Sanctuary | People
Meet Sunil Mehta
COURTESY: SUNIL MEHTA
Was Jaipur always your
family’s base?
Today, I really do not even know where
my ‘base’ is because I spend so much
time travelling across India, but yes, I
grew up in Jaipur where my physician
father taught us that the measure of
success was not your money, but how
people’s lives were improved by their
association with you. My mother is a
homemaker and we always lived a life of
purpose guided by principles that turned
community into family.Your friends at St. Stephen’s
College, Delhi, still refer
to you as that ‘awesomebasketball player’. What turned
a national-level sportsman
into a sustainable tourism
professional?
Even back then the wilderness and the
forests held a special attraction. Naturally,
after retiring from basketball I set up a
business based on tourism in rural India
with a steely determination to help protect
wildlife, while also improving the condition
of the communities upon whom the
success of any such enterprise is ultimately
dependent. In a sense, a marriage of good
natural resource management and human
resource development. I hasten to add, the
people I ‘helped’ ended up helping me even
more. I sleep well at night!Was there any particular
incident that propelled you
toward wildlife conservation?
No single incident. No epiphany. I think
the constant hammering all of us got
through news of depleting forests and
vanishing tigers got me down. But the
tipping point was the fact that every
last tiger in Sariska had disappeared
(Sanctuary Vol. XXV No. 3 June 2005).
Sariska was home to me. A forest I
visited regularly since my childhood. I
was shell-shocked that right next to
me, such a huge tragedy had unfolded
and I knew nothing about it. Whatever
else I did, I knew then, would have no
meaning unless I was able to play a role
in preventing this downslide, not just for
Sariska’s tigers, but all tigers.Someone must have inspired
you? Who are your heroes?
Many people, but clearly the Chipko
Movement and Sunderlal Bahuguna
helped me realise that wringing hands
is not enough. What was wrong had to
be made right. The late Fateh Singh
Rathore of Ranthambhore was another
such hero, as was the late Shantanu
Kumar, who shone a light for me when
I was lost and showed that no matter
what my profession was, I could make
a diff erence.I notice that you are a
god-fearing man.
I am. I believe strongly that trees are a
representation of God on Earth. Plants
do not merely feed our stomachs, they
feed our spirit. My life is dedicated
to regreening our planet, not just for
aesthetic reasons, but because there can
be no better way to serve God than to
nurture his creations.Thus, the 500-acre Nature Farms
and the Tree House Resort
that you and Uttam Kumar
Tharyamal launched?
Yes, it was. I worried that all that young
kids see of life is what the concrete
jungle has to off er. Where was the song
of the partridge? The yelping of jackals?
The buzz of bees? Nature Farms is in
truth a water-harvesting device.Sunil Mehta addresses villagers at a function
in Gothangaon, Maharashtra. His life’s work
empowering people and conserving wildlife has
earned him many accolades.A national-level basketball player and an alumnus of
St. Stephens College, Delhi, this eco-entrepreneur started life as a
pharmaceuticals promoter, exporter and as the Chief Coordinator
for the Rajasthan State Government and the Rajasthan
Association of North America (RANA). He now runs a real estate
business that seeks to change the image of the sector by helping
to improve the ecology of the geographies where his businesses
are located. He met Bittu Sahgal at the Bamboo Forest Safari
Lodge in Tadoba and spoke to him about how ensuring equitable
justice to local communities could end up rewilding India.