The much awaited episode of Man vs Wild with adventurer and TV personality Bear Grylls and Prime Minister Narendra Modi premiered in Discovery Channel at 9am on Monday. In the programme, PM Modi figuratively lived wild along with the former British special forces agent at the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand, a notorious abode of fierce jungle cats. Throughout the episode, save some stray wildlife shots, the focus was on Prime Minister Modi and his message of environmental conservation. Modi, who converses with Grylls in Hindi, bombards the latter with stories from his life—his long stint in the Himalayas as a youngster, the poverty he grew up with and how that shaped his outlook as a youngster.
The duo strolls through the forest, smells elephant dung “fresh out of the animal's behind”, fashions a spear which Modi refuses to use, and cross a river in a donut-shaped raft fashioned out of reeds. In the final part of the episode, for instance, aided by a smooth segue from Grylls—who speaks about the possibility of crocodiles in a river they were about to cross—PM Modi launches into the story of how he found a baby crocodile in a pond near his home and how his mother scolded him when he brought it back home with him. Add to that sprinklings of pithy one-liners that serve as applause breaks—“Nature is not dangerous, man can be”; “My values [when Grylls hands PM Modi the spear in case any wild cats come a-calling] do not permit me to take a life”; “It is not in my nature to be afraid or nervous”; “This trip is my first vacation in 18 years”; “I am working for everyone's dreams”. Bear Grylls, shelving his usual exuberant self, prods the prime minister on for details of his childhood and his vision for the country. They both depart with a prayer for the other.
Earlier, announcing his decision to be part of the show, Modi had said, "For years, I have lived among nature, in the mountains and the forests. These years have a lasting impact on my life. So when I was asked about a special programme focussing on life beyond politics and that too in the midst of nature I was both intrigued and inclined to take part in it."
"For me, this show presents a great opportunity to showcase to the world India's rich environmental heritage and stress on the importance of environment conservation and living in harmony with nature. It was a great experience spending time in the jungle once again, this time with Bear, who is blessed with indefatigable energy and quest to experience nature at its purest," he said in a statement.
