Writer's Effects [0990/12, March 2022]
Text C:
The
wild tigers of Ranthambore The narrator, Val, is a photographer, author and
documentary filmmaker. He has spent over 45 years living, working and
campaigning at the tiger reserve in Ranthambore National Park, near the town of
Sawai Madhopur (SM). In this extract from his book, Val remembers first
travelling to the area by train from his city home as a young man in 1976.
Exiting the deserted station, I
woke up the driver of a solitary horse-drawn carriage.
In those days Sawai Madhopur (SM)
boasted few motorised vehicles. The town wasn’t prosperous. Numerous taxi-jeeps
and buses taking chattering tourists into the park were still figments of shiny
future ambition. Garish hotel chains were yet to sprout, mushrooming along
newly surfaced roads to the park. This was a sleepy town, sprawled untidily
around the railway track, the only reason for its existence.
Since then, local painters have
decorated the station walls. Now murals of our tigers and other wildlife engage
curious passers-by, increasing awareness like a kind of open-air art museum.
Back in 1976, we trotted off to
the only guesthouse nearby. A reluctant proprietor prised open a musty room. I
spent a sleepless night.
Next morning, I introduced myself
to Fateh, the wildlife warden for the park. He looked over his luxuriant
moustache disbelievingly at me and my camera. No one came here, he told me, to
‘visit’.
Jolting along dirt tracks, we
drove out towards the reserve. Slowly the wilderness took over. I scanned the
thickening forest for wildlife, unaware my tracking skills would take years to
develop.
My first days felt like shedding
one layer of skin and growing into another. As you track a tiger, the language
of the jungle envelopes you in its folds. You’re alert to the tension in every
rustling leaf, in every impression on the ground. Animal tracks whisper stories
of the night. You’re a jungle detective seeking clues of tigers having padded
past. In the early years, just a paw-print was cause for celebration. There
were still villages everywhere; human disturbance was high.
Until the 1980s, there were few
pictures of tigers in the wild. Even then tourism to the area was only just
starting, driven by Fateh’s determination to make Ranthambore the most
important wildlife destination in the world. My pictures of tigers like Noon
drew multitudes to the forests of Ranthambore, transforming the local economy.
People in the area owed their improving prospects to Noon.
Noon had been a tigress who
filled my senses. Fateh teased me – saying I’d fallen in love with a tigress.
Whenever I arrived in her presence there was a quick look of recognition. Most
of the time it was just her and me with my camera.
Visiting research-scientists
warned me to keep detached, not humanise tigers, but Noon grew into a pleasant
obsession, deepening my understanding of the secret life of tigers. I don’t
think I experienced such closeness with a tiger again. Back then I could drive
out alone and watch tigers in solitude. There were fewer rules, fewer visitors
asking to join me. Even today, traversing the lakes which were at the heart of
her territory, I can summon up images of Noon slicing through their waters or
erupting from a grassy bank in incredible pursuits of deer or wild boar –
lmages that remain etched on my mind.
Sometimes when hunting, Noon
would look skywards and follow the direction vultures took. Visitors are still
fascinated today by film of her tracking low-flying vultures, trotting from
lake to lake until she found the carcass of a deer. Back then, I explain,
Ranthambore was full of white-backed vultures, before chemicals used for
injecting livestock and ingested by these scavenging birds wiped them out.
Nature lost a cleaning service. Noon lost her food-finders.
I last saw Noon in 1990 beside
Ranthambore lake. She looked older. Tigers get paler with age. The sun was
setting, its last rays framing her in golden light. By this time, she’d successfully
raised two litters and delighted the world with our footage of her kills,
racing into the shallows of the lakes, causing chaos amongst grazing deer and
more often than not bringing one down. The tourist boom followed – thanks to
Noon – with no shortage of high-profile visitors keen to promote the cause of
wild tigers.
Question
(d)
Re-read
paragraphs 2 and 10.
• Paragraph 2 begins ‘In those days and is about the town of SM.
• Paragraph 10 begins ‘Visiting research-scientists and is about Noon and the writer’s feelings about this tiger.
Explain how the writer uses language to convey meaning and to create effect in these paragraphs. Choose three examples of words or phrases from each paragraph to support your answer. Your choices should include the use of imagery.
Answers
Paragraph 2 begins ‘In those days …’ and is about the town of SM
Overview: stark contrast between the past and more recent times; how SM
has changed to become larger, busier and more commercial.
•
boasted few motorised
vehicles:
did not have many cars, buses etc.; old fashioned reference to ‘motorised
vehicles’ as if still relatively unusual and something to show off about; this
town was neither fashionable nor modern
•
wasn’t prosperous: not wealthy, not successful
in material or monetary terms, implied contrast with the economic success the
town will enjoy in later years
•
numerous taxi-jeeps and buses: so many commercial vehicles
it was not possible to count, they are now everywhere, bustling busy nature of
the booming town contrasted with previous quiet backwater
•
chattering tourists: talking excitedly, evokes a
dynamic and noisy picture of large groups of visitors
•
still figments of shiny
future ambition: imagined developments are not yet real, seemingly unlikely dreams and
hopes, apparently unrealistic plans based on dull reality of that time,
romanticised view of what they might achieve, yet the sense that it came true
as town becomes modernised / flashy
•
garish hotel chains: lurid, obtrusive brightly
coloured hotels owned by big organisations, suggests profit over sensitivity to
area
•
yet to sprout: not yet appeared but will
appear suddenly, as if organically like leaves or hair; seeds of success
•
mushrooming: hotel buildings increasing
rapidly, town is growing upwards and outwards, uncontrolled and exponential
growth
•
sleepy town, sprawled
untidily:
quiet place with little sense of planning or design, relaxed and unconcerned
about image; possible suggestion of a stereotypical teenager yet to mature
Paragraph
10 begins ‘Visiting research-scientists …’ and is about Noon and
the
writer’s feelings about this tiger.
Overview: described as if in love; reliving fond memories, tinged with a
sense of loss and longing.
•
grew into a pleasant
obsession:
developed like a hobby or habit, becomes besotted, not destructive but calming
and enjoyable fascination
•
deepening my understanding of
the secret life of tigers: little known or shared about tigers’ habits and behaviours, finds out
more and more about how tigers live, developing knowledge reveals previously
undiscovered details of the mystery of the great cats as a species
•
experienced such closeness: reminiscent of a human
relationship, shared moments of emotion and experience
•
alone … in solitude: not threatened, felt safe
to be on his own, calm, quiet, peaceful, reflective time
•
traversing: criss-crossing between the
lakes, like a tiger himself
•
heart of her territory: central to the area she
occupied, sense of power, ownership, emotional attachment and pull of the place
for him suggested by ‘heart’
•
summon up images (of Noon): can bring to mind
pictures, recreate, recall the spirit of this tiger, reminiscent of a magician
or sorcerer
•
slicing (through their waters):
cutting through effortlessly; clean, powerful movement through that appears to
part the water, skilful and in her element
•
erupting (from a grassy bank):
leaping up and out suddenly and powerfully; volcanic; unstoppable natural force
•
incredible pursuits: unbelievable chases,
apparently no chance of catching them but does, suggests admiration for
athleticism and prowess as a hunter
•
(images that) remain etched on my
mind: cannot forget, experience is part of him, painful and permanent
memory, artistry / artistic nature of picture he recalls
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