Life without a mission is not worth living, believes Kamal Morarka, former Union Minister and a well known industrialist. He recently exhibited his wildlife photography collection titled ‘The nature’s trail,’ to create awareness about wildlife conservation. Through this week-long exhibition in the capital he wishes to reach out to maximum number of people, and urge them to do their bit to save the environment.
In 1995 when he first visited the Keoladeo National Park at Bharatpur to see the Siberian cranes that migrate to India from Siberia, he decided to take up photography as a medium to express his ideas on wildlife conservation. He says, “Photography requires a lot of patience, and the passion to save the wildlife kept me hooked to this medium. Today with modern technology and advanced lenses capturing wild creatures is much easy. I first captured Siberian cranes at Bharatpur and had a good experience, later my friend took me to Bandhavgarh and I still remember it was the most enchanting experience.”
Morarka is also the chairman of Sariska Tiger Foundation, which works towards the drive of saving tigers. Speaking about this initiative he says, “We created Sariska Foundation to restore the disappearing tigers to their natural habitat as it was a matter of serious concern. There are no proper figures available about the decline of tigers in India. There is a tribe called Bawaria in Rajasthan, which is known for its hunting skills, but they fall prey to poachers easily. No poacher in Rajasthan can hunt tiger without the help of Bawarias. We are working to educate these tribesmen.”
Tiger is a beautiful animal and needs to be saved, but along with that one needs to realise that rivers, jungles and the entire eco-system needs to be saved as one thing depends on the other, opines Morarka. He says, “When you go to a wildlife park, it is a different life. We can learn a lot from animals, an animal kills only when it’s hungry, but human beings kill for commercial reasons. The rules of conserving tigers at other national parks like Kanha, Pench, Bandhavgarh, Ranthambore should also be revised.”
He adds, “At an individual level one must try and conserve the nearby environment. Visiting the nearest park or reserve area is the best way to learn more about nature.”