*** Hunting Masters - The Hunting Master ***

Edward James Corbett known as �JIM CORBETT� was born in 1875 of English ancestry in Kumaon, at the picturesque foothills of the Himalayas. Jim Corbett was short in stature, but was a very brave man. His father, the postmaster in Naini Tal, died when Jim Corbett was four. It fell to Corbett's mother to raise and educate 12 children on a widow's meager pension. His mother, Corbett recalled, "had the courage of Joan of Arc and Nurse Clavell combined."

Those who have read My India and Jungle Lore will not need to be told that he was one of a large family, and sport was in his blood, and from boyhood he set himself to gain that intimacy with the jungle and its life that he would need if he was to enjoy such sport as his modest means allowed.

He had to make every shell count. His gun was an ancient muzzle-loading shotgun whose one good barrel was lashed to the stock with wire. Corbett's shooting skill and encyclopedic knowledge of the surrounding jungle soon became well known.

Jim Corbett lived in Kaladungi in U.P.India with his big family, and his eldest brother Tom in the game of hunting inspired him. During his childhood days, and the ten years he spent at school, and again while he was working in Bengal, and later between the two world wars, he spent all his holidays and leave in the jungles in and around Kaladungi

Jim Corbett remembered his boyhood as a sort of forest idyll. Lying in his bed at night, he would listen to the sounds of the jungle. He learned to imitate the cries and calls of the animals so precisely that once, when he impersonated a leopard, a British hunter and a leopard crept toward him simultaneously.

In his childhood period he used catapult and muzzle-loader belongs to his an ideal hunter brother Tom. Between the catapult and muzzle-loader periods there was a bow-and-arrow interlude which he look back on with very great pleasure, for thought he never succeeded in impaling bird or beast with an arrow he opened his credit account-with his small savings-with the Bank of Nature during that period, and the Jungle Lore I absorbed during the interlude, and later, has been never-ending source of pleasure to him.

Use of word �absorbed�, in preference to �learnt�, for Jungle Lore is not a science that can be learnt from textbook; it can, however, be absorbed, a little at a time, and the absorption process can go on indefinitely, for the book of nature has no beginning, as it has no end. (Jim Corbett, �Jungle Lore�).

As soon as he left school at Naini Tal, he found employment with the Railway Depart�ment, at first in small posts but afterwards in charge of the transport at Mokameh Ghat, where the Ganges River created a broad gap be�tween the two railway systems. There is a great bridge over the river now, but at that time more than half a million tons of traffic were ferried across it every year, and had to be transshipped from one gauge of rails to another.

The condi�tions of work were exceptionally arduous, and that he carried it on for over twenty years was due not only to his power of physical endurance, but to his friendly personal contacts with the large force of Indian labor which he employed as contractor. They gave an unmistakable proof of their own feelings for him during the First World War.

He helped to raise a Kumaon Labor Corps for service overseas, and took his section of it to France. It was then that his Indian subordinates at Mokameh Ghat arranged with the laborers that they would together carry on the work on his behalf throughout his absence.

JimCorbett was 64 years old when World War II broke out. In the Second War he was given the substan�tive rank of Major in the Indian Army. He volunteered to train Allied troops in the techniques of jungle survival, but the strain proved too much and he became very ill. Recuperating, he wrote Man-eaters of Kumaon, which became an international best seller, was translated into 27 languages, and was almost universally praised by critics.

The nature of the work during these years gave him little leisure for sport, but during his holidays in Kumaon he was able on three occasions to answer the calls, which were made on him for his help against man-eaters. Between the years 1907 and 1911 he disposed of the Chiampawat and Muktesar man-eaters and the Panar leopard.

No body know how far the picture formed of him by his readers differs from that which will live in the memory of his friends. In one re�spect perhaps the reader who has known him through his books may have some advantage over them. He seldom spoke of the hardships and dangers of those encounters with man �eaters which gave such an incomparable thrill to his record of them.

Jim Corbett 1875-1955 was a hunter and naturalist in India. Famous for his writings on the hunting of man-eating tigers and leopards. The Corbett National Park in India is named in his memory. He was born of English ancestry in Kumaon, in the foothills of the Himalaya. He was a hunter and fishing enthusiast in early life but took to big game photography later.

He never forgot in after life the habit, which he then taught himself of noiseless movement in the jungle nor his rare understanding of its sights and sounds, and it was then that he began to acquire that unique combination of speed and accuracy in the use of the rifle to which he was later to owe so much. One who knew him at that period has said, however, that even in his youth he took no special pride in this achieve�ment. Good shooting was to him an obligation rather than an accomplishment. If things were to be killed, then this should be done instantly, and without pain them.

