Decades ago FW Champion’s Camera in Tiger-land and the Jungle in Sunlight and Shadows inspired a generation of hunters to give up the gun for the camera. Champion’s efforts, in fact, gave India the first photographs of tigers and leopards in the wild. It is perhaps appropriate that MY Ghorpade’s part-memoir part-wildlife photograph collection in black and white is called Sunlight & Shadows. The book, first published in 1983, makes a reappearance now with new photographs taken over the last 20 years. Ghorpade—some would say like most former royals—is a conservationist. The Congressman and former Karnataka finance minister grew up in Sandur, making frequent trips to the forests in and around the valley. Nature was in his family, literally—Ghorpad is the Indian name for monitor lizard. Coupled with an interest in photography, Ghorpade’s persistent tramplings in the jungle have resulted in some fine shots. The tigers of Kanha, the tuskers of Corbett National Park and Mudumalai, the black bucks of Sunderpura—Sunlight & Shadows is also a mini-guide to India’s major national parks. But perhaps the best photographs are not of the elusive tiger or panther but of the common birds in Ghorpade’s native Sandur. With their constant movement, birds may be difficult to shoot but make up for their dizzying hopping by giving an opportunity every day to be watched and observed. That’s why Ghorpade could time himself to get that photograph of the purplerumped sunbird in flight, just before it alighted on its nest. There are many more such visual records of birds at home. Ghorpade’s interest in tree top domesticity was such that even while preparing for the state budget, he managed to sneak out for one quick shot. It was 1975 and, as Karnataka’s finance minister, Ghorpade was preparing the budget when he got news that a nest of the Indian Great Horned Owl with three young ones had been located. After a day’s work Ghorpade went to the spot and got a perch and some other photography paraphernalia installed. He was conscious all along of the risk involved. Not for a moment did he forget that Eric Husking, the famous bird photographer, had lost one eye in a ferocious attack by an owl. ‘‘I did not have a helmet, nor was I anxious to lose an eye for a bird, specially on the eve of the budget session of the Karnataka legislature,’’ writes Ghorpade. But all ended well and Ghorpade got his photograph without losing an eye.
