The Call of the Wild
As a banker
and finance professional, risk has been an integral part of Mahesh Misra’s career – whether it is lending to individuals and companies or underwriting risks of insuring a person.
At first glance, his passion for wildlife photography would seem to be an extension of his risk- taking ability. But Misra — CEO, India Mortgage Guarantee Corporation — does not attribute his passion to his risk- management skills in professional life. Instead, he says, his “inherent interest in photography led him to wildlife as a pleasurable means to use lens work productively.”
A passion for that one perfect frame and desire to shoot wildlife at its natural best has taken him to several national parks and sanctuaries such as Ranthambore (Rajasthan), Corbett ( Uttarakhand) and Pench (Madhya Pradesh). He has also visited Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru and a few privately owned parks in Kenya. It was at Maasai Mara that he had the most thrilling experience as a wildlife photographer when he saw a cheetah trio killing a wildebeest (a large dark African antelope).
But there have been nerveracking moments as well. At Ranthambore in Rajasthan's Sawai Madhopur district last year, a large tigress (Sultana) blocked his team’s path just as the park was about to close, with no other human in sight. “The prospect of spending a night stranded in the jungle with a tigress for company wasn’t very exciting,” he says.
However, these incidents do not stop him from pursuing his passion. He visits Ranthambore a couple of times a year and Masai
Mara once in a few years. “With repeat visits to tiger reserves, one gets to track a family through various stages of life,” Misra muses.
Apart from pursuing his passion, these jungle safaris also give him time to introspect and return to ‘human civilisation’ brimming with ideas. “Years of watching animals in the wild has made me value the importance of timing when it comes to executing a plan. In the jungle, timing determines whether one sleeps hungry or lives to see the next day. One also gets to see the massive value of teamwork in the way groups of animals work together to hunt
(for survival),” he adds.