knowledge which might actually help in the future.
• Blame it all on the government, while stuffing your mouth with a burger, just to carry out a conversation and look informed. Be informed instead; get to know some facts. On a still lighter note, I would like to share this comment I came across online:-
"Send all politicians to the jungle for poachers to finish them off and bring all tigers to the parliament to make some brave decisions!"
• To proclaim that this was the fault of the existing generation that they didn’t do a thing about it. I seriously hope you would be able to deliver something in your time, so that the next generation wouldn’t put the guilt on you!
1273.
I just pray here that by the time you see the period at the end of this sentence, the holy count has not clicked 1272
P.S.:
Please go through the following links to get a feel:-
