The Jungle: An interesting home
Home is a warm little enclosure with families and loved ones and made beautiful with cozy furniture, cushions, and rugs. More than half of the world’s species live in the jungle and think of the wide area of greenery as ‘home’. It is a fascinating place, but it is very difficult to make your way around one comfortably and with ease. If many children in India suddenly decided to become forest explorers, they would not have to travel too far away from home to become one – India has some amazing jungles and wildlife! So what makes this place a natural ‘home’ for little organisms and plants surviving in it?
The forest floor is more like an extensive covering of insects that are adaptable to all kinds of diets and anything that falls there or dies is easily consumed by them, like ants ( one of the coolest, most hardworking insects ever )! The pheasants, fowls and other ( relatively harmless ) animals are always busy and active in staying away from predators, so they are, in effect, a lot like working people who you never really find at home. Except at night, when they return to their habitats to rest for another active day ahead of them.
Citizens of jungle
The most important member of the Indian forest, the tiger, is a solitary and grave creature. They come together only to mate or to share their kill. Daytime heat makes them less active, and they are more energetic and busy during the night. However, how many of us know that tigers are also really conscious of their personal hygiene and spend considerable time grooming themselves? Their sharp tongues help them clean dirt off their gleaming coats. The tongues also moisturize their coats and help keep it in good condition. They are extremely territorial, too, and will constantly monitor their spaces to keep unwanted elements away. Do the grooming and patrolling remind you of someone you know?
Once we think about it, the forest, with its swinging lianas ( now that’s an advantage the forest has over our home ) and its diverse wildlife is not really very different from people and places we meet and greet daily. To the true citizen of the world, the grasslands are as much ‘home’ as the warm space in which our families live.
Born and brought up in New Delhi, it was Sharad’s childhood passion to play cricket for India. While on a holiday in 1990, he saw his first tiger. Little did he know that this one sighting would immerse him into a realm where forests and tigers were all that mattered.
Sharad’s experiences as a wildlife photographer have inspired him to observe the tiger’s behavior for over 30 years and motivated him on his own journey as an entrepreneur. He started Nature Safari India Pvt Ltd, with a focus on “Conservation through Tourism.” to align himself to the mission of saving the regal species and repopulating them in India’s forests. In 2006, he set up one of India’s premier jungle lodges in Kanha National Park.
Sharad believes that there are many lessons to be learned from a tiger that can be applied successfully to leadership—both in business and in life. Here’s a new book by Sharad Vats on management and leadership skills to learn from a Tiger.