In later life he resolved never again to shoot an animal except for food or if it was 'a dangerous' beast. Between 1906 and 1914, Corbett hunted down at least a dozen man-eaters. It is estimated that the combined total of men, women and children those 12 animals are thought to have killed before he stopped them was more than 1,500. His very first man-eater, the Champawat Tiger in Champawat alone was responsible for 436 documented deaths.

Jim Corbett would often stalk to within 20 feet or so of the man-eaters who were his quarry, at great risk of death, even though they could not be seen in the heavy brush. Some men who went with him on these hunts were so frightened that they swore never to hunt with Corbett again. He was a pioneer conservationist and lectured at local schools and societies to stimulate awareness of the natural beauty surrounding them and the need to conserve forests and their wild life. In 1968 one of the five remaining subspecies of tigers was named after him; panthera tigris corbetti, more commonly called Corbett's tiger.

His books have inspired films before. His classic The Man Eaters of Tsavo became Hollywood's

The Ghost and the Darkness. This is Jim Corbett's story. He had already published his first book, Man eaters of Kumaon in 1944, and left his manuscript The Man eating Leopard of Rudraprayag with his editor Roy Hawkins at the O.U.P. While in Kenya, he wrote "My India", Jungle Lore.

The Temple Tiger and more man eaters of Kumaon, and finally in 1955 "Tree-Tops". The last one being his recollections of princess Elizabeth's visit to the 'Treetops" in February 1952. While she was watching the game there, her father, King George VI had died, and thus the princess climbed down the tree as the Queen. Jim Corbett wrote in the hotel's visitors register: :"For the first time in the history of the world a young girl climbed into a tree one day a Princess, and after having what she described as her most thrilling experience she climbed down from the tree the next day a Queen - God bless her."

By the mid-thirties, Corbett had almost entirely abandoned hunting and turned his attention to the challenge of shooting tigers on film. No one could possibly get closer than he to the big cats, to capture their private moments on camera. When Corbett discovered the clockwork camera mechanism's whirr was disturbing the tigers, he dammed a stream so its gurgle would cover up the sound of the camera. Corbett sat there in a hide every day for four months until he was at rewarded with the appearance of no fewer than seven tigers, which he captured on film.

The British government in India at the time posted huge rewards for killing these man-eaters, and many sportsmen unsuccessfully tried to hunt down these animals. Corbett never accepted any rewards. To him, shooting these disabled animals was an obligation. Jim Corbett was different. He shared 80 percent of his bonus with his workers. He built houses in his property and gave to the poor, free of charge. He nursed the sick and gave money to the very sick to go to hospital. He willed most of his fortune to the needy. He was always cheerful, and never complained.

He loved the poor, and gave himself freely. He helped the poor, the sick and the unfortunate all his life. He was a great humanitarian, giving away the bulk of the money he earned from his books to the poor people of India and Kenya. He was keen in helping the poor throughout her life.

He helped create the Association for the Preservation of Game in the United Provinces (now Utter Pardesh), and the All-India Conference for the Preservation of Wild Life, and he established India's first national park, inaugurated in 1934 in the Kumaon Hills. He also had a deep affection for the people of the Kumoan Hills, and was loved by many of the region. He is considered by some in the Kumoan region as a Sadhu.

Maggie was mentioned by Corbett in his books, at different times: Fishing with Maggie, Walking in the jungle paths with Maggie, Sending telegrams to Maggie to let her know his whereabouts during the hunt.. The sister and brother were inseparable. The only two of the members remaining in India during the last days of the Raj. Others had died or moved away to other parts of the world.

When India and Pakistan became independent in 1947, Corbett and Maggie also decided to leave India. Most of their friends were leaving the country too. India was in turmoil and they didn't feel safe as there were a lot of 'anti-British' feeling.. Although they would have been safe in Naini Tal, Corbett left for Kenya, taking his trophies and rifles with him. Finally they settled down in a cottage called "Paxtu"- previously occupied by Lord Baden Powell- in the grounds of the Out Span Hotel in Nyeri, a 100 miles north of Nairobi, Kenya.

On 6th April 1955, he finished writing the little book- Treetops. He was constantly sick due to breathing the volcanic dust and a lifetime of chain smoking. On the 19th of April, he died of a massive heart attack in the Mount Kenya Hospital, across from the Outspan. He was buried at the St. Peter's Anglican Church- about a mile from where he lived, the next day. In his will he wished to be cremated.

Maggie looked after his grave faithfully. She was two years older than Jim. She wanted to see a proper biography written about her brother. She compiled nearly 100 pages on Jim with the help of Miss Honor Walker (now Mrs.Hurly), and was given to Geoffrey Cumberlege- the then publisher to the OUP, along with numerous personal letters from Jim, photographs and telegrams sent by Jim to Maggie. But the book was never written, as Cumberlege changed his mind! Disappointed here, Maggie sought the help of Ruby Beyts, wife of Brig.Gen.

