Dear Gobar Times Readers,

Close your eyes and say to yourself ‘natural disaster’... No prizes for guessing what pictures your mind has thrown up! The nightmarish sights of the killer tsunami.

But have you also thought about the ‘vanished’ tigers of the Sariska reserve forests? Do you know that this too has the makings of a nation-wide disaster?

No, this issue of Gobar Times is not about the tsunami. It is about much, much more. Read on and you will know that such disasters happen when we interfere with the checks and balances that nature creates. Now

hold on…I am not saying that the sea coasts and the forests should be declared ‘off limits’ for human beings. That is not at at all natural.

You see, nature’s security system is all about making humans and other living resources dependant on each other. It’s quite simple really. The fisherfolk would never willingly destroy the mangrove forests along the coastline. Because mangroves provide habitat for the fish!

Problems crop up when we become too greedy, and upset this balance. When we build fancy resorts by chopping sea weeds and coral reefs. When we build walls around forests to keep the local villagers out—depriving them of their rozi roti—turning them into poachers from protectors of the big cat.

No this is not a story with a happy ending. We want you to get angry and upset. We want you to ask for a change. Who else will?

– Pandit Gobar Ganesh
E-mail: panditji@cseindia.org