Logo

Synopsis With an insatiable curiosity and acute powers of observation, Prerna Singh Bindra takes us through the vast canvas of the forests of India, on the trail of big cats. All beautiful. All critically endangered. She treks the snowy Himalayas for the elusive snow Leopard, walks the dry forest of Gir, the last abode of the Asiatic Lion and visits the Sundarbans where myths and man-eating tigers live together. She begins her 'leopard pilgrimage' in the holy city of Rudraprayag, where legendary hunter Jim Corbett shot the man-eater of Rudraprayag and searches the sterile forests of Sariska for a tiger. The book takes on a special significance today as the Royal Bengal Tiger faces its worst ever crisis. Less than 2,000 wild tigers survive in India, and declining fast. Lions number fewer than 350, the fate of the snow Leopard is unknown and estimates for the Leopard do not exist, but one can say with certainty, that at least one is killed every day. The King and I celebrates the tiger, worries for their future, mourns their passing and hopes that they continue to rule the wild, forever.