First published in 2023 by Hachette India

(Registered name: Hachette Book Publishing India Pvt. Ltd)

An Hachette UK company

www.hachetteindia.com

This ebook published in 2023

Text Copyright © 2023 Nandini Nayar

Illustrations copyright © 2023 Damini Gupta

Images: Please see page 146, which may be treated as an extension of the copyright page.

Hand-drawn box used in chapters by Sharanya Kunnath; Other boxes and dividers: by starline, Freepik.com

Nandini Nayar asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system (including but not limited to computers, disks, external drives, electronic or digital devices, e-readers, websites), or transmitted in any form or by any means (including but not limited to cyclostyling, photocopying, docutech or other reprographic reproductions, mechanical, recording, electronic, digital versions) without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

This is a work of creative non-fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents (other than those obviously genuine) are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or actual events or locales is purely coincidental.

The views and opinions expressed in this book are the author’s own and the facts are as reported by her and have been verified to the extent possible. The publishers are not in any way liable for the same. Sources have been referenced and quotes acknowledged to the best of the author’s ability. Any inadvertent omissions brought to our attention in writing will be remedied in future editions.

Cover design and illustrations by Damini Gupta

Print edition ISBN 978-93-5731-248-6

Ebook edition ISBN 978-93-5731-247-9

Hachette Book Publishing India Pvt. Ltd

4th & 5th Floors, Corporate Centre

Plot No. 94, Sector 44, Gurugram – 122003, India

Originally typeset by Manmohan Kumar, Delhi

For the animals of the world

IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHAT THIS BOOK IS ACTUALLY ABOUT…

Imagine yourself back in the eighteenth century, floating high above the blue waters of the ocean that lay between India and England. There, far below, is a ship bound for England. Let’s swoop down on it and see what it carries. Ooh, what’s this? These are rolls of brightly coloured silk and the finest cotton fabric. The smell scenting the air comes from the sacks of spices. There are piles of green cardamom and spicy pepper. You are just about to open the next sack, when you hear a growl. You look up and see a tiger, its eyes glowing in the dark. You freeze, heart thumping loudly, and wonder if the tiger is going to spring on you. That’s when you see the bars that hold it back and realize that the tiger is in a cage. You sigh in relief. The next minute you wonder – why is there a tiger on the ship?

The English came to India in the 1600s, in search of spices. The East India Company was set up so that English merchants could trade in India, and carry spices and other treasures back home. The company officials negotiated with the rulers of the time, seeking permission to trade. Soon, the company had spread its trading operations around the country. Winning the Battle of Plassey in 1757 changed the very nature of the East India Company’s presence in India. The company now played a significant role in ruling different princely states around the country. They adopted a series of treaties to bring more such states under their control.

However, the people of India were unhappy with the interference of the British and this found expression in 1857 when the Indian sepoys employed by the British rose in protest. Although the protest began in Meerut, it rapidly spread to other cities. Variously called the Sepoy Mutiny and the First War of Independence, this uprising was only subdued in 1858. The East India Company was abolished and it was decided that India would henceforth be directly ruled by the British Crown.

India thus became a part of the British Empire and this resulted in many changes. Now, administrative officials were appointed by the British government and sent to India. These young men who travelled to India were selected on the basis of their performance in the Indian Civil Service exam. They were often posted to remote locations in the hinterland of India, with very little social life to keep them occupied. Many of them turned to hunting, travelling long distances in search of tigers and bears.

This new generation of Englishmen felt the same awe that the early travellers to India had felt, when they saw forests swarming with tigers, lions, elephants, and a host of other animals and brightly coloured birds. Why, India was home to the amazing rhinoceros, which had never been seen in England. The seventeenth century was the Age of Discovery in England, as people travelled around the world, visiting new places and learning about the people, their customs and their unique flora and fauna.

The establishment of the East India Company offered them easy and continuous access to the natural wealth of India. A letter was written to the directors of the company, asking if a collector of animals could be sent on one of their ships. The company was unwilling to take responsibility of the collector and said so. Instead, it suggested that the sailors on ships returning from India could bring back animals and birds.

This was how animals travelled from India to England. Animals were taken as companions for the sailors, as gifts for important people in England and also to be sold there for a tidy profit. Many animals died in the violent process of trapping. Several others died on the long journey. These were immediately put into spirits, so the naturalists waiting eagerly in England could dissect them and learn about them. The animals that survived the journey were sold to menageries and displayed to the eager public of England.

Some of these animals were exhibited in inns and at street corners to help the owners earn some money. George Wombwell, the owner of one of the most successful travelling menageries, was actually a cobbler. On a whim, he bought two boa constrictors from a sailor at the London docks and began to display them. This earned him so much money that Wombwell bought more animals and set up his own travelling menagerie.

How did the elephant, used to living with its clan, react to the lonely life in the cage of a menagerie? What about the tiger, denied the instinctive hunting of its food in the jungles and restricted by the bars of its cage? Monkeys and parrots, used to the hot climate of India, perished in large numbers on the journey to England. There were stories of small animals and birds that curled up in the corners of their cages, distressed by the sudden change in their circumstances.

This collection of stories emerged from vast archives about the animals that were transported out from India, and questions about their adjustment to a life in cages and the utterly callous practices in menageries.

Each of these stories is based on a real animal that was snatched away from its life in the jungles of India, and thrust into a completely new and merciless environment. The people who write the letters, however, are purely imaginary. Reading about these animals made me think about things fair and unfair, and to dream of a future where we would treat every living creature with kindness.

I hope you will feel the same way too.