Man Inspired by 'Avatar’ Creates a ‘Biosphere’ Connecting The Nearby Land to National Park

Nestled inside a tiger reserve in the Shivalik Mountain Range, the southernmost foothills of the Himalayas, India’s first “biosphere” is teeming with life. About two years back, this 32-acre patch of land was steeped in barrenness. Then came Jai Dhar Gupta, a 52-year-old entrepreneur. When he came across this patch during a trip to Uttarakhand, it popped a light bulb in his brain, and he decided to breathe new life into this barren piece of land. Re-animated, today, this fragment sits in the mountains, carpeted along the undulating hills and ridges of the forest, cradling a menagerie of wild beasts and native trees, according to The Better India.

Gupta worked as a businessman in the US. Back in 2010, he returned to his home city, Delhi. However, within just a short period, the polluted air of Delhi strangled him in its grip. Doctors diagnosed him with a brutal form of asthma. The pain triggered in him a drive to do something about the tainted environment. The visit to Uttarakhand helped him connect the pieces of the puzzle.

He collaborated with one of the most famous rewilding experts in India, Vijay Dhasmana, to transform the barren land. For inspiration, he turned to Hollywood. The fictional world of Pandora, featured in the movie Avatar, had always captured his imagination, and he decided to mimic this world and re-create it on this land. “I’m chasing what we saw in that movie Avatar,” he told the media channel. The real-world Pandora teems with life. It’s like stepping inside The Jungle Book, Gupta exclaimed.

Real-life Pandora teeming with stories

Under the cover of darkness, a lone elephant ventures into the forest, tearing through the bushy barriers for a midnight feast. This is a corridor alongside the riverbed, hugged by the breathtaking Rajaji Tiger Reserve and the Raghavati River. A herd of cheetahs treads from among the trees and stretches of wildflowers blanketing the ground. A grasshopper perches on a leaf, camouflaging its body with the green. Cushioning the forest carpet are shakkar fields and shivlingi plants hailed in Ayurveda for their excellent hormonal benefits. 

Clusters of fungi quietly sit there, absorbing elephant poop and fertilizing it into the soilbed for a magical natural compost. Somewhere, an Oriental Garden Lizard clings to a tree trunk, clawing and gripping its wood with its toes, basking and drinking up the Sun. On a leafy bedspread along the wetland, there is a skeleton of a sambar deer and a shed snake skin. These carcasses depict the circle of life. Maggots, centipedes, and insects crawling on the ground illustrate the changing rhythms of nature, as they dig up the soil and help fertilize it. Everywhere in the Rajaji Raghati Biosphere, there is wildlife thriving amidst nature. 

Guardian of the forest

After the pollution of Delhi and his respiratory illness jolted him into motivation to do something, Gupta’s project was included in the Delhi Government’s Air Pollution Task Force, which works on reducing Delhi’s vehicular emissions. Then, there was no looking back. With persistent efforts and consistent actions, Gupta resurrected the dormant land, strewing it with aliveness.

Yet, he believes that he’s the guardian of the forest, not just its creator. “I always dreamt of being a chowkidar (watchman) of the forests in India. I have no hope of better living conditions in Delhi or Mumbai,” Gupta shared with the media. “The rule in this biosphere is that nature comes first, not humans,” he added.

"I am the richest person on the planet."

With this biosphere, Gupta said, he feels like the richest person on the planet. “One must realise that richness is not in our 30,000 square ft mansions and apartments in cities. The richness lies in mental peace, which I’ve found. Most days, I’m not even walking, I’m levitating in the biosphere!”

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