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Hindustan Times
01-07-2025
- Hindustan Times
Ten lessons I learned from Kaziranga
The origin of the word 'safari' lies in Kiswahili, which built upon 'safar', the Arabic word for travel. For a late riser like me, who hasn't seen sunrises for many years, it can equate to 'suffer' too. Still, Aditya, armed with his cameras, and me with my SPF50, decided to do all the five ranges of Kaziranga National Park. We had three days to spot elephant herds, hornbills with their magnificent beak-dos and of course, rhinos — bouncers ready with their horns to topple your jeep. It's no wonder that they'd like to do that. Unbridled poaching for the rhino's horn is what resulted in Kaziranga being declared a sanctuary in the mid-1900s. A magnificent rhinoceros in Kaziranga National Park (Shutterstock) From the very first morning, as we rode on an elephant's back, it turned out to be a 'safar' of lessons. Nothing quite puts human superiority in perspective like having to cling onto an elephant's back while it nonchalantly swats away branches that could easily knock you into next week. Through Kaziranga on elephant back. (Shutterstock) The first lesson learnt - Animals are not #soulsearching in the forest like you are, they are searching for food. Here are the other life lessons: Be Thick Skinned A rhino and her baby, not caring about the herds of hog and swamp deer, the two wild boars grazing nearby or our jeep inching closer, kept munching on grass, cuddling, and playing. The baby took a power nap. The mama didn't even give those of us in the jeep, who had stopped breathing, a cursory glance, let alone ask our 'good name'. Lesson: Let watchers watch and talkers talk. Being thick skinned is not just important for your survival, but for your sanity too. Family is not about who you look like, but who you look out for: As an elephant family emerged from the grass, we saw how the ladies were not only protecting the little ones, but also a pregnant member. Who would dare take panga with them? Not even the burning bright tigers. Hornbills (Shutterstock) Grass can be taller than elephants! Oh yes, the vast swathes of 'elephant grass' can swallow the mammoths like you get swallowed by the Black Hole of Insta reels. Strength Lies in Differences, not Similarities: This Brahmaputra valley floodplain with its tall grasses, deciduous forests, shallow pools with reeds and semi-evergreen woods makes Kaziranga a beauty to behold and one of the finest wildlife refuges in the world. Four major rivers criss-cross it. What gave it a UNESCO World Heritage status was not just the largest remaining population of one-horned rhinos, but the variety in landscape that makes it worth saving. Be Fashionably Late: The Big Five of Kaziranga are the one-horned rhino, the Asian elephant, swamp deer aka barasingha (12-points in antlers), wild water buffalo and the Royal Bengal tiger. While we were able to spot the first four biggies, the last one made us wait and wait. And wait. We satisfied ourselves with vultures perched at a distance, a greater adjutant standing like a Gulliver of Lilliputian birds, a great Indian hornbill with a helmet like casque feeding his wife sealed inside a tree hole (an Anarkali buried Mughal-e-Azam style). While all this was supremely fascinating, we still craved for a tiger that never showed. Lesson: Make a grand entry only when the audience is truly desperate, or better, don't show up at all. Size Doesn't Matter: The way egrets ride a rhino's back and keep pecking on it for delicious tics cements your belief that the world is ruled by brains not brawn, not even a 'dhai kilo ka haath'. It's Never Late for a Comeback: On a speaker's bus ride from the venue at a recent lit fest in Bangalore, a translator casually asked me — why don't you environmentalist types let the tiger become extinct if that's what nature has prescribed? I learnt within the next 10 minutes that said translator didn't have the same practical approach of natural selection for cats and dogs — she houses not dozens but hundreds of them at home! Witnessing the rebounding population of the once-endangered one-horned rhino, you understand that it's never too late for a comeback — in nature or in life — despite what polite society may tell you. When it Floods, Float: The gorgeous sand banks of the Bhramaputra are a reminder that destruction is the beginning of new growth. Kaziranga floods every year. The animals don't panic — they adapt. Rhinos swim. Elephants climb. Birds rise. It's chaos and choreography all at once. Once the flood waters recede, they return to a rejuvenating forest. Nature doesn't resist the flood. It rides it. Tiger tiger burning bright (Shutterstock) You are not as cool as you thought: The realisation comes when you see Hoolock gibbons do pull ups, chin ups, toes-to-bar and dead hangs before they even contemplate having a bite of an energy bar of insects or fruits. The most exciting encounter of our was with Hoolock gibbons; one of the rarest sightings. Kaziranga is the last stronghold of not just the rhinos but also the only ape found in India. These small apes (6 to 9kgs) are arboreal. They need contiguous forests to live in, as they swing and travel from branch to branch with hands longer than legs. The tea plantations, towns, fields, highways, mining and other human demands are fragmenting gibbon homes. All of it implies that we are totally uncool. Last Lesson: Tarzan is not the main character in a forest, he is just an ape in diapers. And so are all of us — glorified apes in designer underwear who believe in ghosts and angels. Once we returned to Mumbai, where the trains are so spacious you can always fit one more person (horizontally!) we showed the Hoolock gibbon pics to friends. The gibbons have sexual dimorphism ie they are dissimilar in appearance — the males are jet black with two prominent white eyebrows and the females are light brown. The most stunning of the animal kingdom are males. In response to this statement, a friend who couldn't tell the sexes apart, stated that the brown one must be the male — because it was 'fair'! Before I could react to this 'matrimonial ad' analysis, the last lesson from the Kaziranga trip flashed in my mind — we are the ones who need saving, not the wild. Arefa Tehsin is ex-Honorary Wildlife Warden, Udaipur and author most recently of The Witch in the Peepul Tree.