Geoff Beyts to write a bio of Jim. These notes gathered dust until a writer from India, D.C.Kala obtained them for his book, Jim Corbett of Kumaon. In December 1963, Kenya became independent.Maggie was nearing 90. She was admitted to the hospital in December, where she died on the Boxing day. Her body was sent to Nairobi for cremation, and the ashes were intered into Jim's grave. Even in death, the brother and sister shared the same site.

Jim Corbett was unmarried, and so was Maggie. Many of their friends had either died or left Kenya after it's gaining the independence (Uhuru). Corbett's grave wasn't looked after properly from this time on, and by the 1980s it began to show the signs of deterioration, and by 1993 it reached a pathetic condition.

Please note that Jim Corbett's books are still being reprinted by the Oxford University Press in India. The BBC made a docudrama depicting a portion of Corbett's life, the National Geographic Society distributed the 90 minute film in North America. The Indian Oscar-nominate film director Ashvin Kumar is filming big screen film �The Forest� inspired by the Jim Corbett.

The writer who sought the Alexander Jerry Jaleel's help in preparing the script for the BBC production of the said docudrama and a publisher in California who reprinted Corbett's books, the National Geographic Society, or the Oxford University Press- all of them had benefited through Corbett - were NOT interested in lifting a finger to restore Corbett's grave despite the appeals.

In April 2002,Mr.Alexander Jerry Jaleel (Founder & Director of Jim Corbett Foundation Canada) visited the Corbett�s grave at the St. Peter's Anglican Church in Nyeri, about 100 miles north of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya and restored it with concrete inside the marble frames and gravel around it to avoid the growth of weeds and to protect the grave from further damages caused by rain and soil erosion.

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By: Safdar Javed Cheema,Advocate Lahore High Court, Lahore M.A. Political Science, M.A. Punjabi L.L.B.

I was born in 1941 without a silver spoon in my mouth rather with a thorny bush in my soul and psychology. My father was an eminent advocate from Sargodha and my mother was a second year student of M.B.B.S. at the time of their marriage, as far as my memory says, my mother and father had a separation (not divorced) due to personal conflicts, not known to me.

So my mother was dictated to be a bread winner also in addition to her tough studies, with the result that I, myself had to adopt the practical ways and means to meet my days for my future life, right from my childhood. So I was engaged in the profession as a tutor of 4he children of lesser age than mine i.e. when I was r ass sixth, I was teaching the children students of class three to meet my basic needs of life.

At the same time, a "singer" was also born with me, so instinctively 1 ^:was inclined towards "singing" and I also used my above said talent for bread winning by virtue of singing on the Radio, T.V. & as a film playback singer

And at the same time I was a born "Game Hunter" within myself, so through some body I managed to have a catapult. Being a medical student, my mother was living around King Edward Medical College / Mayo Hospital and I also used to join her in her practical held at different medical wards with different patients. I was offered a contract to provide the rock / jungle pigeons for the patients facing the disease of paralysis against �Four Annas� per pigeon which was enough for him in those cheaper days. Here he used his catapult to drop down the pigeons in a large number from different buildings of the different areas of Lahore city and around the city.

I employed myself with a gentleman as his assistant who possessed a .22 rifle and who used to take me out with him with the said rifle and I used to fire five shots per week with the said rifle on different targets, this practice added to my accuracy, and as a result, I was declared as the best firer in my school time in the competition amongst three schools i.e. Central Model School, Saint Anthony School & Atchison College Lahore in the target shooting.

Gen. Muhammad Azam was the Chief Guest in 1957 at the dispersal of trophy ceremony in Central Model School and I was very much appreciated by the said Chief Guest.

I requested him to get me a license for 0.12 bore shot gun in that tender age, as a prize for me the request was fulfilled at that time and I was issued a 0.12 bore license, I, again managed / maneuvered to purchase a shot gun for my use. The said shot gun, "emotionally" attained a status of my beloved.

Then started his gun shooting, as a boy with partridges, ducks and other game birds. Simultaneously I converted myself on the big game also and stared with the shooting of "WILD BOARS". In those good days the agriculture department of this country used to award R.s.7S/- to the hunter against per tail of the wild boar, as an award as the wild boars had been always injurious to the vegetation and crops.

At the same time, one Mr. Cricklivie was the curator then of Lahore Zoo, who was interested in buying the said wild boars against Rs.100/- per wild boar, I started to supply the wild boars to the said gentleman through a Christian assistant friend whom I had employed with me for the purpose of harvesting.

