Conservation Conundrum

Like to walk through one of the hathivanas (elephant forests) maintained by Mauryan king Chandragupta? Wish to be part of the royal dinner of a Mughal Emperor, with the palate containing a variety of forty meat dishes? Desirous of having a glimpse of the head on the shield and full-mount trophies of tigers and lions, decorating the halls and walls of the military lounges, lavish palaces and royal houses of the British Raj? Conservation Conundrum - Journey of India’s wildlife through ages is a pen-picture of the glory and good times, the trials and tribulations, persecution and perturbation of the country’s wild animals in its recorded history. 


The author has captured the theme through a historian’s kaleidoscope, where from a period of plenty in the ancient India, animal numbers plummeted to its lowest, when the country was into its first two decades of independence. From a situation of no-hope, how most of the iconic wildlife species registered a turn around and smart recovery in a span of half a century, despite the odds working against them forms the central thread. The author takes the reader through the pages in finding an answer to the usual dilemma, as to whether it is human need and interest or the future of the wild denizens that is important to a developing nation like India.