Sulochana Badola

The Man Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag is an awesome book about the feline and human conflict about a century ago. But if you are a person who see the beauty of this big cat who was shot dead by Jim Corbett the the book is not too good for you. This particular book is about a leopard who lived in Rudraprayag a small district in the beautiful hills of Uttrakhand. This particular district is situated at the confluence of Alaknanda and Mandakini rivers before joining Bhagirathi at Devprayag. This Leopard covered an area of 500sq.km under its terror. And in the period of 8 years claimed 125 innocent lives of the village folk. But the unofficial estimates must be higher. The book starts with the author describing a man eater and how he plans to go to hunt it out. This novel carries on to his various attempts of getting the man eater ; from gin-traps , goats as bait, to poison which Jim also don't likes. Finally he is so disappointed that he decided to leave the town and go to the city in the plains. After a few months he returns with a new confidence and a feeling of success. But our author is again disappointed by the fate and decides to quit. On his last day in Rudraprayag he shoots the leopard and end the streak of terror. For a person who is reading this kind of book for the first time it's a great experience as the plot is clear and the concepts are explained vividly. The best part of the book is about how the Leopard escapes death cunningly. Though Jim Corbett is a hunter but his writing style is commendable. He describes the environment so clearly that we can feel ourselves a part of the plot.