15th Dec 2017, Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve: The first safari of our expedition ended with a bit of disappointment for us, for we missed the beautiful sighting of tigress Maya, relocating her cubs to safety, only by a few minutes. Nevertheless, the evening camp fire was strong enough to burn our disappointments to ashes, and provide us with fresh hopes of sighting the majestic tigers, in the upcoming couple of days. It was inside these flames and campfire discussions that the idea of meritocracy as an innate part of nature, got into my head. Out of curiosity, I asked our chief organizer Kedar, that how come this sighting which we missed, was a lifetime shot. If the cubs were not strong enough for walking, then the tigress might again relocate them the next day, giving us ample opportunity to witness the motherly love of the huge feline. Being experienced with multiple wildlife expeditions, Kedar replied me that the only reason why the tigress chose to relocate her cubs, was that she sensed clear and present danger haunting the cubs. In fact, even in absence of other intruding male tigers, the cubs face immediate threat and stiff competition from other mean predators like wild dogs, hyenas and even jackals, right from the day they are born. The only thing that ensured the survival of these wild creatures was pure animal instinct - something which we humans have discarded to become civilized beings. As our topic of discussion was going towards instincts, the pet dog inside our resort also joined the campfire. Pointing to the dog, Kedar remarked that this German Shepherd breed, was actually a wolf by bodily features, whose wild instincts were manipulated and altered by humans over ages. Hence, rather than hunting in packs, it is dependent on humans for its survival. The idea of threats and instincts set off a chain of thoughts in my mind about how nature ensures mertiocracy, and where in the quest to become civilized, we drifted away from the ways of nature.
In jungle, all animals are uniquely gifted and equally cursed as well. Though herbivores like deer, antelopes, wild buffaloes, and sometimes monkeys, are hounded & hunted by predators like tigers, lions, hyenas and wild dogs, they have developed excellent communication skills and strong limbs to outrun the predators. A herbivore sensing danger, calls out its own kind with a typical alert message. Monkeys and peacocks, being the circumstantial victims of hungry predators failing in their attempts to get large size preys, decipher the alerts of these herbivores, either hide or get to the highest reaches of trees. The strength of collaboration and an effective danger alert system of these herbivores, is not only their merit, but a huge challenge for a predator to get its prey. In addition, some herbivores like wild buffaloes and antelopes, can even gore a predator to its death by a single super strong blow from their horns. For a tiger, stealth coupled with brute muscle power is its only merit to counter the strong defence of herbivores. However, hunting is not the end of the show for a tiger. It needs to ensure that the prey is consumed by itself and its cubs. Opportunists like wild dogs and hyenas jump into the fray for their pound of flesh. Their strength is in their numbers as a group. There are many instances where a group of hyenas, outnumber a pride of lions, and steal their prey. To eliminate competition for food, these small predators usually kill young tiger and lion cubs, before the latter even get the opportunity to grow as full grown adults, and in turn, be a threat to the former's existence. Scavengers like vultures and eagles do the cleanup job of whatever is left of the prey. Armed with strong beaks and powerful talons, these scavengers are also powerful enough to drive away opportunists like a pack of wild dogs. For a tiger to hunt a deer, it is not only the failure of the deer, but also the skills of the tiger that matter. In a nutshell, in jungle, everyday everyone is a threat to every other one, and the ones with merit are the ones who survive to see the next day. This is precisely where we humans have gone off-track from the meritocracy of nature. Apart from having a powerful brain to analyze stuff, we have lost a vast part of our survival instincts. We created societies, civilizations and nations, with rules and constitutions to govern ourselves. Political ideologies like capitalism, socialism, and communism are creations of our own brain, with an idea of one size fits all kind of a theory, quite contrary to the natural way of meritocracy. Our governments tax the rich for their earning ability, while politicians distribute freebies to the poor, in the garb of affirmative action, thereby altering their survival instincts, the same way we humans have tweaked the instincts of a wolf and made it into a fully dependent pet dog. Our animal instincts have drifted so far from nature that, after a tsunami sweeps of millions of our fellow human beings, we realize that a receding ocean is a tell-tale sign of an approaching tsunami. It is ironical that, we humans are re-learning the art of teamwork and collaboration inside elite business schools and corporate houses, when our friends deep inside jungles are masters of the same.
