Jim Corbett's India

Fantastic book full of engrossing tales of life in rural India while the sense of utter fear and respect for the big cats is examined and as usual from Jim Corbett, he tells a really personal story that keeps the reader fascinated to the last word. Thoroughly enjoyable book and highly recommended to anyone with an interest in real life in India, far removed from the gin parties and sweaty offices of the cities...

A treasured book from my childhood that I bought in turn for my son. Wonderfully written stories from a different time, yet Corbett puts you in the moment like few other authors. The stories of hunting man eaters or daily life in rural India in the early twentieth century are equally captivating.

First class service.

Excellent book

This book was first published in 1978 (1986), has 250 pages, 22 chapters, 1 B/W photo and excellent endpaper maps of Kumaon area. R E HAWKINS was Jim Corbett's publisher and editor and in this book he provides some collection of Jim's writings and 2 unfamiliar pieces. The front cover of the hardback jacket shows the jungle glade in the Pindar Valley, Kumaon, taken by John Lord. Jim's books had been published as he had written and the only changes made by Hawkins were on spellings and punctuation. The first 1/4 of this book is on Jim's life and the rest 3/4 on his dealings with the man-eaters.From Kunwar Singh, Jim learnt the bush-craft. Jim had also learnt to move noiselessly, to climb trees, to pin point sound, use his eyes in jungle, call tigers and leopards and to use his rifle. People in MUKTESAR Hills claimed that it had the most beautiful view in Kumaon. A tigress had become a man-eater after porcupine quills enter her one eye, her paw and her arm. From NAINI TAL, Jim travels to Muktesar and follows the tigress into the jungle. His 1st shot wounds her and makes her very angry. She comes straight at him and on the 2nd shot, she dropped 50ft into a stream below.In April 1900, Jim was asked to deal with PANAR leopard of ALMORA, who had killed 400 humans. Jim returns in Sept 1910 to have 2nd attempt at this leopard. He ties 2 male goats to see what the leopard would do. Jim (suffering from bouts of malaria) manages to shoot the leopard, when it tried to kill one of his goats.Near the PIPAL PANI stream, Jim had watched a tiger cub and they had known each other for 15 years. However, the tiger had been wounded twice and took to cattle killing. Eventually, Jim called the tiger and shot him in the forest. The man-eater can cause great fear in people and after dark, they will lock themselves in their homes, with no movement or sound anywhere - just like a complete curfew.THE LANGUAGE OF EACH SPECIES OF JUNGLE LIFE IS UNDERSTOOD BY ALL THE JUNGLE ANIMALS. The 2 CHOWGARH tigers had already killed more than 20 people. Jim manages to shoot one - turned out to be a big grown up cub. The cub's mother, an old tigress was now mauling her victims and killing many more. But on 11.4.1930, Jim managed to shoot her and found her claws and teeth were broken and worn, making her a man-eater.Jim's next task was to eliminate the MOHAN man-eater. Stalking the tiger, Jim finds him asleep, shoots him and finds many porcupine quills in him. The book ends with use of camera to shoot tigers and the reasons why tigers and leopards become man-eaters. We visited the last resting place of Jim Corbett in the old cemetery in NYERI, Kenya in August 2014.Some other books of interest are:-(1) Man-eater of Kumaon, Jim Corbett 1944 (1989)(2) The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag, Jim Corbett 1951 (1989)(3) My India, Jim Corbett 1952 (1989)(4) Jungle Lore, Jim Corbett 1953 (2000)(5) The temple Tiger, Jim Corbett 1954 (1991)(6) Tree Tops, Jim Corbett 1955 (1992)(7) Man Against Man-eaters, Jim Corbett 1954 (1956)(8) Carpet Sahib, Martin Booth 1986(9) Under The Shadow of Man-eaters, Jerry Jaleel 1997(10)Jim Corbett of Kumaon, DC Kala 1979 (1999) 2009 (2014)Having born in Kenya, I found this book interesting.

I was looking for this book for a long time. Jim Corbett mentions HawkinsBut old edition were hard to get. Thanks to Oxford press now at least it is available.We have read many of Jim's books but not like this one.This book has 250 pages and I am sure you would like to read every lineFrom cover to the full stop of the last page.Inside got only one photograph and I have not seen that photo in any otherJim Corbett's books the photo of the family, Jim -his mother and sister MaggieWho was with him to the last and another person seems to be his brother TomAs per the book. Photo was taken in Naini Tal in 1899.The book has 22 chapters from Kunwar Singh to his school days then life inMokameh Ghat to the story of Moti and then about the life story of his familyWhich I have not read any where with this much detail.It is a must read for all the fan's of Great Jim Corbett.I have yet to visit his cottage at the Jim Corbett National Park in India.In the last chapter Jim says `the sea was rough and I am a bad sailor"I have not read this in any other book of his.

If you like JIm Corbett's prose style, you will enjoy this volume. My son and I collect everything we can find that he's written.