Thiyagrajan - Born wild: Journeys into the wild hearts of India and Africa

BORN WILD

JOURNEYS INTO THE WILD HEARTS
OF INDIA AND AFRICA

BORN WILD

JOURNEYS INTO THE WILD HEARTS
OF INDIA AND AFRICA

SWATI THIYAGARAJAN

Swati Thiyagarajan, 2017

First published, 2017

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To,
Siddharth Butch,
or uncle Siddharth as I knew him.
Thanks to you I now know that there is a world,
beyond my nose

CONTENTS

IF A tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? This is a book that tells the stories of sounds and sights that most of us never even get close to. It distills over 20 years of dedication to understanding and reporting Nature and the environment. This book may have been a long time coming and, for me, it has been worth the wait.

Swati Thiyagarajan, now our Environment Editor, has been a pioneer in the field of environmental reporting and has steered most of NDTVs initiatives in raising awareness about key issues affecting us today and future generations. She has won numerous national and international awards for her reporting such as the Carl Zeiss award for her reports on tiger conservation. She has also won the Ramnath Goenka award twice for Indias best environmental journalist and her reporting has been instrumental in NDTV winning the Wind beneath my wings award from Sanctuary Asia for Born Wild as well as the Indian television award for the best series on TV. Swati was also the first Indian journalist to be invited to be a judge at the prestigious Wild Screen festival, otherwise known as the Green Oscars.

Swatis strength lies not just in her enormous knowledge and experience of Nature it is her ability to give it a greater context, to analyze it and relate it to the most pressing issues of our times. There is so much to enjoy and to learn in this book from anecdotes and stories from the depths of the wilderness to fascinating backstories and the linkages with the bigger environmental crises that threaten our planet. It is a book about these linkages and it is these linkages that makes this book particularly special.

Born Wild was the first show of its kind on prime time on a news channel. Swati made it possible for NDTV to push the envelope when others thought of environmental reporting as esoteric and arcane. I remember the first episode of Born Wild on Olive Ridleys, the endangered turtles that come to nest in Orissa and die in the thousands as a result of illegal trawling. The impact and the response was huge and we decided regardless of mass viewership levels to continue to focus on similar topics and Born Wild grew into a path-breaking series.

Swati has also helped NDTV launch some of our most popular campaigns such as the Greenathon; Save the Tiger; air pollution in our cities and many more. These projects for many of which Swati was the content editor signal where our priorities truly lie with Indias environmental and conservation challenges, and now the looming threat of climate change. As the first television channel to run such sustained campaigns over many years, NDTV is committed to continuing these regardless of whether market forces agree or not. Several of these campaigns have run live for 24 hours non-stop something not done before by any other television channel and much of it was possible because of Swatis insights.

This book revisits many of Swatis most memorable stories spanning the length and breadth of India and southern Africa brought to life over the years and now with fresh updates and new experiences. I strongly recommend you read Born Wild its an outstanding book from an outstanding environmental journalist.

February 2017
New Delhi

Dr. Prannoy Roy

THEY SAY it takes a village. In my case it took a small chunk of the universe to help me do what I do and write this book. This is the best part, to acknowledge everyone who played a part.

To my family. Dad, you always understood my slightly different drummer and loudly encouraged me to follow my dreams. Mom, through all the zillion wash your hands admonishments, after I had petted yet another snake, dog, lizard, bird, cat, etc., you were baffled but equally supportive of my path. Krishna, thanks to the fact that you stayed the steady, committed one, looking after the family, I had the freedom to do what I wanted.

To Radhika and Prannoy Roy, my bosses, my other parents. Often one is lucky to have a supportive family, then one grows up, leaves the safe world and faces the real world. You made the real world as nurturing, encouraging and loving as being back in my safe world. You made all of the opportunities possible.

To NDTV, my home away from home. How many people are lucky enough to say their first job is still their only job twenty years later? How many are even luckier to say they have loved every single day and have colleagues they respect as friends and family?

To Gargi Rawat. I could not have done Born Wild without you.

Mandakini Malla, Shiva, Pranav Dutt, who helped me put so many of my episodes together. My core team who made work fun every single time.

To Bittu Sehgal, who mentored a young reporter, believed in her, encouraged her and still patiently answers all of the questions.

To the Olsen family, Karen, Jurg, Bianca and Caitlin. You shared your beautiful animal family with me at Jukani.

To Nina Subramani. Much of what you will read were nascent ideas we discussed over so many midnight orange juice sessions.

To Brinda Karat. My Mashi Bri, You made me look beyond just the wild, to the people. Made me understand the crucial distinction between lifestyle and livelihood choices.

To Craig Foster. Before you, I understood the facts of things, but now I see the heart of them.