Circa 1894. Rudyard Kipling, later to win the Nobel for literature, pens the classic The Jungle Book and creates the endearing Mowgli, an impish brat who grows up in the jungles of central India, nurtured by wolves, Bagheera the panther, Baloo the bear and assorted other animals.

More than a hundred years later, Mowgli is all set to jump off the pages of the book and guide readers through his home. That is, if the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Department has its way. In a bid to strengthen its case as Kipling country, the department plans to recreate The Jungle Book and Mowgli is the chosen mascot. The Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh (a part of the reserve lies in Maharashtra) will play its role as the enchanting jungle of the classic.

For Mowgli, this is also payback time. In the book, the animal kingdom welcomes him into their home-and hearts. Now, it's Mowgli's turn to help conserve the animals and their habitat. But there is a twist in the new tale. Mowgli, who killed Sher Khan the tiger in the story, will be its saviour. R.G. Soni, field director of Pench Tiger Reserve, says he will use Mowgli to drive the message home to children: protect the tiger.

Soni, who is researching Kipling's work, maintains that Pench is the sole heir to Mowgli and Co. He explains that the wolf pack that reared the baby in the book lived in the Seeonee (now called Seoni) hills and jungles. "These are the uplands of Seoni district where a good chunk of Pench lies," says Soni. "The town Kanhivada which figures repeatedly in the book also falls in the district. Besides the river Wainganga where Sher Khan hunts encircles Seoni."

Heritage STORY OF THE REAL MOWGLI Was there a real Mowgli? Yes, if one were to go by the book A Journey to The Kingdom of Awadh by William Sleeman, superintendent of thuggeries, whose deputy John Moore caught a wolf child in Sonadungri near Seoni in 1831. Kailash Narad, who researched the book, says the boy (about 17 years old) stayed with Sleeman in Jabalpur and later moved to Lucknow. "Mowgli" died six years later. Kipling who visited these parts was probably inspired by the story.

Selling Pench as Mowgli land has begun in earnest and curious visitors are flocking to the reserve. Last year just 1,000 had visited the place. "In the past three months we have had 5,000 visitors," points out Soni. This is still a far cry from Kanha Tiger Reserve in adjoining Mandala district which attracts around 50,000 visitors a year. But things are changing. Private investors and hoteliers, who preferred the high-profile Kanha Tiger Reserve, are now looking towards Pench. No wonder then that Soni wants the department to shift focus from Kanha, originally pitched as Kipling country, to Pench.

D.K. Samantaray, secretary, tourism and culture, Madhya Pradesh, is non-committal. "The entire state will be promoted as Kipling country," he says. The Mowgli tale gets curiouser with forest officials in Kanha objecting to the label Kipling country. "Why do we need an Englishman to sell the park? The wildlife is enough attraction," argues K. Naik, field director, Kanha.

Meanwhile, Soni is already working on "The Mowgli Trail", an over 100-km route that will take tourists to spots where Mowgli frequented. "There are places like the Council Rock. They bear different names today, but the appearances and distances indicate that these were places on which Kipling based the locations in his novel," says Soni.

This project is still in its infancy and may be developed with the help of the Tourism Department and private investors. Says an excited Samantaray: "After Pench, we hope to develop the trail in the next phase."

The trail of the jungle boy starts, well, in Pench-the only point in the trail actually up for sale as Mowgli's land. Jungles, as the Man Cub knew them, have long disappeared. Only tracts remain, and Pench is one among them. The other points in the trail are beyond Seoni, about 40 km from Pench. Council Rock, where the wolf pack held their meetings, bears a different myth altogether in these parts. At Nagarkhana, as it is called, a local king held council with his ministers. Legend says they were cursed and turned to stone. Soni believes Nagarkhana inspired Kipling.

Whether Nagarkhana will form part of the tourist circuit is not certain as it is inaccessible. Except to the builders who have robbed the region of its huge rocks. The Seeonee pack-now reduced to a pair of lone grey wolves-continues to haunt the region, as vouched for by local shepherds who guard their herd from the wolves at night.

Kanhivada will provide the rural colour. Located 30 miles from the village where Mowgli lived, the wolf child journeyed to the market here to sell pots. The town has expanded and the bungalows of English sahibs have given way to ugly little structures. But pottery still rules the town economy.

Strangely, Mowgli doesn't ring a bell in Mowgli land. "Wolf child?" asks a bemused Ayodhya Prasad, a potter whose family has been in the profession for 10 generations now. "People say that wolves picked up a child around here and he lived with them. He learnt their ways and grew up to become a terror. But it's an old story," he says dismissively.

Sidh Baba Ghat close to Keolari is apparently the inspiration behind the "gorge of marble rocks" that Kipling describes in his book. Apt, except for the fact that age has turned the marble into an ugly black block. Mowgli called the gorge the "Place of Death". However, huge rocks in the ghat with the waters swirling below do not deter a few tourists from nimbly jumping on the rocks and fishing in the Wainganga beneath. For Samantaray, this is a perfect place to promote adventure tourism. The trail, as he envisions it, would end in Kanha. "In Kipling's time, this stretch would have been dense jungle," he muses.

A great roofless palace, the Lost City, is off the Mowgli trail, north of Seoni. This is the fort in Chhapara, the lost kingdom of the Gonds. It stands beyond the river Wainganga as described by Kipling. The fort is a desolate place in ruins, hardly the grandiose deserted palace of the monkey-people-the wily Bandar Log who held Mowgli captive here. Chhapara is a bustling town. One didn't spot any monkeys though, only goats engrossed in munching grass, oblivious of the spectacular river flowing below.

Though the Tourism Department is gung-ho about the project, reality has its downside. Kipling's dense jungles are now mere patches of green; the sleepy, picturesque villages are now bustling towns. Besides, this is a plan yet to be implemented. Combining adventure, history, fantasy and fiction, Mowgli's trail could be the high point on Madhya Pradesh's tourism map. Unless the trail gets lost in bureaucratic maze.