A few years ago we spent a few days in the Jim Corbett National Park, in the Dhikala zone, deep inside the park. Most people come for the tigers. We made a pact with our guide, Sunil, to do the opposite: birding, elephanting, driving along paths the crowds skip.

I had come wanting to see differently. By the afternoon of the first day it had hardened into a rule. Almost everything in 2:1, things pared back to only what the frame could hold.