India.com
16-06-2025
- India.com
From Jim Corbett To Periyar – Which Indian Wildlife Park is Right For Your Next Adventure?
India is home to many wildlife parks and each one offers a different kind of experience. If you love nature animals and peace then visiting a wildlife park can be your perfect next trip. Some parks are full of tigers others have calm lakes and bird sounds. Some are in the deep forest, while some sit near hills and rivers. So how do you pick the best one for your next adventure? This guide will help you know more about the top parks in India, from Jim Corbett to Periyar. Jim Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand Jim Corbett National Park Jim Corbett is the oldest national park in India. It is in the state of Uttarakhand and known mostly for Bengal tigers The park is spread across rivers forests and grasslands, which makes it great for a jeep safari. You may spot tigers elephants deer and many birds here. The Dhikala zone is very popular and offers forest rest houses for a unique stay. The best time to visit is between November and June Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan Ranthambore National Park Ranthambore is one of the best places in India to see tigers in their natural home. It is located in Rajasthan and has old ruins and forts inside the forest which make the trip more interesting. You can also spot leopards crocodiles and birds. A safari ride through Ranthambore is both thrilling and peaceful. The best time to go is between October and April Bandhavgarh National Park, Madhya Pradesh Bandhavgarh National Park Bandhavgarh is a small park but has one of the highest numbers of tigers in India. It is in Madhya Pradesh and surrounded by hills caves and thick trees Apart from tigers you can also see wild boars sloth bears and barking deer. It is a good park for wildlife photography and is best visited from October to June. Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh Kanha National Park Kanha is also in Madhya Pradesh and is known for the rare barasingha or swamp deer It is also believed to be the place that inspired the Jungle Book story Kanha has wide open meadows peaceful bamboo forests and good roads for safaris. The park is very clean and well managed which adds to the charm. November to June is a great time to visit Kaziranga National Park, Assam Kaziranga National Park Kaziranga is a UNESCO World Heritage site and famous for the one horned rhinoceros. It is in Assam and has rivers swamps and elephant grasslands. You can also spot wild elephants water buffaloes and many birds. Elephant safaris are also offered here which gives a new way to explore the park. The best season to visit is from November to April. Sundarbans National Park, West Bengal Sundarbans National Park If you want a mix of adventure and mystery Sundarbans is the place It is the biggest mangrove forest in the world and home to the Royal Bengal tiger. You will not take jeep rides here but boats which move slowly through narrow water paths. You may also see crocodiles water monitor lizards and dolphins. It is a different and exciting way to enjoy nature. December to March is the best time to go. Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary Periyar is in Kerala and known for its calm lake and thick green forests. You can enjoy boat rides on the lake and see elephants wild pigs and birds coming to drink water. It is not just about tigers but more about calm nature and quiet time. The weather here stays nice for most of the year but September to April is the best time. Which Park Should You Choose? If you want a tiger sighting go for Bandhavgarh or Ranthambore. If you enjoy forest walks and boat rides, Periyar is perfect For rhinos Kaziranga is the best pick. For a peaceful hill trip with wildlife Corbett is a good choice. Sundarbans is ideal for a boat based wildlife adventure Final Tips for Your Wildlife Trip Always book safaris in advance and try to go for morning rides as animals are more active then. Wear earthy-colored clothes and stay silent in the forest. Carry binoculars a water bottle and a good camera. Respect the rules of the park and never feed or tease animals. Every wildlife park in India has its own magic. Whether you are going for the first time or love forest trips there is always a new adventure waiting. So pick your park pack your bags and get ready to fall in love with wild India.
