Having a childhood, intertwined by the allure of nature and a passion instilled by her Father’s love for traveling.
After being raised in a bustling city like Kolkata, that holds so much history and the city that is the ground of Goddess kali , Monali found her solace in the arms of nature whenever possible, so when it came to giving something back, she aspired to serve nature and preservation of our natural resources and ever since her passion lied in forest and wildlife.Her deep rooted fondness for forest and wildlife guided her career path towards the Indian Forest Service(IFS). Passing the IFS exam in her first attempt marked the inception of a journey dedicated to safeguarding biodiversity. She did her B.SC. in Zoology honors and M.SC. in Biochemistry. Her hard work and passion to achieve great heights made her a Gold medalist in her masters. When it came to achieving milestones she became the PostGraduate Diploma holder in Wildlife management and environmental laws.
She also became the first lady deputy conservator of forest and the First Member Secretary of Rajasthan State Wetland Authority. Dr. Sen stands as a pivotal figure in the relentless pursuit against wildlife crime, notably in aiding the capture of tiger poachers within the Sariska tiger reserve. Moreover, her unwavering dedication led to tracking down and confronting the mining mafias entrenched in the heart of the Aravalli hills.Dr. Monali sen also added the effect of their endeavors have enduring significance and effective wildlife management demands agility, a combination of legal practice, spontaneous decision making and adeptness in engaging with the public.
When asked about the role she played as a wildlife manager and managing the roles related to it, she firmly added how wildlife management is mostly actual field experience. People working in this area need to be on their toes as it is an open game of unexpected situations and eventuality. As per Ms. Sen the law only provides monetary help for dealing with the offenders and when it comes to being a woman in this field brings it a unique set of challenges. However, It’s heartening to see a shift in mindset, witnessing more women effectively managing field roles. Her message to all the aspiring conservationist women is to “have faith in your ability and have an open mindset towards adapting to hardship”. Once aspiring students around us achieve that, there is nothing that can prohibit anyone from succeeding. From building robust information networks, engaging with local communities and to strengthening staff, Sen has done it all.
All this while, her life was planning to take an unexpected turn, pushing her into a dark abyss following the loss of her husband, her mother and her two beloved pets.The period tested her to her gut making her life seem hopeless, a blurry vision and a future that was dooming. While all of this was filling her mind with anger, hatred, and apathy, the only thing she had was the faith and an option to take ‘one day at a time’.
The pain and suffering was so intense that it started affecting her physical health with her mental health that it affected her cardiac system, it took her 3 years to get out of it. Those 3 years worked as an eye-opener for her and how easy it is for people to tag people with the words ‘unstable’ ,’disturbed’, ‘incapable of work’ without even trying to understand what the other person is going through. Through her darkest days, she remained dedicated towards her work, slowly she started finding solace in her job. She got up, went to her job, attended every meeting and went on with her days giving us all a reminder that nothing lasts forever in this world and it’s better to attain peace with the situation.
Life has its own ways of teaching resilience, patience and appreciating the little things we had and we have. Eventually, Dr. Monali Sen approached her work with renewed vigor, cherishing every moment and got back to protect the nature and the wildlife she held onto, so dearly.