masters, enjoy their own wealth and did not care for the commoners at all, often mistreating them. Of course, there were a few honorable exceptions like Ayilyom Thirunal Gowri Lakshmi Bayi of Travancore who worked towards providing good health care for her subjects, Maharaja Sayaji Rao Gaekwar of Baroda and Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur who in many ways strove for the welfare of their subjects. However, the mule was that the Maharajas were totally cut off from the common people of their states. Salim Ali’s earliest bird survey was in Mysore state and the reigning Maharaja, Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar, was well known for his marksmanship and was highly sought-after by his subjects whenever a rogue elephant ora man-eating tiger attacked their immediate surroundings. There are many wildlife trophies of animals hunted by him in the Palace collections. Salim Ali, himself fond of Shikar, became a good friend of him.
As this suggests my Guru Salim Ali, though a great naturalist and a most charming personality lived in the world of Europeans and Indian aristocracy and was completely cut off from the common people of India. In a way, he was himself a Maharaja. Salim Ali belonged to the prestigious and wealthy family of Badruddin Tyabji, one of the founders and third President of Indian National Congress. Because of his own superlative contribution to advancing knowledge of Indian birds and the popular “Book of Indian Birds” he was greatly admired by bird enthusiasts like my father and myself among the educated urbanites. Jawaharlal Nehm and Indira Gandhi, like my father, educated at Cambridge
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