By this time our campfire started to reduce in its intensity, and perhaps our fruitful discussion was also coming to an end along with my chain of thoughts. As Kedar rightly said - "Within our own intelligence and creativity, lies our own seeds of destruction"; and I believe it to be true, for we have discarded meritocracy, drifted away from the ways of nature and created terrible things like nuclear bombs thereby ensuring our own destruction along with the beautiful planet itself. As, the eminent Canadian journalist, author & speaker Malcolm Gladwell has aptly put -
In jungle, all animals are uniquely gifted and equally cursed as well. Though herbivores like deer, antelopes, wild buffaloes, and sometimes monkeys, are hounded & hunted by predators like tigers, lions, hyenas and wild dogs, they have developed excellent communication skills and strong limbs to outrun the predators. A herbivore sensing danger, calls out its own kind with a typical alert message. Monkeys and peacocks, being the circumstantial victims of hungry predators failing in their attempts to get large size preys, decipher the alerts of these herbivores, either hide or get to the highest reaches of trees. The strength of collaboration and an effective danger alert system of these herbivores, is not only their merit, but a huge challenge for a predator to get its prey. In addition, some herbivores like wild buffaloes and antelopes, can even gore a predator to its death by a single super strong blow from their horns. For a tiger, stealth coupled with brute muscle power is its only merit to counter the strong defence of herbivores. However, hunting is not the end of the show for a tiger. It needs to ensure that the prey is consumed by itself and its cubs. Opportunists like wild dogs and hyenas jump into the fray for their pound of flesh. Their strength is in their numbers as a group. There are many instances where a group of hyenas, outnumber a pride of lions, and steal their prey. To eliminate competition for food, these small predators usually kill young tiger and lion cubs, before the latter even get the opportunity to grow as full grown adults, and in turn, be a threat to the former's existence. Scavengers like vultures and eagles do the cleanup job of whatever is left of the prey. Armed with strong beaks and powerful talons, these scavengers are also powerful enough to drive away opportunists like a pack of wild dogs. For a tiger to hunt a deer, it is not only the failure of the deer, but also the skills of the tiger that matter. In a nutshell, in jungle, everyday everyone is a threat to every other one, and the ones with merit are the ones who survive to see the next day. This is precisely where we humans have gone off-track from the meritocracy of nature. Apart from having a powerful brain to analyze stuff, we have lost a vast part of our survival instincts. We created societies, civilizations and nations, with rules and constitutions to govern ourselves. Political ideologies like capitalism, socialism, and communism are creations of our own brain, with an idea of one size fits all kind of a theory, quite contrary to the natural way of meritocracy. Our governments tax the rich for their earning ability, while politicians distribute freebies to the poor, in the garb of affirmative action, thereby altering their survival instincts, the same way we humans have tweaked the instincts of a wolf and made it into a fully dependent pet dog. Our animal instincts have drifted so far from nature that, after a tsunami sweeps of millions of our fellow human beings, we realize that a receding ocean is a tell-tale sign of an approaching tsunami. It is ironical that, we humans are re-learning the art of teamwork and collaboration inside elite business schools and corporate houses, when our friends deep inside jungles are masters of the same.
By this time our campfire started to reduce in its intensity, and perhaps our fruitful discussion was also coming to an end along with my chain of thoughts. As Kedar rightly said - "Within our own intelligence and creativity, lies our own seeds of destruction"; and I believe it to be true, for we have discarded meritocracy, drifted away from the ways of nature and created terrible things like nuclear bombs thereby ensuring our own destruction along with the beautiful planet itself. As, the eminent Canadian journalist, author & speaker Malcolm Gladwell has aptly put -
"The world is not a meritocracy, as much as we may like to pretend it is. And we have a long way to go before we reward people based on their merit."
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