Bhoorsingh: The Barasingha

OutlookIndia

Though most people are obsessed with tigers when it comes to Kanha, the hard-ground barasingha or swamp deer is the national park's official mascot. Watch this video to find out why.  #Travel #OutlookTravel #OutlookMagazine #OutlookGroup

Transcript

00:00 I will tell you an interesting incident, sir.

00:02 Tell me.

00:03 What happened was, when I came to the forest,

00:06 coincidentally, after 4 days of vacation,

00:10 as soon as I joined,

00:11 after that, that labourer left.

00:14 So, after that, for 4 days,

00:17 no one came to see me in the camp.

00:19 That well was 100-150 km away.

00:22 I went to get water from there in the afternoon.

00:24 In the evening, I screamed loudly.

00:27 So, I threw a bucket and came there.

00:30 I didn't know the forest that well.

00:37 I didn't know Kanha that well.

00:40 This was a sanctuary, a small sanctuary,

00:43 that was established in 1933, quite long back.

00:46 For us, the two most important species are,

00:49 of course, tiger and the other one is the hard-road varasingha.

00:53 This subspecies is very important for us

00:56 because this is the only population in the world.

00:58 It is not found anywhere else.

01:00 So, we thought of taking varasingha as a mascot for Kanha.

01:06 Incidentally, Rohan visited Kanha.

01:11 We were working on some project to get some cartoon map of Kanha

01:14 and some caricatures of different flora and fauna of Kanha.

01:17 So, that time we decided to have a mascot.

01:20 And Bhur Singh's name, he only suggested,

01:23 connects to the local tribal people here.

01:27 And he is brown in color, not exactly brown, it is golden brown.

01:33 And then he has antlers.

01:36 So, Bhur Singh actually connects to the color and the antlers also.

01:40 The hard-ground varasingha is only found in Kanha.

01:44 It is normally seen by everyone.

01:46 So, why don't we consider it important?

01:49 There is such a good biodiversity here.

01:52 Why do you follow the tiger?

01:54 You should not only follow the tiger.

01:56 If I see the tiger, I will be happy.

01:59 If you see in the Kanha jungle,

02:01 you will find no garbage, no garbage, nothing.

02:05 So, it is only our duty to save it,

02:09 and it is the duty of the tourists.

02:11 We are so involved in this,

02:13 but we don't think anything will happen in its outside life.

02:16 Like, we go home and go out,

02:18 we don't know where we are and how we will come back.

02:20 It is our duty,

02:22 we get a salary, the government has given us work.

02:25 But it seems like we are working for those who cannot raise their voices.

02:29 Like trees, wildlife, animals.

02:33 The tree cannot say, save us, we are being bitten.

02:36 Or if there is a prey, it cannot say, save us.

02:39 Like we shout and make a fire.

02:41 So, we are working for them.

02:43 [Music]

02:48 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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