Sanctuary: 40 years and counting

It seems like yesterday. I can still smell the wood smoke. Remember the conversations.

- Bittu Sahgal

Feel the warmth of the campfire under the banyan tree that gave birth to Sanctuary, the magazine, which the late Fateh Singh Rathore, virtually coerced penniless-me into launching.

I had been visiting Ranthambhore for years and would continually harangue Fateh with "how can I help you?" questions in the late 1970s. A few drinks down, at our usual campfire under the famous Jogi Mahal banyan tree, in December 1980, a frustrated Fateh retorted: "When you go back to Bombay, have a big party every month. Talk to all your friends about how they can help us save tigers. Then, come back and ask me the same question you ask every time you come: 'Fateh, how can I help you save the tiger... what else are you city people good for? You keep talking and talking and talking, while the tigers keep dying." Stung to the core I responded testily: "This is the last time I will ever come to Ranthambhore, unless you tell me just how I can actually help.” Silence ruled for ten full minutes.