Woman forest guide at forefront of Ranthambore tours

Suraj Bai Meena overcame opposition and jibes from her family, the other members of her tribal community and her colleagues when she decided to work as a forest guide at Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan. She narrates how she charted her own path on the difficult terrain – in her own words.

Last year on International Women’s Day, I was flooded with WhatsApp messages from relatives and friends complimenting me.

This was because Jaipur was plastered with posters that said “humne toh aaj tak ek bhi mahila forest guide nahi dekhi” (We till today had never seen a female forest guide).

The posters also had my photograph.

Everyone who messaged me from Bhoori Pahari, my native village in Rajasthan, said they were proud of me.

It made me realise that I have come a long way since the time I became the first female guide and naturalist at Ranthambore National Park in Sawai Madhopur district some 16 years ago.

I come from a backward village and the Meena community, which is included in the Scheduled Tribes category. It meant none of my relatives and neighbours had ever sat in a jeep and gone to a school. Or even accessed electricity.  

But I always wanted to study. It posed several challenges, including the misplaced notion that ‘if a girl gets highly educated, she would have trouble finding a husband’. It halted my high school education for a while.

Luckily, positions for forest guides at the reserved tiger park were advertised in 2006. I got keen on applying, thinking the stipend would help me to pursue my education.

Besides, I always wanted to talk to foreigners. My cousins and I often used to stroll around the forest when the foreigners would pass by just to have a closer look at them. 

But then again, I came up against opposition. Not only my family, but also the entire village started saying, “They (the British) first took our country, now they would take away our girls.”

However, it was my elder brother, Hemraj Meena, who fought with everyone and motivated me to apply. 

I vividly remember the day when I secretly filled out the application form. I got selected for the training.

Initially, my brother would help me sneak out of the house to go for the training. Then he confronted my other family members and convinced them. I never looked back after that.

But my problems did not end there.

The all-men group during the training was taken aback to see a 15-year-old girl in their midst. Many made fun of me. They would taunt, “Why did you accept the licence and take away a deserving candidate’s seat?”

Tolerating their mockery was surely difficult. However, the bigger challenge for me was to overcome the language barrier. I spoke no English.

I began accompanying senior forest guides to safaris and began learning their lexicon. Also, my brother gave me an old dictionary. At times, he would write the pronunciation of English words in Hindi. Some tourists also helped me with English words and sentences.

It took me a year to learn and pronounce the names of birds, animals, and rivers, etc. Meanwhile, I also tried my hands on a camera, gifted by a wildlife photographer, who taught me how to operate the equipment.

At 19, I got married and had a kid the next year. That was the time when I really thought that my forest expeditions would come to an end.

But to my surprise, my husband and sister-in-law turned out to be quite supportive of my profession. Both ensured that I continue working.

I remember I had started with an earning of Rs 150 per guide trip. Now I get Rs 700. I have conducted over 7,000 guided tours and also been awarded the ‘Best Lady Guide’ by the former maharaja of Jaipur.  

Being financially independent has given me the say in family matters. People in the village give my example to their daughters, and school teachers often invite me as the chief guest during events.

I had never imagined that someday I would be able to sit in a jeep and take foreigners on a guided tour of the forest. But I have done what I had imagined to be impossible. I am a very proud forest guide.