Tiger Season reads like a reporter’s diary. Perhaps, it is because the bones of the novel were formed when Gargi Rawat tramped through India’s jungles covering the wildlife and conservation space for NDTV. So yes, a reporter’s diary it is, with a braid of romance and man-animal conflict running right through it.
Set in Rajasthan, the storyline blends three worlds―conservation, Bollywood and journalism. Of these worlds, Rawat is a veteran in two, and that experience shines through her central character― journalist Sunaina Joshi who is shooting a wildlife show in a national park, with a Bollywood star in tow.
The journalism bit comes through in every little detail from camera angles to mentions of gear, logistics, costumes, and the rest of the hoopla that accompanies a TV show. She does not dodge that ‘dirty word’―money. Credit is paid to journalists in small towns, their struggles, hunger, and perceptiveness. Then there are those brief artful sketches about members of the team. One gets the feeling that Rawat knows these characters, not just in her mind―in flesh and blood.
Then there is the conservation bit. Rawat’s love for the wild is pragmatic and passionate. The passion shows in the vivid descriptions of wildlife… the claw marks that tigers leave on trees, the alarm calls of spotted deer, and the stink of a rotting kill. Just as the journalist tips her hat to the local reporter, Rawat does the same to Ram Tiwari and his brother forest rangers, the men on the ground struggling with everything from unruly tourists to irate villagers and rogue animals.
She does not pull any punches when sketching out the shallow and unkind world of social media, the PR juggernaut of Bollywood and the champagne conservationists who flit from cause to cause―stray dogs today, rogue tiger tomorrow.
The research that Rawat has put in adds to the flavour of Tiger Season. For example, for much of India, a standard north Indian salutation would be the familiar namaste. But, in the novel, she goes with the traditional Marwari greeting―khamagani, may you be blessed with wealth and prosperity.
“My first name for the hero was Raunak,” says Rawat. “And then I spoke to a friend from Rajasthan, who was shocked. ‘Raunak? You wouldn’t find a banna named Raunak,’ he said.” Banna is a term of endearment for Rajput boys; baisa for girls. Thus, Raunak became a true-blue banna, Devraj Singh Rathore―charmer, photographer and owner of Baagh Baadi heritage resort, where the novel is set.
Then there is also the food, breaking stereotypes about much of north India being a ‘potatoes and paneer’ country. At meal times, one is almost transported to picnic scenes in the Enid Blyton universe. But Tiger Season meals are no kid’s affair, they are adult banquets of slow-cooked khadd mutton, Baagh Baadi special red chilli parathas, finished with strawberry coulis and glasses of chilled Sauternes wine. Paan, too, if you will have one.
The other personal element about the book is the cover. Rawat’s husband, Yusuf Ansari, clicked the tiger on cover. He is vice-president and director of experiences at SUJÁN resorts.
Slow-burn romance and pragmatism might not seem like a good pairing on paper. Tiger Season might convince you otherwise.
TIGER SEASON
By Gargi Rawat
Published by Ebury Press
Price Rs299; pages 347