Perhaps even today, the tiger walks down to his farmhouse sharp at 4 am, stands with head cocked to one side, roars in defiance and walks off into the dense undergrowth. But Fateh Singh Rathore is out of the hearing range. At 73, this celebrated conservationist couldn’t battle cancer and passed away last week at his residence on the outskirts of Ranthambhore National Park. In his career, Rathore was a forest ranger, a wildlife warden and the field director at Ranthambhore, perhaps the best known of more than 30 tiger preserves in India. Ranthambhore sees more than 60,000 tourists a year, many of whom walk on the trails that Rathore and his staff perhaps culled out.
Some individuals are made to do many amazing things and then there are some who influence others to follow the same path. Rathore belonged to latter category. He did so much for Ranthambhore that the late Prime Minster Rajiv Gandhi called him Mr Ran-thambhore. When all the tigers vanished from the dry deciduous dhonk forest of Aravalli hill ranges it was only in Ranthambhore that the tigers flourished. If we have to give credit for this ac¬hievement, it would be to one man —Fatehji. Despite the immense human pressure and grim climatic conditions of the times, it is a wonder how the tiger survived here. But what seems to be a wonder is actually priceless dedication and tireless hard work. Fatehji relocated 13 villages right from middle of Ranthambhore in 1977. Only a man of vision and foresight could only think of that. Soon after, the tigers started showing themselves to the world.
The life of tigers was a mystery until then. However, Fatehji brought them out and introduced them not only as big cats but individuals with unique personalities — like Padmini tigress, Noon tigress, Ghengis tiger, Lakshmi tigress and many others. His friend Valmik Thapar, who considered him a guru took this forward and documented it in the form of books and films. Under Fatehji his son Goverdhan Singh Rathore started many community betterment initiatives in and around Ranthambhore — like the 60 bed hospital which has more than 90,000 people visiting every year, or the school — Fateh Public School — which aims to provide conservation education to children who are the park’s future local leaders. In addition, 600 biogas plants have been installed to reduce wood pressure from the park.
Which at one point of time was a government duty assigned to him, became a lifelong passion and dedication. Fatheji’s friend Ashutosh Mahadevia joined him later to form the NGO, Tiger Watch. This initiative has an active anti-poaching team which to date has been instrumental in catching around 60 poachers. It runs the poaching community Mogya’s reform programs. In hindsight, Fatehji not only tried to secure the future of tigers but also gave the poachers a direction in life with his witty intelligence and humane approach.
He was the one who got Ranthambhore on the world map and this brought in revenues from tourism. And his journey was interesting too: It kicked off with organising tiger shikar for the Queen of England and concluded by hunting down the shikaris.