I became a so called rich man with the said assignment and I was now possessing a military model motorcycle, a military model jeep and a good combination of gun and, he opted commercial flying as his career and qualified his C.P.L in 1963, than diverted himself towards legal profession in 1973 till today.

Referring my own country i.e. Pakistan he harvested the Ibexes & Markhor trophies and shot the leopards, sloth bears in the northern area like Gilgit, Chitral, Kaghan etc etc. I also shot the Panthers from the lower hills of Jehlum, Tarragi and Pubby Hills which was quite rich in the bird life also. I enjoyed the shooting of Chinkaras, Bustards and great Indian Bustards in the desert of Choolistan, the said areas are still very rich in wild life, along with the above said shooting I kept myself busy in the duck shooting also, almost in every part of my country, along with other migratory birds.

When I was student of third year, I had an invitation to have a shoot of royal Bengal Tiger in the jungle of "Sunder Bun" in then East Pakistan in 1961. In this assignment I shot a Sunder Bun Man Eater Tiger with the said shot gun and the rifle.

After the said experience I succeeded to have a permit to shoot in the Corbett Park (India), which was absolutely a new and wonderful experience, particularly with the background of the classic books, written by himself.

Mr. Jim Corbett, he some how or the other managed to have d big game in the South India also, where I shot a few leopards and sloth bears from the citations, referred by Mr. Kenneth Enderson in his books, again a renowned big game hunter in India. I have a rich experience of having the big game in Nepal around Katmandu in the valleys of Himalayas. After the said experience I was honored by the then Chief Minister Punjab to be appointed as Game Warden Punjab,

which I substantiated for three years i.e. in spite of the fact that basically I was a game shooter, I worked for the sake of protection of wild life, of course in the opposite direction, using all my skill and knowledge about wild life and hunting on a different angle for which I was awarded with so many honors and colors by the Govt. of Punjab regarding the protection of wild life.

Even now, although I am a heart patient, I go out for shooting to different spots i.e. within the existing legal limitations regarding protection and conservation of wildlife by the Govt. of Punjab, his sons �Gulrez Cheema� & �Gulzeb Cheema� have replaced him in the real sense and spirit.

I found my country as one of the richest habitat" with the reference of existing wild life, in every corner and in ever respect throughout Pakistan.

Mr. Syed Muzaffar Ali Shah a �man�s man� who excelled at everything he attempted. The two things that really defined him defined him, however his passions for judgments (as Judicial Officer), and hunting. He is also famous for �Punjabi poetry�, he has written few numerous Punjabi poetry books.

His energy and outspoken common sense earned him a reputation for honesty, integrity, and excellence, and he is considered by many to be the most all-round knowledgeable in his community.

He began hunting small animals and game birds in the 1960s, and his hobby was gun pointing for the flying shots at the birds crossing overhead. But his interest rapidly moved to more exotic game, when his elder brother Mr.Syed Aftab Hussain Shah put a double barrel shotgun in his hand, and he made his first safari to Cholistan Desert at his teen age. After that during the next twenty years of his age, he also hunted in all provinces of his country.

He is also extremely active in animal conversation, scouting and seek for new hunting destinations and the shooting spots. He won first prize in all Pakistan Skeet Shooting competition held in Islamabad in 2000.Up to the end of the 1990s he became well known hunter in the Punjab, during this period his hunting fellows were Mr.Syed Ali Farzoq and Mr.Farooq Rehman Saluch. But after that period he also achieve few best solo hunts at different destinations.

Often he says to his friends about his hunting company, �I don�t think we are much different than others hunters/conversations, no matter what walk of life, and we can be the Corbett off the era if we will understand the Jungle lore.

He used his professional abilities to deeply judge the habitats of wildlife and to sharpen his hunting skills. He always took skillful and deadly accurate shots on his selected alive running targets.

Mr.Syed Muzaffar Ali Shah regaled his friends with his hunting stories (true stories), he is a generous man who shared his love of hunting by introducing many of his friends to its excitement.

No matter where his hunting taken him at week ends or in gazetted holidays, he is always looking for animals that he had not yet acquired, or for some trophy more valuable than the ones he already owned.

Several times he have come back from a long hunt without shooting, but he is never sorry to come home empty-handed because that meant he had stuck to the principles and ethics of sport hunting. He always gave respect and honor to his guides. For him, life must be a challenge with unknown expectations, and this is why he hunt. He could try to describe the inspirations that mountains, valleys, lakes, and forests have created in his mind, but he think he will leave that to the great writers.

He would like to end this with a bit of his personal philosophy, �Your three greatest hunts are your first, your last, and your next�.