Adventure & Wildlife Magazine - Vol 1|Issue 5-6| Nov 16 - Jan 17 Vol 2 | Issue 1 | Mar - May 2017 | Page 4

ADVENTURE & WILDLIFE From the Editor’s Desk Dear Adventure & Wildlife Lovers, Assam is the meeting ground of diverse cultures. The people of the enchanting state of Assam are an intermixture of various racial stocks such as Mongoloid, Indo-Burmese, Indo-Iranian and Aryan. The Assamese culture is a rich and exotic tapestry of all these races evolved through a long assimilative process. The natives of the state of Assam are known as “Asomiya” (Assamese), which is also the state language of Assam. The state has a large number of tribes, each unique in it’s tradition, culture, dresse and exotic way of life. Diverse tribes like Bodo, Kachari, Karbi, Miri, Mishimi, Rabha, etc co-exist in Assam, most tribes have their own languages though Assamese is the principal language of the state. A majority of the Assamese is the Vaishnavas (a sect of Hinduism). The Vaishnavas do not believe in idol worship. We have compiled a information filled feature on the jewel of Northeast - “Awesome Assam” the The Prince, true to his name was a legend in Bandipur, the most photographed and dominating tiger of Karnataka’s Bandipur Tiger Reserve, has died of natural causes. With Prince’s death, the number of tigers dead in just three months of 2017 is believed to have reached 30-22 natural deaths and eight poached- according to the individual data collected by Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI). In 2015, 82 confirmed natural deaths of tigers were recorded. Our heart felt condolences to the beautiful Prince, the community will miss him dearly. It took the community and the naturalists by surprise when the Greater Flamingos extended their stay at Pulicat. It was interesting to note that our little car the Nano and three friends from Bangalore conquered the Mongol Rally, a very refreshing and adventurous journey by these three youngsters. The Desert Storm kicked up a lot of dust and enthusiastic participation from all teams and made it a National event to reckon with. Heartening news was two of our very own home grown conservationists, Sanjay Gubbi and Purnima Barman won the Whitley Awards in recognition of their conservation efforts, We are very proud of their unstinted commitment to their activities, I wish them “ All the Very Best”… Another encouraging and interesting feature is the “Birdman of Chennai”, passionately committed to the parrots day on day…hats off. We lost our young racing driver, Ashwin Sundar to a tragic road accident, a young talent was untimely snuffed out, our tribute to this talented youngster. You can write to me at [email protected] Dr. Simha Shastry Editor & Publisher [email protected] 4 RNI No: KARENG/2016/69034 Vol 2|Issue 1|Mar - May 2017 Editor & Publisher Dr. Sim