Time of India
10-06-2025
- General
- Time of India
Tigress gives birth to cubs in Mysuru zoo
Mysuru: After a lull of three years, a tigresses, Tara gave birth to five cubs at the Mysuru zoo. While two cubs died, the rest are healthy. The mother tiger and her three cubs are being closely monitored through surveillance cameras, said zoo authorities. Tara gave birth to the cubs on May 30. These new births comes close to the episode of a giraffe giving birth to a calf at the facility a few months earlier. The zoo staff claim the Royal Bengal tigers at the Mysuru facility are part of a successful conservation breeding programme, adding another feather to its cap as the facility successfully breeds tigers at regular intervals. The facility maintains good standards of care and provides balanced nutrition to ensure the tigers remain healthy. This has resulted in successful breeding of the the big cat. There are challenges in captive breeding, with mortality rates higher during ex-situ births. Cubs born in zoos require intensive care and monitoring. Maternal rejection and genetic abnormalities are some of the reasons for mortality, sources said. KN Rangaswamy, executive director of Mysuru zoo, said that this is not the first time birth mortality, which is common, has happened during ex-situ births. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Las Golondrinas: Calcule cuánto podría ganar invirtiendo en Amazon CFD Empezar ahora Subscríbete Undo Tigress Tara, a mother who has earlier bred three times, gave birth to five cubs. Of them, two died, and the remaining three are healthy. Measures have been taken to ensure the mother big cat is not disturbed and has been quarantined. The last time a tiger cub was born in the zoo was three years ago. The zoo has three tigresses. The Mysuru zoo houses seven magnificent Bengal tigers, which are kept in separate enclosures. Tigers at Mysuru zoo are displayed on a rotational basis to keep them healthy and calm.
Los Angeles Times
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
‘Life of Pi' roars to life at Segerstrom
When Richard Parker slinks into the room, it is difficult not to catch your breath. The Royal Bengal tiger puppet is the star of the stage production of 'Life of Pi' and the puppeteers who operate him — Aaron Haskell, Anna Vomacka and Anna Leigh Gortner — have mastered the feline form. They move the 35-pound puppet with realistic movements and sounds that mimic a real tiger, making you wonder how safe you are when he breathes into your lap. 'We really try not to Disney-fy the animals,' said Taha Mandviwala, who plays the role of Pi in the production. 'We want to give them the physics that animals have, that sense of ferocity, that sense of weight, the sense that this thing has the capacity to kill at any moment.' Showing at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa now through June 15, 'Life of Pi' is based on the 2001 novel by Yann Martel of the same name, adapted for the stage by Lolita Chakrabarti. The story follows 16-year-old Pi who gets shipwrecked in the middle of the Pacific Ocean when the boat carrying his family and the animals in their zoo from India to Canada sinks. Stuck on a lifeboat for 227 days, he is joined by a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a tiger named Richard Parker. The animals play key roles in the storytelling and besides Richard Parker, the touring cast and creative team brings an entire zoo to life using the captivating puppets. Following the opening night of the production on June 3, Segerstrom hosted a demonstration of the tiger puppet the next day at the Judy Morr Theater where the famous kitty purred and chuffed at a nervous crowd. Movement director and puppeteer Betsy Rosen and John Hoche, associate puppetry & movement director for 'Life of Pi' U.S., joined Haskell, Vomacka and Gortner for the demo along with Mandviwala. The production is a decorated one, with three Tony Awards, the Olivier Award for Best Play and Hoche noted, the 2022 Best Supporting Actor award for a group of puppeteers' portrayal of Richard Parker. 'That means not only was a tiger nominated for an award, but a puppet was also nominated for this award and the team of puppeteers that brought Richard Parker to life were all nominated,' said Hoche. 'The incredible thing is they won, so that is a huge step forward for understanding and appreciating the art form of puppetry.' Operating the tiger puppet is a task that requires skill and finesse from three players, who each operate the head, the heart and hind quarters of the animal. Haskell, Vomacka and Gortner operate the tiger during about three of the eight weekly shows, since the role is quite physically demanding. The head puppeteer operates the head and cage of the animal, or the ribs, via a handle on the spine. 'Their primary objective is to keep the head active, there are ear triggers and a jaw trigger there,' said Rosen. The heart puppeteer manipulates the front paws of the tiger and creates breath within the tiger while the hind puppeteer operates the back paws and tail, maintaining the gait and walk of the tiger and using the tail to express emotion. 'I find a lot of personality in the tail,' said Gortner. 