A photographer's ‘love letter’ to legendary tigresses of Ranthambore
On World Tiger Day (July 29), we spoke to wildlife photographer Manish Kalani on his book Warrior Queens of Ranthambore
Amid the arid jungles of Rajasthan’s Ranthambore National Park reside many legendary Royal Bengal tigers who boast regality just like the land of Rajas. On World Tiger Day today, wildlife photographer Manish Kalani shares his journey of documenting the legacy of one such popular tigress, Machhli (Tigeress T16), that reigned over the national park till August 2016.
An erstwhile real estate professional, Kalani stepped into the world of wildlife photography about eight years ago. Then he heard about Machhli. “Every tiger that I was photographing had a connection to her somehow. They either had a common mate or an incident related to her. After six years of spending time clicking tigers in the park, I realised that I could make Machhli’s family tree. That’s where the idea for my book came about,” says Kalani, talking about his coffee table book, Warrior Queens of Ranthambore.
While there is enough and more information about Machhli, the 55-year-old claims no one has played it out and detailed it the way he has. “When the forest department jots down the legacy left behind by a tiger, they only track down the mother’s side. In my book, I have captured Machhli’s extended family like aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.,” he says, adding, “The book focuses on five generations, beginning with Machhli and then following her daughter Krishna (T-19), her granddaughter Arrowhead (T-84), great-granddaughter Riddhi (T-124) and now Riddhi’s cubs.”
Featuring over 500 pictures tracing the legacy of Machhli, touted as the world’s most photographed tiger, the author says his book is an “earnest love letter” to the queen of Ranthambore. Ask Kalani about his favourite moment during the eight-year-long journey of documenting, and he says, “When Riddhi was born, I was one of the first photographers to film her. She hadn’t been given a name when I posted my photos of her on social media and called her Ridhima, which is also my daughter’s name. It caught on, and other photographers and tour guides as well began using the name and eventually named her Riddhi. My wife and I always say that we have two daughters; one lives in New York and the other in Ranthambore!”
Kalani further shares that, with the thousands of photos he has of Machhli’s family tree, he is open to exploring more options for putting the work out. “I would never say no to an opportunity. I’d love to have more books and maybe even contribute to a documentary about the tigers of Ranthambore,” he ends.