JIM CORBETT Tribute

I had heard of Jim Corbett in schooldays as this Jim Corbett national park is not far away from my home town. One day one of my friends gave a book -Man eater of Kumaon. I started reading it and after a few passage the book took me over as events were so described that it felt as if I was with Jim Corbett and everything written was happening with me. I could feel the thrill as I proceeded with minute to minute description of events. When I neared the end of the book I slowed down the speed for I did not want to finish the book.
Now, having read all his books, It made me a wildlife enthusiastic and a nature lover.
I would like to thank Jim Corbett for not only taking me (us) through this wonderful experiences and knowledge but also for the sparking a soft corner for these beautiful animal, nature and humanity.

I CAME ACROSS THE BOOKS OF JIM CORBETT,MANY YEARS AGO.AS A YOUNG STUDENT IN A SMALL USA SCHOOL, DID NOT HAVE A GREAT READING HABIT.READING CAME HARD TO ME,AS I WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH SCHOOL,BUT..TO BE IN THE WILDS OF A GREAT FOREST.LOOKING, LISTNING, HEARING, THE SOUNDS OF THE WILD,AND TRY TO UNDERSTAND THE SOUNDS.A TEACHER GAVE ME THE MAN-EATERS-OF-KUMAON TO READ AND THAT WAS ALL IT TOOK.WHAT I LEARNED OF THE PATIENCE,STILLNESS,AND HEART YOU NEED TO SEE THE ANIMAL,I THINK I OWE TO JIM CORBETT.I HAVE READ EVERYTHING JIM HAS WRITTEN WITH GREAT CARE AND AWE OF SUCH A GREAT PERSON JIM WAS..I NEVER MET JIM,BUT I HOPE IN THAT GREAT JUNGLE IN THE SKY,WE'LL MEET AND SWAP STORIES,AND HAVE A GOOD LAUGH ..............THANKS JIM CORBETT FOR SOME OF MY BEST MEMORIES... JOHN SNYDER..USA

However unappreciated Corbett may be in other parts of the world, he was always and he is still today, a legend in India, the land he loved most. There is hardly an educated Indian in our towns and cities who have not heard of Jim Corbett. That is why the Government renamed the earswhile Hailey National Park in Corbett's memory; for his contribution to Indian wildlife conservation and his genuine love of the common people he interacted with. In that respect he was so very different from the average European of that time.
Corbett's knowledge of the denizens of the forest was phenomenal. We have to remember that there were no analytical naturalists or biologists like Gearge Schaller, Ullhas Karanth, etc. at that time. Even these scholars have not negated any information regarding the characteristics of Tigers that Corbett has passed on to posterity; in fact they have even quoted him in some contexts. So, in effect, we can say that Corbett was probably the foremost expert on the Tiger of his time (though I do not wish to belittle the contributions of Champion, Burton, Dunbar-Brander et al).
I first heard about Jim Corbett sitting on my father's lap as a 6-year old. My father was his fan and had visited several of the locations where Corbett had hunted his man-eaters in, including Gulabrai and Rudraprayag. Later as I grew up, I bought all his books, including Tree Tops and read and re-read them countless times-so much so that I can retell the stories as he had written them. And yet the hunger and the fascination does not pall. Corbett's writing is so sublime and his prose so easy to follow; his descriptions of the locations, the scenery, the mountains and the valleys, the forests are like portrait paintings in words.
It is sad and it pains every Indian that Corbett left India in 1948, little realising the legend he would become in this land. He was born in 1875, just 18 years after the Sepoy Mutiny, and maybe the stories and the fear of those times resurfaced in his mind after the 1947 riots, when the nation was devided.
But my heartfelt thanks to Jerry Jaleel for deseminating so much knowledge about his life and especially for looking after his grave in Kenya, which had remained unattended and almost forgotten for a long time.

I “found” Jim Corbett by his remarkable stories and books. I do not know how to pay tribute to such an extraordinary gentleman best, but to say - Thank you for everything …
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The moment I read his books I was reading them again. I have my own small library at home in India and I have told my mom never ever to lend those books to ANYone. I remember when I used to come from work I wouldn't even eat or drink anything, I would just go straight to my bed and grab his book and start reading. I am proud of the fact that I have all his books and they are my 'national treasure'
You are truly transported to that 1900 jungle and mountains.

A great hunter & later conservationist , a man of undaunting courage, agreat philanthropist& a writer of adventure stories- . By the sheer weight of his genius, corbett is aphenomenon.his books display his literary skill ,&sometimes in his description of natural scenes, his empathetic feelings towards man eaters& above all, his feelings for the poor sections of the indian society , corbett scaLes poetic heights