Shikari

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The Saheb Shikari

In her autobiography, Princess, Vijayraje Scindia writes about how hunting was an 'exercise in vanity' for the royals. "It was vanity of the times that the man who shot the biggest tiger attained eminence that could not be matched by the recipient of a Nobel prize... When my father-in-law Madhavrao was studying, masterji set up a new school in the shooting preserve of Sussera, so that from the windows of his classroom, Madhavrao could select the black buck which he would shoot for dinner."

There was a time, when Lord Hardinge declared himself the 'Biggest amongst all Lords' for hunting a tiger 11 feet by 6 inches near Gwalior. Says Begum of Rampur, Noor Bano: "The tradition of shikar was part of our lives. Often, I went shooting with my husband, the Nawab of Rampur. For us, shikar was a sport. I know so many royal women, who would go for shikar. There were rules: we couldn't kill a female or a young one. We never went for shikar during the mating season. Those were fun days and shikar was just a sport."

Sporty Machismo

Says wildlife conservationist Mike Pandey: "Hunting is a sign of being the macho man. Or else why would Bollywood actors like Salman Khan and Saif Ali Khan go hunting for endangered black bucks? It's a sport that makes them feel empowered. If 'Tiger' Pataudi was a real tiger, why doesn't he fight these animals face-to-face without any weapons? Men hunt to pamper their ego, to feel powerful, it makes them feel special when they indulge in the forbidden and get away with it. Men hunted in the stone age for basic survival, it's different now...it's just a sport. It surprises me, why would educated people hunt in this day and age." Maneka Gandhi agrees: "Hunting is something bored people do."

Says actor Arshad Warsi, "Boys will always be boys. Hunting is a 'man' thing. There's risk and excitement."

Basic Instinct

Says Jagdeep Inder Singh, former hunter-turned-conservationist near Corbett: "When I was young, everyone I knew was hunting. After the 1972 Wildlife Protection Act, hunters turned more commercial. They still hunted. I gave up hunting, because I felt sorry for the animals." That's something activist Valmik Thapar agrees, "It's crazy that at a time, when our forests and wildlife are under threat, people are trying to show off their macho power."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/arti ... 135076.cms

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