Tribute to Billy Arjan Singh

by Roopinder Singh

Billy Arjan Singh with Tara. Photo courtesy: Shaminder Boparai

He was born as a royalty, spent his childhood in palaces and died in the wilderness that he so loved. Billy Arjan Singh, passed away on January 1 night, after a brief illness. He was 93. He lived at Tiger Haven, his home near the Dudhwa National Park, the sanctuary that he put on the wildlife map of the nation, about 250 km from Lucknow.
Great-grandson of Maharaja Randhir Singh, the ruler of Kapurthala, Billy was born on August 15, 1917, at Gorakhpur, in what was then the United Provinces. His father, Raja Sir Harnam Singh, was a Member of the Panjab Legislative Council, a Member of the Kapurthala Council of State and an Honorary Fellow of Panjab University.
Billy studied in Lucknow and was commissioned in the British Indian Army in 1940. Later, in 1945, he settled down at Palia. The farm brought him in touch with nature, and also the way in which wild animals were being threatened by human encroachment of their natural habitat, and the commercial exploitation of the forests which were rich in sal and teak trees. Hunting expeditions, mounted during the Raj, depleted the population of natural predators like tigers and leopards.
“Billy started as a hunter, and turned conservationist with a tremendous passion. In this he found support from even the then Prime Minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi, who herself had a great interest in wildlife,” says Shaminder Boparai, who has just finished an illustrated book on Billy.
Palia was his home; it was where he spent his life with his beloved Tara, Harriet, Juliette and Eelie, all of whom are buried near his final resting place.
The Padma Bhushan was conferred upon Billy Arjan Singh for his conservation efforts in 2006. He had received the Padma Shri in 1975. In 2004, he was a joint winner of the J. Paul Getty Award for Conservation Leadership which is administered by World Wildlife Fund, and he was the first Asian to do so.
Billy, who never married, wrote prolifically about his adopted children—the predators like leopards and tigers who were his family. His books include The Legend of the Maneaters, Prince of Cats and A Tiger’s Story.
The Tiger of Dudwa, Billy Arjan Singh had a larger-than-life image which was the subject of many articles, books and also of television series. He lived a life that he wanted to, on his own terms, in his beloved forests, in the company of animals that he loved. His dogged determination, achievements and courage made him a legendary figure in his lifetime.

This tribute was published in The Tribune on January 3, 2010.

Patwant Singh was a truly multi-faceted personality. He was the polished face of the Sikhs in the later decades of his life. Patwant Singh was born in New Delhi, the city in which he died on August 7, 2009. In the 1980s I lived near his house because my mother, Inderjit Kaur, was Chairman, Staff Selection, Commission. She and my father, Giani Gurdit Singh, and sometimes I too, would meet Patwant Singh at his house. He was a good house-proud person and I have great memories of that time in the early 1980, when I was still studying.

Incidentally, I also have the honour of being a co-author, with him and Khushwant Singh, of a book that is just been published—Women, Many hues, Many shades.

Please click here to read my obituary of this great writer, perceptive thinker and truly an aesthete.

Sardarni Malvinder Kaur was an extraordinary achiever, a great leader of people and someone with noteworthy organisational skills…along with these great qualities; she retained a warmth and generosity that impacted those who met her.I count myself to be among those privileged people who happily who orbited around her, basking in the glow of her glory, and feeling the affection that was so natural for her to share with us.

Our association goes back decades. Her son H Kishie Singh, is a dear friend and Sardarni Malvinder Kaur and my parents had a much mutuaal admiration for each other. She stood by me like a rock at my time of need, and I loved to be in her company, often joining Kishie, Neena, Malvika and her for dinner, sometimes with a friend in tow!

From Website

I have no hesitation in asserting that she has placed an indelible mark on my life, and even as she is no more, I remember her for a life lived to the full.

I was my duty to pen down her Obituary that was printed in The Tribune on Friday, October 31, something that I wrote with a heavy heart, thought my fingers found it easy to do the talking–there was so much that I wanted to write about her. Please click here to read about this woman who spanned almost a century, saw the world around her change, she not only adapted, but thrived as new challenges came her way. A remarkable women in every way.