In around 2017 I happened one sultry day to be under a mango tree with a friend and project colleague, Manya. We were waiting for something...
In around 2017 I happened one sultry day to be under a mango tree with a friend and project colleague, Manya. We were waiting for something or the other off a highway overlooking trucks driving into the distance. We had time to kill and, while casually conversing, Manya suggested we draft a proposal for a new conservation project. “Which animal has the least conflict with us and is bothered the most by us?”, she wondered.
I began drawing small triangles on my notepad. Sketching symmetrical shapes is to my mind a bit like encountering stray dogs and cats and birds and reptiles, it accelerates activity in my normally dormant brain cells.
“Well, elephants raid farms...so do many others...wild boar, monkeys, deer...basically all herbivores. Tigers and leopards attack cattle, sometimes even people. Only the smaller mammals are not in regular conflict with us...even though we’re harassing the life out of all of them, like the Indian state with us...or like some Indian men with most Indian women maybe...?” I could have been looking to her like a randomly ruminating ruminant.