'Just like any animal, when Richard Parker is scared, his tail will tuck. If he is feeling aggressive or angry, it will lift. If he is hungry, it might wag a bit.' Sounds the tiger makes also signal emotion. 'All three puppeteers are mic'd live which means we are making all of the sounds live, and that goes for all of the puppets in the show,' said Rosen. Mandviwala said acting with a puppet has two sides to it. 'One side is very technical and one side is artistic. On an artistic level, you are acting alongside a puppet, you really need to treat it completely in the same way you would treat working with another actor,' said Mandviwala. 'On a technical level of acting with it, you also have to keep a lookout for your fellow coworkers, the puppeteers in the boat.' While Mandviwala and the other actors are very aware of the puppeteers, the audience is less so, especially as the story goes on. It seems we notice them less and less as our imaginations take us through the story. The amount of emotion Haskell, Vomacka and Gortner evoke from the audience with a puppet is incredible. As a viewer, you are aware you are not really seeing a goat get eaten by a tiger for example, yet the crowd gasps and grimaces as if they are. 'A teacher told me once that the audience, just like you, came here with your imagination open,' said Haskell. 'You wanted to see something good and see something come to life and so a lot of that is on us to make sure you stay in that imagination. You want to believe, we allow you to believe and we make you continue to believe.' Rosen said the team achieves this partly by hiding in plain sight. 'We are not trying to disappear completely, we are not dressed in all black,' said Rosen. 'I think there is this mentality and physicality of serving this greater overall character, that we are all doing at the same time and we recede into the background, in service of bringing this other character to life.' Haskell said three puppeteers all pay attention to each other, while also all jointly focusing on the tiger's view point, which helps them become the puppet. 'One of the major ways we do that is our focus into the puppet. We use a lot of our peripheral vision because we want you to see our focus is on the head, which psychologically somehow really does make the audience also go there with you,' said Haskell. Vomacka and Gortner both said maintaining healthy habits and exercise routines, like yoga and gymnastics, help them keep up with the physically demanding work of crouching inside the puppet for a two-hour show. 'Humans are incredible,' said Vomacka. 'You put a challenge in front of us, we train for it and we acclimate.' Hoche said that while the show's puppeteers demonstrate great skill and talent, their passion is one born from storytelling play, something everyone in the audience can relate to. 'Everyone at some point in your life has played with a doll or played with an action figure or made a stick come to life,' said Hoche. 'Everyone is a puppeteer.' 'Life of Pi' is showing now at Segerstrom Center for the Arts at 600 Town Center Dr, Costa Mesa through June 15. Tickets, which start at $44.07, are available at
Miami Herald
02-06-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Broward businessman sentenced to 23 years after swindling Haitian investors
A South Florida moving company owner convicted of swindling millions of dollars from thousands of investors — including nurses, school teachers and military veterans — was sentenced to 23 years in prison on Friday in Fort Lauderdale federal court. Sanjay Singh, 45, borrowed hundreds of millions from the mostly working-class investors with promises of paying them double-digit returns and ownership of the trucks in his company, Royal Bengal Logistics Inc. In the end, about 2,000 investors — many of Haitian descent — fell for Singh's sales pitch and lost $54 million in what federal prosecutors described as a 'Ponzi scheme' that warranted 25 years in prison. In November, a 12-person jury unanimously found Royal Bengal's former president guilty of conspiring with other employees, wire fraud and money laundering. On Friday, U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz condemned Singh as a 'huckster' who lied to victims while raising $158 million between 2020 and 2023 for his Coral Springs company. After sentencing him, the judge scheduled a restitution hearing for June 26. A 66-year-old victim wrote a letter filed in court describing how he had to come out of retirement after losing his life savings. 'Mr. Singh, if you are not aware, and just like you, my wife and many others you duped are immigrants who came to the US to further our education and/or seek a better life,' wrote the victim, whose name was redacted. 'You stole our happiness, our retirement, our financial freedom, and our money that we entrusted you with.' 'Lying, lying, lying' At trial, prosecutors Roger Cruz and Robert Moore said Singh stole tens of millions from investors and lied to them about how he spent their money; instead, they said, he used the proceeds to buy a Mercedes, renovate his Coral Springs home and play the stock market as a day trader, squandering millions of the victims' investments. 