I got in the Bolero Camper from the Golden City of Jaisalmer to go to Sam, a village lying 45 kms west of the city. Sam, situated in midst of the Thar Desert is a popular tourist attraction for its marvellous sand dunes and astounding arid desert landscape. Tourists enjoy going on desert safaris on camels or jeeps and staying in one of the many desert camps for a day or two. Unlike them, I was heading towards the base camp of the research team of "Great Indian Bustard Recovery Program", a conservation project for saving the critically endangered bird, under the prestigious Wildlife Institute of India. This base camp will be my home for the next 5 months.
As our car passed by the Golden Fort or Shonar Kella (as we Bengalis more popularly call it, being an avid reader of Satyajit Ray’s Feluda Detective series), I started reflecting on the last time I visited this place which was on a tour with my parents, about 10 years ago. I found it strangely amusing to realise that back then I never imagined myself coming back to this place for my career choice!
I have gone on field visits to different parts of this country, during my undergraduation or postgraduation days. But this was the first time that I will be staying with a research team in field for so long. Excitement and thrill to experience a life like this have been enthralling me from the moment I got the internship to do my M.Sc. Dissertation.
It has always been my dream to experience a life like this. Apart from being a lover of adventure and camping, I am extremely passionate about my subject. I can feel a different level of pleasure and also find a different workaholic version of myself while working on wildlife and nature. And ofcourse, nothing could have been better than getting a chance to contribute my efforts in working for a species which is almost on the verge of extinction.
My supervisor, Dr. Sutirtha Dutta also stays in the base camp, along with all other experienced seniors of the research team. Sharing the same roof with so many passionate scientists, I knew life in base camp will be very interesting, just like some science fiction movies we all grew up watching.
Reaching the base camp, I found a house made from the typical yellow sandstone with large rooms and very basic facilities, and the huge open windows overlooking the golden sand dunes. Lying down on the camp bed that night, covering myself with a thick blanket in the chilling desert winter night, I slept on the thoughts of how this is a turning point of my life — a beginning of the life of a wildlife scientist.
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