Four decades ago, the population of the biggest of India’s famed
big cats – the Royal Bengal tiger had fallen to just 1,800 – a
drastic decline of about 95% since the turn of the century when
there were approximately 30,000 of these in the jungles of the
country. In fact, all the people familiar with the political
conditions unfolding in the sub-continent during these years and
its direct impact on the ecology will hardly be surprised by
this statistic. When the British held their sway over the
region, it was the dream of every servant of the Raj – from the
Viceroy to a lowly bureaucrat to be a part of the renowned, or
should we say, notorious, hunting trips – the favorite pass time
of the English elite, generally organized by the princes, keen
to impress their colonial masters in return of favorable deals
and grander titles. While a number of species including lions,
leopards, cheetahs, antelope and several kinds of birds were
hunted, no other animal was as prized as the stripped feline
whose trophies decora