'He was just lying, lying, lying — gambling in the stock market,' Moore told jurors during closing arguments at trial. 'He knew his company wasn't making any money, and he knew he was lying. ... This was a Titanic. This was a sinking ship.' After Singh was found guilty by the Fort Lauderdale jury in November, the judge allowed him to remain free on a $1 million bond. But the prosecutors urged Leibowitz to cancel his bond based on allegations that he could flee to his native India, especially as he faced potentially decades in prison. They wrote that Singh 'has the means and incentive to flee pending sentencing, and a history of deceiving this Court.' Judge Leibowitz sided with the prosecutors and revoked Singh's bond. Since mid-November, he's been held at a Broward County jail that doubles as a federal-lockup. Singh's assistant federal public defenders, Abigail Becker and Victor Van Dyke, sought a lower sentence at Friday's hearing, to no avail. They portrayed him at trial as a hard-working family man who made mistakes in building his business, but he didn't intentionally mislead anyone, lie to his company's investors or commit fraud. 'It's a story of a man who grew his business from zero trucks to 200 trucks with revenue of $18 million in three years,' Van Dyke told jurors, arguing Singh didn't live lavishly. 'This case is about trucks, not Ferraris.' In a separate Securities and Exchange Commission civil complaint, Singh and his company were accused of fraudulently raising money from investors through unregistered securities and related anti-fraud violations. As a result of the enforcement action, Singh lost control of his company in June 2023. A federal judge froze Singh's and the firm's assets, including bank accounts and real estate, and appointed the Fort Lauderdale law firm Tripp Scott as Royal Bengal's receiver to work on recovering money for investors. Many of them invested between $25,000 and $250,000 in Singh's company. In South Florida, such cases are increasingly common. For decades, the region has been known as the nation's con capital for its healthcare, income-tax and credit-card scams — not to mention high-end Ponzi schemes orchestrated by such notorious figures as the late Wall Street financier Bernard Madoff and disbarred Fort Lauderdale lawyer Scott Rothstein. Preying on Haitian Americans But South Florida has also become home to 'affinity fraud,' authorities say, where investment schemers prey on unsuspecting immigrants and other minorities who tend to trust the perpetrators because they either know them or someone else who vouches for them. The Haitian-American community has been hit particularly hard, but so have immigrants from Cuba, Colombia and Venezuela. In the Singh case, the former head of Royal Bengal was accused of conspiring with other employees, including Haitian Americans, to offer high-yield investments, promising mostly working-class people in the Haitian diaspora to use their money to expand operations and increase the company's fleet to 200 semi-trucks and trailers, as well as build a maintenance facility in Lubbock, Texas. Singh assured investors that his company was generating $650,000 to $1 million a month in revenue between 2019 and 2023 — and that their investments were safe and growing in value, according to court records and the FBI. During a November 2022 investor Zoom video conference, Singh boasted that Royal Bengal was a better company than Apple and Tesla. 'Better than Tesla' 'The fundamentals of this business can be trusted,' Singh said during the presentation. 'So let's move on from the point of view that [Royal] Bengal may last one day, two days — this is not Bitcoin. Our product is better than Apple. Our product is better than Tesla. You buy Apple, you buy Tesla, you start spending money. You buy [a] Royal Bengal [investment] contract, you start making money.' SEC investigators said Singh and Royal Bengal used tens of millions of dollars of new investors' funds to make Ponzi-like payments to old investors — until the purported business model collapsed due to operating losses of $18 million since 2019. The SEC complaint named Singh and his former company itself as defendants. Also, Singh's wife, Sheetal, and Constantina Celicourt, the spouse of the firm's former vice president of business development, were named as relief defendants. (Her husband, Ricardi Celicourt, who public records show was a Royal Bengal executive, was not named in the SEC lawsuit.) Singh's wife, Sheetal, and Constantina Celicourt were not charged with any wrongdoing, but the SEC sued them to collect proceeds that authorities say they received from Singh's alleged Ponzi scheme. If the SEC and federal prosecutors prevail in their parallel cases, it is likely that Singh, his company, his wife, and Celicourt will be required to pay back the money they're accused of stealing from the Haitian-American investors and other victims of the investment scam. After his conviction in November, Singh informed the SEC in Miami that he and his wife wanted to settle the agency's claims, SEC trial lawyer Russell O'Brien wrote in a court filing last month. Now that Singh has been sentenced, the next step is to meet with the couple to finalize the terms of any settlement, O'Brien said.
