Grand India Photo Expedition

India is a huge country with amazing diversities, where you get to see big mammals and lots of birds and different habitat and ecology. People will come just to see a tiger. It's a jaw dropping experience. But while seeing the tiger, they get beautiful landscape. Scarlet sky with that orange sun, the dapple light passing through the woods, the huge meadows, those flat plateau like hills and then the forest speaks for herself. The vegetations, the vines and huge sal trees. You see so many animals. The rhino, the elephant, the water buffalo, the swamp deer. It's magical. The forest is like it's like my love. I always say no matter where I am, I come back to this place. This is my home. I connect myself more with the rhino, elephant, honestly, more than the tiger. I do love them. No doubt. But the emotion which really comes out is when I see them. And then oh, there is another one. Look at him. He's very curious to go and interact with that one because it is, like, little older to that calf, but still it has the fear because it's big. So it just ran back to the mom. Safe place. I always say that I'm really lucky because in the forest department, is a struggle to place yourself as a woman. Socially, India is very much a country with a male focus. My grandmother, she got married at the age of twelve. She wanted to do so many things. And it's not only her. In her generation or in my mom's generation, they were not allowed to do a lot of things. So you have to fight for your dream. It's not it's not easy. Definitely, it's not easy. And the time I have started, imagine two decades ago, things were not like that. What I faced sometimes is they said we don't have many places where a woman can come and work. But the strength I have is like, let's see what happens. You know, you have to achieve that. First, you make yourself believe that you are fit enough to do that. Then you get other people to believe that. I'm thankful to everyone from whom I got the opportunity and the belief. Now I'm here in Kaziranga, far away from home, trips, doing surveys, walking with the forest guards on foot where there are tigers, elephant, rhinos. When I see myself I think that's a huge achievement. That's amazing because I never had to do a fake smile. I never had to try hard to be something different. Its been always me. Like totally me. And I love to narrate the forest. I love to present the jungle with the people. I think I am blessed. Around this, I can be still that ten year old kid when I'm talking to people about the animals, about nature, about conservation. And I feel so happy because the guests, they kind of indulge themselves into my happiness. I think that's been incredible. I just want to do whatever I'm doing in the conservation or with the wildlife or being around the nature. I think till the last breath of my life. I just can't live without forest.