Life in the wild: How it all began

The Sahyadris boast a splendid milieu of landscapes; an amalgamation of spectacular mountain peaks, thirst quenching rives, picturesque waterfalls and serene woods. Not only does it house rare and endemic flora and fauna, it provides the much needed escape to drab city-dweller. To find an opportunity to spend a substantial amount of time here is an incredibly humbling feeling. After spending one night in Karad, we visited Chandoli National Park, the next day, where my team had already been staying for about two weeks. Our project study site was  the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve which is formed by combining two important protected areas in western Maharashtra - the Chandoli National Park and Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary. The next morning was reconnaissance survey time or as we call it recce time. We had a month to complete it. My team had already completed surveying one of the ranges and we had four more to survey. We spent two nights at Chandoli range and then visited Koyna range for our nex...

It all started towards the end of the year 2016 when I volunteered to join a team that was undertaking a primate census in Hollongapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary of Assam in India. The census was coordinated by Dr Narayan Sharma of Cotton University. I felt exceptionally enthusiastic during the primate surveys because within weeks, I was about to begin a new phase of my research career at the prestigious Wildlife Institute of India. Just about 6-8 weeks prior to the census, I had attended an interview to join the wildlife institute as a junior research fellow. This was a time when the Indian Prime Minister had announced demonetization and as common citizens we were all struggling to exchange our cash from the banks. I remember I had gone to a bank on the day of the interview, it was a hustle at the bank. I somehow managed to attend a telephonic interview with the project PI who is now my PhD supervisor. After a few days of the interview, sitting on a bus en route Gauhati University, I c...