Lawyer and wildlife photographer Aarzoo Khanna’s date with tigers

Tiger photos inside tiger reserves taken by Aarzoo Khanna.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL AARANGEMENT

Aarzoo Khanna ‘captures’ tigers and then showcases them for wildlife lovers to appreciate her `kills’. Only these beasts figure in frames and form the fascinating collection of Aarzoo, who has travelled to 56 of the 58 tiger reserves across 18 States in India.

The interesting part is she did 55 tiger reserves in a single road trip over six months , traversing 37,000 kilometres.

Lawyer and wildlife photographer Aarzoo Khanna.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

From October 2, 2023 to April 19, 2024, Aarzoo was focused on her ambition. “I have named it Project ATR (All Tiger Reserves),” Aarzoo says proudly as she looks forward to visiting the remaining two this year, the Ratapani Tiger Reserve and the Madhav Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh.

Aarzoo recalls her journey . “I have slept in the dirt, spent the night at petrol pumps, sometimes without dinner. It was strange meeting locals who were unaware there was a tiger reserve in their area,” says Aarzoo, who began with the tiger reserve in Sirsa, and her 56th at Corbett Tiger Reserve.

Sometime in 2012, when the world was transitioning from Orkut to Facebook, Aarzoo pestered her father, Hemant, to buy her a camera. She was barely 10. At 15, she acquired a Kodak camera. “I would click pictures of pigeons. I was nervous when I decided to carry my passion to the backyards of the tiger, but it was an experiment that gave me the platform to pursue my interest,” she says..

Tiger photos inside tiger reserves taken by Aarzoo Khanna.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Aarzoo’s passion took flight with a workshop she attended at Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary in 2015 to learn the nuances of photography. “It was winter, and I stepped out at 4am; An hour later, I was inside the jungle doubting if it was the right decision,” she recalls.

Sunrise brought the birds (sarus cranes) even as the fog gave way to the photographers’ delight. One of them struck a ballerina pose, and Aarzoo clicked to have a photo for posterity. “I just kept clicking.” She wanted to be the bridge between the jungle and the outside world. In the later months, Aarzoo invested in an SLR camera and visited 55 of India’s tiger reserves in one go.

Tiger photos inside Tiger Reserves taken by Aarzoo Khanna.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Sirsa was her first conquest. Her father accompanied her. “A tiger came to drink water, and I had my first frame,” she remembers. She says her love for wildlife photography is expensive and she seeks social media support to raise funds through various sources.

With so much going on in her world of dreams, Aarzoo also studied law to give in to her father’s wish, who wants her to become a judge at some point in life.

There is a story behind each photo that Aarzoo has captured. Her favourite is the hard-earned picture of a cub. “It happened at Tadoba Tiger Reserve, where we learnt of Katrina and her month-old cubs. I decided to park myself. It was tough. We almost gave up when my colleague, tiger tracker Mohammed Irshad, insisted we stay. He had heard a monkey call, and we soon spotted this tigress holding a cub. We were breathless as the cub walked on the road. Having spotted us, the cub snarled. The tigress was close when I shot my video. It remains close to my heart” Aarzoo says.

Lawyer and wildlife photographer Aarzoo Khanna.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

BBC, National Geographic, and Discovery have featured Aarzoo’s work. She also teaches photography and conducts workshops across the country. A practising advocate, she was thrilled when several Supreme Court judges visited her exhibition held in Delhi’s Bikaner House last winter.

Aarzoo is happy, taking the wildlife to the people. “It is a fascinating world,” she avers.