The first time I had heard this call was from a campaign that environmentalist and editor of Sanctuary Asia, Bittu Sahgal had initiated as a collaboration between Sanctuary Asia and Save the Tiger. It was a call from the tigers in the wild saying to humans that they had had enough! They wanted us humans to leave them alone. Stop coming into their homes, their territories, their forests, their safe havens! Like colonizers, like invaders we humans were being asked to step back with our intrusive natures, our bullying attitudes, our camera laden arms, our crowded jeeps and canters mowing into their sanctuaries. And the simple logic was that by leaving the tigers and its forests alone, we would be letting it rejuvenate, thrive thereby calming the climate and ensuring our own safety and future. If tigers vanish, so will the forest, its water sources, its flora and fauna leaving us, humans, with an irreversible phenomena of climate change!
But how are tigers and forests and water sources connected to us? Humans need air, water, shelter and food to live. All this comes from the forest and not from the super market! The fresh air that we breathe comes from the large trees and greens of our protected forests. The fresh water in our taps comes from the rivers, streams and springs that originate from the forests. The resources for our needs like housing, mobility and general living also comes from the forest and hinterland areas. Some of these are finite. Medicines that help cure many diseases today come from plant sources in the forests. And tigers are a keystone species, because of them the forests are diverse and have become hot spots of biodiversity. If tigers go, everything in the forests will go.
Only if these are protected, conserved, nurtured will we ensure our survival too. As humans who once lived in harmony with nature, taking from it for their need only, we had become greedier and had indiscriminately plundered the earth. Ravaging Mother Nature, taking more than we could ever give back or repair. And while nature has been ever forgiving, we are now grappling with our own makings of disasters and calamities that are not in our human and mortal capacities to control.
And therefore, ‘Leave us alone’ fits well in the human-animal conflict where the affected tigers are rightfully asking for a reformation of human behaviour.
I heard this same call on social media a couple of days ago. Leave us alone! But this time it was from a woman asking another fellow human to stop harassing her and her family- her husband and children! She blatantly called him/her an abuser, an outsider, a liar and called on her friends and others on social media to pray for her and her family.
A human-human conflict. This is also not a new story. It is a common one. And it is mostly a silent story. In this case he/she could be a close family member- a father/mother, brother/sister, husband/wife, son/daughter, cousin, a friend, a colleague, a teacher, a professional or even a stranger. But he/she is there. Tormenting, harassing, demanding very subtly, even privately unknown to the rest of the world. What does he/she want? Your silence, your time, your mental space, your attention. Why? Because it is born from a deep seated anger. And that comes out in a vindictive, punishing and revengeful action. And this can be vented out only on a known and familiar fellow human. And this takes different forms. Working in circles, coming back repeatedly.
There was one who left but announced to the world that it was mutual. There was another that hired a compromised lawyer and sent notices with threats of public humiliation if one did not relent. There was yet another that issued threats of humiliation on social media if public profiles were not changed. There was another one who plied with money swearing to expect nothing in return but at all times had a long list of transactions to be fulfilled. And there was yet another who communicated of a new relationship with someone new and moving on, but coming back to keep a check on and demanding accountability of the other’s time.
You may have given your all, done good, gave him/her your wings to fly, soar high. But that’s nothing because the intent and benchmarks set were completely out of line. Good deeds lost in translation.
What did all the humans at the receiving end do? They prayed that the madness would stop. They forgave, they were kind, they offered the other cheek. Why? To let the goodness sink in, to let the other repair and reform. To help the other to move on.
And when that does not have any effect, what does one do? Simply say, ‘Leave us alone’!
Like with the tigers who have forged their territories and their forests, we are thriving too, we are flying, we are free to live in our sanctuaries. Just leave us alone!
(Tallulah D’Silva is a practicing architect in Goa)
